Free printable labels · ages 1 to 8
Christmas Eve box ideas
The one box that gets them into their pyjamas without a single argument.
A Christmas Eve box gets opened the night before Christmas, and inside are new pyjamas (pajamas, in the US), a book for bedtime, hot chocolate, maybe a film and a torch (a flashlight) for a hunt around the house. Here's what to put in it at every age from 1 to 8, with labels, name tags and a key for Father Christmas (Santa) to print.
The checklist
What to put in a Christmas Eve box, by age
Pick your child's age and tick as you go. The classics come first, and the rest is up to you.
Christmas Eve box ideas for ages 1 to 2
Or a sleepsuit, one size up, so it still fits in February.
Flaps to lift and pages that survive being chewed. You'll read it forty times before New Year.
No hot chocolate needed at this age. The special cup does all the work.
Wobbly feet and a shiny kitchen floor are a bad mix.
They'll want something new to hold while you read the board book.
A Christmas Eve bath, then the new pyjamas, then the book. That's the whole evening, and it's perfect.
Write the year on the back. It comes out every Christmas after this one.
Leave out anything with small parts. At this age everything goes in the mouth, sometimes including the box.
Christmas Eve box ideas for ages 3 to 4
The ones they'll wake up in on Christmas morning, so pick a pair you'd like in the photos.
A picture book for tonight's bedtime story. One that happens on Christmas Eve is even better.
With marshmallows, if it's that kind of night. (It is.)
A short one. Bedtime is still bedtime, especially tonight.
They're for padding about with the hot chocolate.
Put out a mince pie or a cookie, and a carrot for the reindeer. Tuck their letter to Father Christmas beside it if it never went in the post.
Porridge oats and a few seeds in a bowl or a tray, never glitter, and nothing scattered on the ground. If you have a dog, leave out raisins, grapes and chocolate.
It gives their hands something to do in the hour when they're far too excited for anything else. Our free activity sheets do the job too: I spy and the dot to dots need no reading.
Take it on a short hunt around the house before bed. They'll check under the beds for elves while they're at it, so let them.
On our first drop card Santa writes about a little glass box, and there's a red and white drop to keep and a wish they mustn't tell anyone.
Christmas Eve box ideas for ages 5 to 6
They'll want to choose. Let them pick from two you've already chosen.
A picture book with a bit more story, to read in bed with the lights down low.
Serve it in the mug they'll use every winter from now on.
Their pick this year. Watch it with good grace, even if it's the same one as last year.
Or slippers, if the old ones have lost the battle.
Hide a few clues around the house and let the last one lead to bed. Our elf's rhyming clues are ready to print.
Porridge oats and a few seeds in a bowl or a tray, never glitter, and nothing scattered on the ground. If you have a dog, leave out raisins, grapes and chocolate.
If your house has no chimney, the key hangs on the door handle and only works for Father Christmas. Its tag is in the maker below.
Then it goes on the tree before bed, somewhere they can see it from the sofa.
Tuck it in at the very bottom, for a grown-up to read aloud.
On our first drop card Santa writes about a little glass box, and there's a red and white drop to keep and a wish they mustn't tell anyone.
Christmas Eve box ideas for ages 7 to 8
Matching ones for the whole family, if they're still up for it. Ask first.
A chapter book to start tonight and read a chapter a night all through the holidays. Or a picture book they read to someone smaller.
A mug, cocoa and marshmallows, so they can make it themselves, and yours too.
A longer one, now they can stay up for the end.
Nobody is ever too old for fluffy socks, and that includes you.
Just this once, because it's Christmas Eve.
Something the whole family can play at the kitchen table while the oven does its thing.
Paper snowflakes work, or a bead ornament, or a card for someone they love.
Porridge oats and a few seeds in a bowl or a tray, never glitter, and nothing scattered on the ground. If you have a dog, leave out raisins, grapes and chocolate.
On our first drop card Santa writes about a little glass box, and there's a red and white drop to keep and a wish they mustn't tell anyone.
0 of 10 in the box
The ticks stay on this page and go nowhere. Printed, the list keeps them, which makes it a handy shopping list.
Reindeer food that's safe for wildlife and pets, checked 10 Oct 2026: RSPB, on glitter and wildlife (archived); RSPCA reindeer food recipe (archived); RSPCA, Christmas dangers for pets.
Made in your browser
Labels and tags with your child's name
Make a label for the lid, name tags, a key for Father Christmas and a card with your child's very first drop from the little glass box in our story. Type the name once and it goes on all of them, and on our letters to and from Santa too.
The big label goes on the lid, with your child's name on it. Two strips for the sides say "Open on Christmas Eve, and not a minute before!"
It never leaves your device: nothing you type is sent to us or anyone else.
To keep a PDF, choose “Save as PDF” in the print window. A glue stick holds it on cardboard, or tape it at the corners.
As it prints
Print · free, no sign-up
Free Christmas Eve box printables
The checklist, the box labels, eight name tags, Santa's key and the first drop card, in US Letter and A4. Color to stick on and give, black and white to color in first. Each has a line for the name, or the maker above writes it in for you. For the presents under the tree, our Christmas gift tags fit a whole family's names on one sheet.
Christmas Eve box checklist
All four ages fit on one page, from a board book at 1 to a card game at 8. The classics have a star, and there are empty lines for your own ideas.
Ages 1 to 8 · 1 page · PDF
Christmas Eve box labels
The lid label has a line to write the name on. The two strips for the sides say "Open on Christmas Eve", in case anyone was thinking of peeking.
1 page · PDF
Name tags
Eight tags with "To" and "From" to fill in, each with a hole to punch and a little picture from the story.
1 page · PDF
Santa's key
Tie one of the two tags to a real key for a house with no chimney, or cut out the paper key that comes with them.
1 page · PDF
Your first drop
In his own handwriting, Santa tells how he once gave a girl a glass box with one drop inside. Then your child gets theirs, a red and white drop to cut out and keep.
Ages 3 to 8 · 1 page · PDF
Free for home and classroom use. To pass them on, please share the link to this page and not the file.
The tradition
What is a Christmas Eve box?
Christmas Eve afternoon is the longest afternoon of the year if you're five. The box gives it a shape, with new pyjamas to put on, a film for the sofa and a story to end on, and with any luck everyone is in bed at a reasonable hour.
Where it comes from
Nobody can say exactly when it started. When BBC News looked into Christmas Eve boxes in December 2016, a consumer expert told them there's “no pretence this is an ancient tradition”, and Google told them UK searches for the boxes were three times what they had been in 2014. He thought parents were also taking a cue from the rest of Europe, where children in many countries get their presents on December 24. It's a young tradition, then, and it became popular in the UK and Ireland in the last ten years or so.
Sources, checked 12 Oct 2026: BBC News, “The curious case of the Christmas Eve box”, 7 December 2016.
Christmas Eve is the end of the countdown too. That night the last link of the paper chain comes off, the one that says “1 more sleep!”, and the letter to Father Christmas goes out on the plate beside the mince pie. If you've kept a book advent calendar, book 24 can wait in the box, and so can a nice list certificate for the kind things they did in December.
When to give it
Open it after dinner and let the box set the order of the evening. Bath first, then the new pyjamas, the film with the hot chocolate, and the book once they're in bed.
Who it's from
Usually from you. Some families say the elves dropped it off early, or that Father Christmas sent it ahead so everyone is in pyjamas and asleep by the time he arrives. That last one has the advantage of being useful.
A box for babies and toddlers
For a first Christmas, the box is really for you. Put in a first ornament with the year on it and take a photo of them in the new pyjamas. By the time they're eight, that photo is the best thing the box ever held.
The box itself
Any shoebox will do. Wrap the box and the lid separately, so it still opens and closes, and you can use it again next year. Glue our label on the lid and it's ready.
Our own book
The Christmas Secret
A Christmas Eve picture book with a read-along · ages 3 to 7 · out on October 20
The Christmas Secret happens on Christmas Eve, so of course it's the book we'd put in the box. We wrote it, so we would say that. It's calm enough for bedtime and takes about eight minutes from the first page to the last.
It was Christmas Eve, and I was sitting on a bench outside. It was so cold that I wasn't sitting on a bench anymore. I was sitting on an ice cube!
There's a read-along in the book too, and it can be that night's bedtime story. Play it with the phone or tablet face down, and the whole story is read aloud in the dark. On Christmas Eve, a new drop appears in its little glass box.
Questions
Grown-ups ask
What is a Christmas Eve box?
A box of small things a child opens on the evening of December 24, usually new pyjamas, a bedtime book and something warm to drink. It turns the slow hours before Christmas into a warm evening at home that ends in bed. It's a young tradition that became popular in the UK and Ireland in the last ten years or so.
What do you put in a Christmas Eve box?
The classics are new pyjamas, a Christmas book, hot chocolate, a Christmas film and fluffy socks. Then add one or two things for the age, like a soft toy and bubble bath at 1 or 2, reindeer food and a plate for Father Christmas at 3 or 4, a torch for a hunt at 5 or 6, or a card game at 7 or 8. The checklist on this page has a full list for each age.
When do you open a Christmas Eve box?
On Christmas Eve itself, any time after lunch. Most families wait until after dinner, so the evening has something to look forward to. Open it in the morning and the long afternoon has nothing left to open.
How much should a Christmas Eve box cost?
Very little. The pyjamas are something you'd buy anyway, the reindeer food is porridge oats, a library book counts as the Christmas Eve book, and a shoebox makes a fine box. Every printable on this page is free. Children remember what was inside, and nobody remembers the price.
What goes in a Christmas Eve box for a baby or toddler?
A few soft, safe things are plenty. Think pyjamas or a sleepsuit one size up, a board book, a soft toy and some bubble bath for a Christmas Eve bath. Skip anything with small parts. There are a couple more ideas in the checklist under 1 to 2.
What do you put in a Christmas Eve box for older kids?
At 7 or 8 the box can carry more of the evening. They can make the hot chocolate themselves, the whole family can play a game at the table, and a chapter book keeps going long after Christmas. Most 8 year olds still love a torch for reading in bed.
What's the difference between a Christmas Eve box and a stocking?
The box comes the night before and is all about the evening. The stocking is Father Christmas's job: it's filled while they sleep and opened on Christmas morning. So the box gets them to bed, and the stocking is the reason they wake up at five.
More Christmas
Or see all of them on one page, from the weeks before Christmas to the night itself.
Christmas EvePlan the evening together, print a card for Santa's plate and his boot prints, and find every Christmas page in the order it happens.
24 Doors, the advent calendar by emailOne door by email every morning from December 1 to 24: a riddle, something to make, a kind mission, and now and then an animal that steps into your room.
Christmas scavenger huntRhyming clues from one of Santa's elves for Christmas morning and Christmas Eve, and Santa's own candy cane hunt from our book, which ends at the bookshelf.
Letter to Santa and wish listDraw it, trace it or write it: a letter to Santa for every age, a wish list, and Santa's real addresses.
A letter from SantaSanta writes back, in his own handwriting: your child's name, two good things they did this year, and notes for Christmas morning.- How many sleeps until Christmas?Count the sleeps with the little glass box from our story, and print a paper chain that loses a link every night.
Book advent calendarHow to make one on any budget, with 24 numbered tags to print and 24 picture books by age.
Christmas picture booksTwelve new ones for 2026 and 24 classics by age, with how long each one takes to read aloud.
Santa's reindeer namesLearn all eight in order with our rhyme, print the poster, and find out what real reindeer are like.
Reindeer foodOats and seeds in a bowl, never glitter, with our own poem and bag toppers and tags with your child's name.
Santa's nice listA certificate for kind things only, signed by Santa, and 24 kind things to do in December.
Christmas gift tagsEveryone's names fit on one sheet of tags in the pictures of our book, and Santa's own tags come signed.
Christmas elf namesSpin up an elf name from a first letter and a birthday month, and make it official with a badge or an elf ID card.
The candy cane storyCandy canes were plain white until about 1900. Read what happened next and the legends, then print blank canes to stripe your own way.
Christmas activity sheetsSeven black and white sheets for ages 3 to 8, from a picture word search to bingo for a whole class, answers included.