Christmas Eve Boxes: What to Put In and When to Give

An open wooden Christmas Eve box on a rug by the tree, holding folded pyjamas, a mug and a storybook

A Christmas Eve box is a small box of treats that children (and quite a few grown-ups) open on the 24th of December. It marks the start of Christmas proper and takes the edge off the longest wait of the year. Inside there is usually something to eat, something to do and something cosy to wear for the evening.

We have been selling personalised gifts since 2003, and Christmas Eve boxes are one of the nicest ideas to have come along in that time. This guide looks at where the idea may have come from, when to give a Christmas Eve box, how to choose one that will last and, most importantly, what to put inside it without spending a fortune.

When do you give a Christmas Eve box?

There is no rule, which is half the charm. Most of the choice comes down to what is in the box.

After tea on Christmas Eve is the classic. Pyjamas, a story and a hot chocolate make a natural run-in to bath and bed, and a child in new pyjamas is a child who is at least pretending to be sleepy.
Christmas Eve morning works better if the box holds things to do: a craft, a game, a film to watch together. Christmas Eve can be a long day for small people, and a box of activities fills it nicely.

Some families do a bit of both, with the activities out in the morning and the cosy things kept back for the evening.

Where did Christmas Eve boxes come from?

Nobody seems to know exactly where the modern Christmas Eve box started, although it may owe something to European Christmas traditions. In Germany and Austria, for example, families usually exchange presents on Christmas Eve rather than on Christmas morning, and the British Christmas Eve box may have borrowed a little of that: one small present on the 24th, with the main event still to come. You could also see it as the grand finale to the advent calendar.

In Britain it is a recent arrival. We first wrote this guide in 2018, when the boxes were already catching on. The appeal is easy to see: Christmas Eve is the most exciting night of the year for a child, and the box gives that excitement somewhere to go.

Choosing a Christmas Eve box

Any box will do. A shoebox covered in wrapping paper has started plenty of family traditions, and if this is your first year, that is a perfectly good place to begin.

If you would like the box to last, a wooden one with a lid earns its keep. It comes out of the loft every December, the contents change as the children grow, and the box itself becomes part of Christmas. That is the thinking behind our range of personalised Christmas Eve boxes, which are printed with the child’s name so there is no argument about whose is whose.

A few things we have learnt over the years:

Personalised Colourful Santa large wooden Christmas Eve box

Traditional designs stay in fashion. The classic designs remain firm favourites, particularly Father Christmas with the child’s name on the front. Fashions in cartoon characters come and go; a box with Father Christmas on it still looks right ten Christmases later.
Baby’s first Christmas is a favourite. A Baby’s First Christmas box doubles as a keepsake. The baby will not remember the first one, of course, but the box comes out every year afterwards and quietly turns into a family tradition.
Two children, one box? One of the questions we are asked most. Usually yes, depending on the design, so ask before you order. The other option is to put the family name on the box instead, something like “The Wilsons”, and let everyone share a family Christmas Eve chest.
Check the size. Christmas Eve boxes come in all shapes and sizes, so do not assume everything will fit. If you are planning on pyjamas, slippers and a book, check the measurements on the product page before you order.

Personalised Baby's First Christmas wooden Christmas Eve box

And yes, the dog can have one. We would not have added a dog treats Christmas box to the range for nothing.

View our Christmas Eve boxes →

What to put in a Christmas Eve box

Simple Christmas Eve box fillers laid out on a wooden table: candy canes, hot chocolate, Christmas socks, a storybook and a bauble

Our best advice, after many Christmases: don’t overdo it. Christmas is expensive enough, and if you have bought a personalised box you have already spent a little extra on the part that lasts. The box is not a second Christmas morning. A few simple treats are plenty: some chocolate, a packet of festive sweets, a small Christmas story, a pair of Christmas socks. The point is the moment, not the contents.

A useful rule of thumb is one thing from each of three groups: something to eat, something to do, something to wear. Then stop.

Babies and toddlers

For babies, keep it simple: a Christmas sleepsuit, a board book or a personalised first Christmas decoration. For toddlers you could add a suitable cuddly toy or some festive pyjamas. At that age they are often as interested in the wrapping as the present, so there is no need to spend a fortune. Personalised baby Christmas gifts are the keepsake end of this. Check the age guidance on any toy, and keep toys and packaging out of a baby’s sleeping space.

Children

This is the age the box was made for.

To eat: hot chocolate with marshmallows, a candy cane, popcorn for the film, a chocolate coin or two. Our Christmas sweets are made for this job.
To do: a Christmas story (a personalised one with their own name in it goes down well), a sticker or activity book, a small game, a letter from Father Christmas, and a bauble to hang before bed.
To wear: pyjamas, slippers or Christmas socks. New pyjamas on Christmas Eve are practically compulsory, and they make the morning photographs better.
For the big night: a small handful of plain porridge oats to sprinkle outside as reindeer food (no glitter and no sugar; the garden birds will thank you), and a key for Father Christmas if you have no chimney. Small, cheap and remembered for years.

Teenagers

Teenagers will tell you they are too old for a Christmas Eve box and then be put out if they do not get one. Go for things they would actually choose: a face mask, a decent bar of chocolate, fluffy socks, a cinema voucher or a film to stream, a bag of their favourite sweets, and pyjamas they would not be embarrassed to be seen in. The box itself still matters. A plainer design such as a Scandi print box with their name on it is less likely to be left in the wardrobe.

Personalised Festive Scandi Print Christmas Eve box

Adults

Grown-ups have caught on too, and nobody needs to know you bought it for yourself. The grown-up version is a night in: a miniature or two, good chocolate, a scented candle, a new mug with a sachet of proper hot chocolate, a book or a crossword, warm socks. For a couple, one box and two of everything.

The whole family

One big box for everyone changes the evening from “opening presents” to “doing something together”. Fill it with a film and popcorn, a board game, a jigsaw, matching pyjamas if you can face it, and the ingredients for a Christmas Eve supper. A family chest with the family name on the lid is the one piece of kit; everything else can come from the supermarket.

Personalised Traditional Family Christmas Eve chest

Ordering in time

Believe it or not, our first Christmas orders arrive in August. Things build steadily from there, and December is our busiest month for Christmas Eve boxes by a distance. After more than twenty years we have learnt that some people are wonderfully organised and others are very much last-minute shoppers, and we love them both. But a personalised box has to be printed with your child’s name before it can be posted, and every December brings enquiries from customers hoping an order will arrive just in time.

So please check the delivery estimate on the product page before you order, particularly in December. Our boxes come from several suppliers, each with its own Christmas shutdown (when the elves go on holiday), so there is no single last order date; the estimate on each product page already allows for it. We would much rather your box arrived with time to spare than have you watching the letterbox on the 23rd.

Last-minute Christmas Eve box ideas

Hands wrapping a shoebox in brown paper at a kitchen table, with a luggage tag, scissors, string and a satsuma

If it is the 23rd and you have only just heard of Christmas Eve boxes, do not panic. The best ones are made from what is already in the house.

The box: a shoebox, a biscuit tin or a basket, wrapped or lined with tissue paper. The children will not mark you down for it.
To eat: the chocolate coins meant for the tree, a mug with a sachet of hot chocolate, a handful of marshmallows, a satsuma.
To do: a library book, the Christmas film you were going to watch anyway, a pack of cards, a sheet of paper with “Dear Father Christmas” at the top, and a handful of porridge oats to sprinkle outside for the reindeer.
To wear: the Christmas socks you bought in November and forgot about, or simply the clean pyjamas.

Write their name on a luggage tag, tie it on and you are done. If it goes down well, you have the start of a family tradition.

One last thing

The nice thing about Christmas Eve boxes is that you can make the tradition your own. It does not matter whether you have filled a wooden box or wrapped up an old shoebox in Christmas paper; the children will enjoy opening it just the same, and before long it may be something they expect to see every Christmas Eve.

Browse our personalised Christmas Eve boxes, and if you are not sure which design will take two names, or whether a box will arrive in time, ask us. We are happy to help.