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Christmas Ideas: 102 Guides for the Holiday Season, From Thanksgiving to New Year's

The best Christmas ideas start at Thanksgiving and run through New Year's Day: games that get the whole family talking, card messages that sound like you, a few Christmassy traditions, a gift rule that keeps the budget sane, a video from everyone who can't be there, and a countdown the kids can stay up for. This guide covers the season in 9 occasions, with the best ideas for each and 102 full guides to go deeper.

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Christmas

Christmas Ideas: 102 Guides for the Holiday Season, From Thanksgiving to New Year's

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How do you plan Christmas ideas for the whole season?

Good Christmas ideas share one trait: they're planned early enough that nobody has to scramble. That matters, because the season is a lot. In the American Psychological Association's 2023 holiday stress survey, 89% of U.S. adults named at least one thing that stresses them out during the holidays, with money and finding the right gifts at the top of the list.

Christmas is also not the only holiday in many homes. Pew Research Center found that 90% of U.S. adults celebrate Christmas, including 85% of people with no religion, and many families also light a menorah or just wait for New Year's. Here is the whole season on one page:

Early November

  • Decide who hosts each holiday
  • Set the gift rule and budgets
  • Agree on any group gift

Thanksgiving week

  • Plan the games and the potluck
  • Take the photo for the card
  • Start a group video for anyone far away

Early December

  • Tree night and the countdown
  • Write and mail the cards
  • Plan Hanukkah's eight nights

Mid-December

  • Cookie swap, caroling, the party
  • Shop the last gifts on the list
  • Draw names for the gift exchange

Christmas week

  • Christmas Eve box
  • Game night and the year-in-review video
  • Thank-you notes after the gifts

New Year's

  • The kids' countdown at 7 p.m.
  • Fill the resolutions jar
  • A walk or hike on January 1

1. Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving

Friends serving themselves from a Thanksgiving potluck buffet in a busy kitchen

Thanksgiving is the warm-up for the whole season. The family is in one room, the December calendar is still open, and it's the easiest moment to ask who's hosting Christmas before plans lock in.

Top 3 ideas

  1. Play one game between dinner and pie. Turkey trivia or a Family Feud round built from a survey of your own relatives gives every age a turn, from the toddler to the quiet uncle.
  2. Make it a potluck with a sign-up list. One main, two sides and a dessert per household keeps the host out of the kitchen and saves you from five green-bean casseroles.
  3. Start a gratitude round. Each person names one thing from the year they're thankful for. Write the answers down and read last year's before you start.

Our idea for the empty chair

Someone missing from the table this year?

We make Tribute, the group video maker, and this is where it fits: start one before Thanksgiving and send the link to everyone who won't be home.

Tribute is a group video maker that turns messages from friends and family into one surprise video. Everyone records a short clip from their phone, and Tribute compiles the clips, music and photos into one video you play at Christmas. Unlike a video call, nobody has to be online at the same time.

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18 guides for Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving

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2. Christmas cards and messages

Hands writing a holiday card at a table with envelopes, string lights and cocoa

Messages are where Christmas gets personal. Write the cards in the first week of December, mail them by mid-December, and use one simple formula for everyone on the list.

Top 3 ideas

  1. Use the three-part card formula. One wish, one real detail from this year, and every name in the house. It turns a store-bought card into a note someone keeps.
  2. Keep one line per group. Write a base line for family, relatives, friends and teachers, then change one detail per card instead of starting from scratch.
  3. Send the family letter by mid-December. Keep it to one page, lead with a story instead of a schedule, and give each person one line.

15 guides for Christmas cards and messages

All occasions ↑

3. Christmas traditions

Family decorating a Christmas tree together in a warm living room

Traditions are the cute Christmas ideas kids remember as adults. You don't need all of them: pick three, repeat them every year, and they become yours.

Top 3 ideas

  1. Make tree night a ritual. Same music, same snack and the same rule every year: the youngest hangs the first ornament, the oldest puts on the star. Add one ornament that marks the year.
  2. Count down with one small thing a day. An advent calendar can hold activities instead of chocolate: bake cookies, call a grandparent, drive around to see the lights.
  3. Pack a Christmas Eve box. New pajamas, a book, cocoa and one small game, opened the night before. It calms the house and starts a tradition in one evening.

10 guides for Christmas traditions

All occasions ↑

4. Christmas games and parties

Family and friends playing a party game at a Christmas gathering

Once everyone is together, games keep the evening moving. Plan for mixed ages and mixed energy: one game a toddler can join, one that gets loud, and one the grandparents can win.

Top 3 ideas

  1. Plan one loud game and one quiet one. Charades or a gift-wrap relay for the noise, a carol lyric challenge for the couch. Hand the timer to a teenager.
  2. Give every party one clear idea. An ugly sweater night, a cookie swap or a cocoa bar does the hosting for you, and guests know what to bring.
  3. Swap names instead of gifts. Compared to buying a gift for every person, a white elephant or Secret Santa with a price limit keeps the cost low and the fun high.

8 guides for Christmas games and parties

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5. Christmas gifts

Woman opening a Tribute Video Book among Christmas wrapping paper and smiling at the screen

Gift pressure is the biggest source of holiday stress for most people. Set a rule, set a budget per person, and the best things for Christmas get easier to find.

Top 3 ideas

  1. Pick a gift rule before December. 3 things for Christmas (three gifts per child), the 4-gift rule (something they want, need, wear and read) or the 5 things for Christmas rule, which adds something to do.
  2. Set the budget per person, then shop. Decide the number first and shop each person's list by budget, so the expensive things for Christmas go where they matter.
  3. Pool money for one gift that matters. One meaningful gift from everyone beats ten small ones nobody remembers. A Tribute works the same way: everyone chips in a minute of video instead of cash.

24 guides for Christmas gifts

All occasions ↑

6. Hanukkah

Family lighting the menorah together at a dining table during Hanukkah

Many families celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas, or have relatives on each side who celebrate one. Hanukkah follows the Hebrew calendar, so its eight nights move each year and often give you a second moment to gather.

Top 3 ideas

  1. Give each night its own theme. A dreidel tournament, a latke night, a night of giving to a local charity, a book night. Eight short themes keep every night special.
  2. Keep the gifts small. One small gift per night, or skip some nights for family activities instead of one huge gift night.
  3. Learn one greeting. Chag urim sameach means happy festival of lights. It's a warm way to open every card and call.

6 guides for Hanukkah

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7. Holiday videos and the year in review

Family looking back at the year with a letter and an open Tribute Video Book

Video is the easiest way to bring faraway relatives into the room and to look back at the year together. Each idea below takes an evening to set up and gets watched again and again.

Top 3 ideas

  1. Keep each clip to 5 to 10 seconds. Short clips keep a family video tight enough to watch twice, and nobody has to rehearse.
  2. Build the year by month. Gather the best clips from everyone's phones, arrange them January to December, add one song and play it after dinner.
  3. Give a video call one activity. A shared cookie bake or a gift opening on camera keeps a virtual party under an hour and fun for kids.

6 guides for holiday videos and the year in review

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8. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day

Couple celebrating New Year's Eve at home with sparkling cider and string lights

New Year's Eve is the season's last gathering and a good moment to look back at what you did together. Keep it simple, above all with kids who won't make it to midnight.

Top 3 ideas

  1. Count down early with the kids. Pick a time zone where it's already midnight and count down with them at 7 or 8 p.m. Parents still get their own midnight.
  2. Start a resolutions jar. Each person writes one hope on a slip of paper, folds it and drops it in a jar to open next New Year's Eve.
  3. Plan January 1. A walk, a pancake breakfast or a first-day hike starts the year together instead of on the couch.

12 guides for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day

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9. Firsts and loss

Not every season is merry. If this is your first Christmas without someone, it's okay to skip a tradition, change one or keep it quiet. And some firsts are happy ones.

Three gentle ideas

  1. Give yourself permission. Skipping, changing or keeping a tradition quiet are all okay. Take what helps and leave the rest.
  2. Make room for the person you miss. Light a candle at dinner, share a favorite story or set out their ornament first.
  3. For newlyweds: keep one, invent one. Pick one tradition from each family and start one that's only yours.

3 guides for firsts and loss

All occasions ↑

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some good Christmas ideas for families?

Tree night, an advent countdown, a family game night, a white elephant exchange and a group video for relatives far away all work for mixed ages. Pick three and repeat them every year so they become traditions.

What are cute Christmas ideas for kids?

A new ornament each year, a countdown with one small activity a day, a Christmas Eve box and a New Year's countdown at 7 p.m. are cute and easy. Most of them cost little or nothing.

What is the 5 things for Christmas rule?

It limits each child to five gifts: something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read and something to do. It keeps the pile smaller and makes shopping faster.

What are Christmassy things to do in December?

Decorate the tree together, go caroling or on a lights walk, host a cookie swap, watch a holiday movie and bake with the kids. A bucket list or a 12-day countdown spreads them across the month.

How can family who live far away be part of Christmas?

Ask them to record a short video message ahead of time and play the group video on Christmas morning, or plan a virtual party with one shared activity. Everyone records or joins when it suits their time zone.

When should you start planning for Christmas?

Start in early November. Decide who hosts, set a gift rule and open any group video 2 to 3 weeks before the day, since collecting messages takes time.

How do you celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah in the same family?

Treat them as two separate moments with their own traditions. Hanukkah follows the Hebrew calendar, so check the dates each year and plan the eight nights around them.

👉 Start your holiday Tribute and bring the whole family into this season, even the ones who can't be there.

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