Christmas Eve box ideas and fillers: what to put inside, by age

A Christmas Eve box is a small box of things a child opens on the evening of 24 December: new pyjamas (pajamas, if you are reading this in the US), a story for bedtime, something for a hot chocolate, and one or two small things that make the night feel different from every other night. It began as a British tradition and has spread, mostly because it solves a real problem. Christmas Eve is the longest evening of a child’s year, and a box gives it a shape: bath, box, pyjamas, story, bed. Below are Christmas Eve box ideas by age and by budget, 25 fillers, a few personalised touches and a checklist. Two of the fillers are our own products and are marked as such; the rest are just ideas, with no affiliate links.

The classic five

Most Christmas Eve boxes for kids are built around the same five things. You do not need all of them, and you do not need anything expensive.

1. New pyjamas

The original filler and still the best. Matching family pyjamas are popular for the photo, but a single pair the child chose themselves gets worn longer. If you want the box to feel like a surprise, hide the pyjamas at the bottom and let everything else come out first.

2. Hot chocolate

A sachet, a mug the child does not normally use, marshmallows or a candy cane to stir with. A “hot chocolate kit” in a small bag counts as one gift and fills the first ten minutes after the box.

3. A bedtime story

A Christmas book is the traditional choice. A new one every year builds a shelf; the same one every year builds a ritual. Both work. For a story with your child’s own name in it, see the section on a bedtime story starring them below.

4. A film for the evening

Write the title on a card with the words “tonight, on the sofa, with the lights off.” Choosing the film in advance removes the forty minutes of arguing about which film, which is a gift to the parents.

5. One small toy or activity

A small puzzle, a card game the family can play after tea, a craft that takes half an hour, a bath bomb. The job of this item is to fill the gap between dinner and bedtime, not to compete with tomorrow.

25 Christmas Eve box fillers

Once the classics are in, these Christmas Eve box fillers round it off. Pick three or four; a box that is too full turns the evening into a second Christmas morning. Typical prices are in pounds and are rough ranges, not quotes.

For a free filler, our printable letter from Santa lets you type your child’s name and a few things about their year and print it at home. Fold it, seal it, and put it on top.

Add a little magic

These are the fillers that are about the night rather than about stuff.

A message from Santa before bed

A short video in which Santa, an Elf, a Snowflake or a Reindeer says your child’s name, mentions the things you told us about (the big school year, the new bike, how kind they were to their little brother) and sends them off to sleep. You read the script for free before you pay, so you can keep it to things you know are true. Put a card in the box that says “Santa has a message for you”, then play it on a phone or on the telly as the last thing before the stairs. A video of 10 to 15 seconds is about the right length for a child who is already over-excited. If your family calls him Father Christmas, mention it in the wishes.

Reindeer food (without the glitter)

A small bag of oats and seeds to scatter on the lawn or the balcony for the reindeer. Skip the glitter that many recipes suggest: it ends up in the soil and in birds, and the oats alone do the job. Let the child make the bag in the afternoon and “find” it in the box in the evening.

A key for Santa

If your home has no chimney, a large old key on a ribbon, with a tag saying “for Santa, leave on the doorstep”, answers the question before it is asked. Reuse the same key every year.

A plate for the snack

A paper plate the child decorates, or a plate kept only for this night, for the mince pie, the carrot and perhaps a small glass of something for Father Christmas. It costs nothing and gets used every year.

A bedtime story starring them

A story in which the child is the hero is a different kind of bedtime story. They do not listen to it; they check it, page by page, to see what they do next. Our comic is a 25-page Christmas adventure with your child’s name in the title and in the speech balloons. The hero can be drawn from one photo (you choose between two cartoon versions, and the photo is used once and never stored by us) or you can pick one of two ready-made heroes and use no photo at all. Little ones enjoy it read aloud and older children read it on their own. It comes in one of 7 languages (English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Italian or Polish), and it reads as an online flip-book with page turns or as a PDF on a tablet or computer. It is digital, not a printed book, which is exactly why it still works if you are putting the box together on the afternoon of the 24th.

For a Christmas Eve box, the easy version is a tablet in the box with the cover on the screen, name and all. The reading happens in bed, with the pyjamas on. If you would like to know how one photo becomes a cartoon hero, the how it works page shows the whole process.

Christmas Eve box ideas by age

Toddlers (1 to 2)

• Soft pyjamas or a sleepsuit with a Christmas print.
• A board book with flaps or textures.
• A soft toy reindeer to take to bed.
• Bath toys or a gentle bubble bath for the bath before the box.

Ages 3 to 5

• Pyjamas with something on them they recognise (a reindeer, a snowman).
• A picture book with flaps, or one with their name in it.
• Reindeer food to scatter outside, in their own hands.
• A colouring book and chunky crayons.
• A Santa video (10 to 15 seconds is about their attention span at 7 pm).

Ages 5 to 7

• Pyjamas they picked, or a “Christmas Eve” T-shirt that comes out once a year.
• A comic or a chapter book they can start tonight; the comic with their name fits here.
• A small craft: paper snowflakes, a decoration to hang before bed.
• A card game short enough to finish before bedtime.
• The key for Santa and the plate for the snack, which they will take very seriously.

Ages 7 to 9

• Pyjamas, still. They will complain and wear them for a year.
• A longer book, or a comic where they are the hero.
• A puzzle or a small building set they can finish in an evening.
• The film on a card, with popcorn.
• A “Christmas Eve jobs” list: lay the plate, scatter the oats, hang the stockings. Older children like a role.

Ages 10 and up

• Good pyjamas or loungewear in a colour they would actually choose.
• A face mask, lip balm or a nice hand cream for the tween who likes a “pamper night”.
• A graphic novel or the next book in a series they love.
• A family quiz they write the questions for.
• Their favourite snacks for a late film, and permission to stay up for it.

Looking for the main presents as well? Personalised Christmas gifts for kids, by age goes through what works at each age, and our guide to Christmas Eve traditions has more ideas for the evening itself.

Christmas Eve box checklist

Tick what you have. A good box has one thing from each of the first four rows; the rest is extra.

• Box, sack or basket (with their name, if you reuse it)
• Pyjamas, at the bottom
• Hot chocolate and a mug
• A bedtime story
• A film card and popcorn
• One small activity
• Reindeer food and Santa’s plate
• A message or letter from Santa, last out of the box

The two digital items in the list, the video and the comic, are also the two you can still add on the afternoon of 24 December. If the box is the thing you forgot, the last-minute Christmas gifts for kids guide has more that arrive today.

Budget box ideas

A Christmas Eve box can cost almost nothing, and the cheap ones are often the ones that become traditions, because you can repeat them.

• Reuse the box. One box, decorated once, brought out every year. The box itself becomes the signal.
• Pyjamas are the budget. Spend there, and make everything else homemade or from the cupboard.
• Borrow the story. The library has a shelf of Christmas books in December; a borrowed book wrapped in a tea towel is still a surprise.
• Make the magic. Reindeer food, the key, the plate and a handwritten note from the elves cost a few pence and an afternoon.
• One screen, not three. If you add a Santa video or a comic, make it the only screen in the box and the last thing before bed.
• Skip what tomorrow does better. Toys belong under the tree. The box is for the evening.

Whatever you put in, keep the order the same every year: bath, box, pyjamas, snack for Santa, story, bed. The order is the tradition. The box is just where it starts.