A Christmas Eve Box for a Toddler: What Is Worth Putting In It

A story for thisThe first snow they will actually rememberYour child, by name, in every scene. See the First Snow Day story →

What a Christmas Eve box is actually for

A Christmas Eve box is a small box of things opened the night before Christmas. For older children it can be a mini present. For a toddler, it is more useful to think of it as a tool: the most exciting evening of the year needs a way down, and a box full of bedtime things gives you one.

So the test for every item is the same. Does it help this evening get quieter? Pyjamas, a book, a warm drink and something soft all pass. A light-up toy that sings does not, however cute it is.

What goes in a Christmas Eve box for a toddler

New pyjamas. The anchor of the box, and the reason it works. They go straight on, which means bath or wash is done and the evening has turned towards bed without anyone announcing it. Choose soft and tag-free over a stiff festive print, and a size up if you want them to last to spring.

One book. A single calm one, not a stack. A wintry picture book with a slow, quiet ending is ideal. If you buy the same kind of book every year, or reread last year's, it becomes part of the tradition, and toddlers love a book they already know.

Something calm to do together. This is the item that varies most. It could be a short film to watch together on the sofa, a simple jigsaw with big pieces, or a tin of hot chocolate for the grown-ups to make, cooled to lukewarm for small hands. The point is that it is done side by side, sitting down.

A snack to leave out. If your family does Santa, this is the plate for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer, carried to the fireplace or the front door by your toddler, which is a very important job at two. If your family does not do Santa, it works just as well as a treat for the morning, or a few seeds for the birds in the garden at breakfast. Both versions give a toddler something to do with their hands and something to look forward to after sleep.

Optional extras. A new toothbrush (teeth are part of the routine anyway), a small soft toy to sleep with, a cup for warm milk, or a photo or recording from a grandparent who will not be there in the morning. We wrote a whole guide on Christmas gifts for grandchildren who live far away, and a far-away grandparent's parcel fits well inside a Christmas Eve box.

What to leave out

• Sweets. Sugar and excitement on the same evening, an hour before bed, is a hard combination.
• Noisy or light-up toys. Save them for the morning.
• Small parts. The American Academy of Pediatrics' rule for children under three is that every toy and every part should be larger than a child's mouth. It also warns against button and coin batteries and strong magnets, which turn up more often than you would expect in small novelty gifts.
• Anything that needs assembling. You will be tired.
• Too much. Four or five things is a box. Twelve is a second Christmas.

When to open it

Straight after dinner, about an hour before bed. A shape that works for many families:

1. Dinner.
2. Open the box together.
3. The calm thing: watch, read or do the jigsaw on the sofa.
4. Leave the snack out.
5. Pyjamas on, then the usual bedtime routine, in the usual order.

The Sleep Foundation describes a good bedtime routine as three or four activities done in the same order every night, lasting around half an hour, with the house winding down and screens off before it starts. On Christmas Eve, that last part is the one to protect. Whatever you watch, watch it in step three, and turn it off before step five.

Opening the box in the afternoon turns it into another present. Opening it at bedtime turns it into a reason to stay up. Straight after dinner is the sweet spot.

What Christmas movies are calm enough for toddlers?

Rather than trust a list, judge the film. A calm film for a two to four year old has:

• Long, slow shots. Fast cuts keep a small brain tracking.
• Few characters and one simple thread. Nothing at stake, nobody in danger.
• Music that stays soft. Watch out for soundtracks that build to a big finish.
• A short running time. For a toddler on Christmas Eve, a few minutes to a quarter of an hour is plenty. A feature-length film is a late night.

Watch the first few minutes yourself before you put it in the box. And watch it together. The American Academy of Pediatrics notes that children get more from screens when a parent watches with them, and on Christmas Eve, sitting together is most of the point anyway.

How many presents should a 2 year old get?

Fewer than most of us expect. There is no official number, but a lot of two year olds lose interest in unwrapping after a few presents and want to play with the first thing they opened. That is not ungrateful. It is two.

Some families use a simple rule of thumb: something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read. Others spread presents from relatives across the following days, so each one gets opened on its own. Either way, the Christmas Eve box can count as one of the presents, especially if the pyjamas and the book were things you were going to buy anyway.

How to keep Christmas Eve from overwhelming your toddler

• Keep the day ordinary until dinner. Normal nap, normal meals, outside for a while if you can. The American Academy of Pediatrics' holiday advice is to stick to the sleep habits that work at home and to build in quiet time between activities.
• Have one quiet corner. Especially if you have visitors or you are away from home.
• Bring the routine with you. If you are staying with family, pack the box with you, and take their usual blanket, toy and book. The steps of bedtime can travel even when the bed does not.
• Allow a little later, not a lot later. Bedtime twenty or thirty minutes late is fine. The same steps in the same order matter more than the clock.
• Lower the stakes of the morning. "When you wake up, it will be Christmas" is about as much forward talk as a toddler can use. Long speeches about the morning keep them awake.

If you are still working out how much of Christmas a two year old understands and how to talk about it, start with our guide on how to explain Christmas to a toddler.

A story to watch together in the box

If you would like the calm thing in the box to be a film with your child in it, our story First Snow Day is a gentle winter story of about two and a half minutes: the wrong light at the window, the long business of getting dressed (including one arm that will not go into the snowsuit), the squeak of snow underfoot, a snowball that falls apart, and hot chocolate after. It is a mild, bright morning in one small garden, with no storm and nothing frightening, and Finn our little fox hides in it three times for your child to spot. Your child is in every scene and the narrator says their name. It is made for ages three to six, so a two year old is at the young end of it. Every film is checked by a person and is ready within 24 hours, arriving by email and in the FableFleet app, so it still works if you are filling the box on the twenty-second.