If you are like us over at Casa de Courville, you know how expensive the holidays can be! We love the holidays, but $50 to see the latest Christmas movie, $60 for Safari of Lights, $40 plus rides, to go to Acadian Village, it adds up real quick. We pick and choose our expensive ventures.
There are a ton of ways to make the holidays fun for the whole family, without selling my left kidney.
- Do the bath time routine, bundle up in the very favorite Christmas pjs, make hot chocolate go cups, pack snacks, and drive around town looking at Christmas lights. My kids love this one. There’s a house on Beverly in Bendel Gardens we never miss. It’s set to music, and so fun to watch!
- Gingerbread house building. You can buy a gingerbread house kit at Target for $10.99, and it’s
already put together! The construction of the actual house is always our downfall, so this way we can just decorate and use up all our leftover Halloween candy! There are cheaper kits out there, but you do have to actually glue to walls together on your own. - Christmas pajamas, hot chocolate, snacks, and cuddle on the couch with a great Christmas movie. Netflix has so many random Christmas shows for kids right now, we are doing this every weekend until Christmas!
- Make decorating a family affair. We have three Christmas trees. One is what my children call “The Family Tree.” Then they each have their own 3 foot skinny tree, just for their special ornaments. Annie’s is full of pink tinsel and tons of Disney princesses. Lillian’s is all kinds of purple sparkly with light blue and her newly acquired Harry Potter ornament. We bought these trees after Christmas a couple of years ago for less than $10. They love helping decorate, and it’s a fun family afternoon getting the house all set up for Christmas!
- Go to Barnes and Noble and let the kids pick out a new Christmas book. This year, we discovered Olive the Other Reindeer and Llama Llama Holiday Drama.
- Keep an Advent Calendar. We call ours the candy countdown. (Read: We’re using Halloween candy again for this one.) Every day, they get to eat a piece of candy, counting down the days until Christmas. This would be easy to make your own. Your child can decorate a piece of construction paper and cross off the days, etc. This printable is absolutely precious and FREE!
- Have a random acts of kindness day. Have your children make cards for their relatives, then go deliver them with a candy cane or a Christmas Carol.
- Decorate Christmas sugar cookies. Sugar cookie dough is like $3-4 and so fun to do different things
with. You can dye the dough different Christmas colors, use loads of different sprinkles, or pipe some royal icing on them. We’re going to try these this year! Any way you use them, have fun and enjoy time with your kids. You can also deliver these to your family members. Grandparents will eat anything to make your kids happy. - Grab some friends and take the kids caroling. My parents’ street does this every year, and it is one of our favorite holiday traditions. It’s a great way to spread a little Christmas cheer to those who may not be able to leave their homes at Christmas.
- Christmas music dance party. My girls love a good dance party. We start blasting Christmas music come December 1st, and our dance moves always make for a good laugh. These are especially great when us adults are so stressed out about making the “perfect Christmas” for our kids. Ultimately, they want us and our attention more than they want the “perfect Christmas.” Take five minutes and try to floss. I hope you don’t look as ridiculous as I do.
- Check out local churches for kid friendly Christmas programs. I know FBC Lafayette and Crossroads Church both do phenomenal shows, and they’re free!
Merry Christmas, Everyone!
