Christmas Eve Boxes [Stuck On You feature + Giveaway]

It's December!!! It's December!!! I'm so excited to share with you maybe my favorite holiday tradition (and we have quite a few!)  We do it every year and it's not only simple but makes for years of special memories that we get to relieve every time we decorate the tree.

You're going to want to start this with your family this year, I know it!  It's the Christmas Eve Box and it can be customized any way you'd like, but I'll let you know how we put ours together:


[Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Stuck On You but all opinions are ideas are my own. Giveaway voucher is a gift from Stuck on You to one lucky winner chosen at random by Rafflecopter.com]

The concept is simple: Create a box for each child in your family.  Let them unwrap this "gift" on Christmas Eve.  They'll be excited about opening a gift early and they can wear their jammies that night!  Here's what (and why) I include in our boxes:

1-Pajamas.  Usually a "christmas" or winter theme, something that they'd look super cute in on Christmas morning!  I've never gotten my kids matching ones but this year I knew they would love it because they love their other matching outfits that they own.

2-Books.  Books are so very important to our family and my kids adore reading. I always include a Christmas themed book inside their boxes.  We are all excited to crack the book open and read it together that night. This year I changed things up a little and included two extra special books for my kids.  For my daughter, a custom book with her name in the story and for my son a wipe clean activity book to use in the car as we do all of our holiday traveling.

3-Special Ornament. Every year I (usually DIY) an ornament based around a "big event" that happened to them that year. In the past I've done things like: 'first trip to the ocean/beach", "first flight", "becoming a big brother", etc.  This year I highlighted my son starting preschool and since my daughter reached several "biggies" in her first year of life, this year we opted for a 'favorite things' theme instead.  *keep an eye on the blog next week and I'll detail these a little more*

[His actual ornament has a vinyl logo of his preschool on it but I changed it here for privacy reasons!]

I'm so excited for the kids to open their boxes this year.  I also really like that my daughter is going to finally have her own name book.  Her brother has several of his own (we're big fans) but this will be her first.  There aren't a lot of good Christmas ones out there and this one is absolutely perfect.  Here's why:

1. I LOVE the messages within the story.  I chose The Christmas Deer and it tells about all the different reasons that Christmas is important to the different animal characters. It covers a wide range of reasons including music, food, time with those we love, Santa and baby Jesus.  I love this because no matter who receives this book, they can find something that they connect with.

2. It also includes the child's name within the book multiple times.  It's not just slapped on the cover but worked within the story.

... it also includes the name (front) and date (back) of the book so it can be preserved in their memory box if you wish!

3. It comes with an activity book!  I'll be honest- I thought this was attached to the book at first and I wished the book just came by itself (my daughter is still a little young to do the activities) but when I realized it was separate, I was thrilled! I can either save it for her when she gets older, or give it to my son to do now.

[The coloring pages are perfect for my daughter though!]

Counting, coloring, mazes, puzzles, spot the difference and even craft projects are all including in this little workbook!  How darling is this?!

My only complaint about the book is that I wished it would come in more "neutral" options.  Of course they need to know "boy or girl" for the "s/he" references in the book but I don't love that it has to be pink for girls and blue for boys.  My daughter does love pink, but not all do.  However, the Santa Town story book is set in more neutral tones for someone who is really looking for that, so I love that they do have that option available.

No matter what you choose to put in your Christmas Eve Box, make it special for your little one(s).  We've only got 18 years  (or so) to make memories like this, so let's make them count.  Psst: These Christmas books are even on sale right now on their website, so you can get custom books for way cheap!  Order by December 7 to get your book in time for Christmas!

How about we give away a $40 voucher to shop at Stuck on You?! You can get yourself TWO personalized books with that!!!  Just enter to win using the widget below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What would you put in yours?