The Christmas Holiday Activity Checklist

Traditional Christmas preparations like decorating the tree and filling stockings are practically mandatory. To make Christmas even more special this year, take a look at Brantano’s list of festive activities and crafts. They’re perfect for spending more time with your family and helping you engage your children with entertaining, educational and exciting seasonal tasks.
Read their Christmas holiday bucket list below:
Bake cookies

Christmas is one of the few times of the year where eating a bucket load of cookies is acceptable. This Christmas, leave the store-bought ones behind and bake your own.
By using simple cookie recipes, the kids can join in with the baking fun — they’ll especially like decorating the cookies with buttercream, melted chocolate and sprinkles.
Making cookies can be a great bonding experience for you and your children. You can find many easy cookie recipes online or, for something more advanced, try making gingerbread!

Write letters to Santa

Writing letters to Santa is a great activity to get yourself and the kids in the Christmas spirit. Pick up some gift guides from local toy stores or let your kids browse online before they put pen to paper.
Royal Mail suggests sending Christmas letters to Santa by December 6th, so Father Christmas has enough time to reply. You can send these letters to the address below. Don’t forget to attach a stamp to your letter!
Make decorations and cards
Arts and crafts are great for keeping your little ones entertained in the run-up to Christmas. There’s so many activities you can do — here are our favourites:
Glitter glue cards:
Glitter glue cards are really simple to make and they look great too. Follow these simple steps:
1.Fold a piece of A4 card in half.
2.Draw out a festive pattern on the card using PVA glue. Christmas trees, holly and snowflakes work really well.
3.While the glue is still wet, sprinkle glitter over the pattern. Make sure you place a newspaper down to minimise the mess.
4.Stand the card up and gently tap to remove excess glitter and allow to dry.
Felt Christmas stockings
Your kids will love making their own Christmas stockings and it’s easier than it looks.
1.Take a piece of red felt and fold it in half.
2.Draw out a stocking shape on it.
3.Carefully cut the shape out — you may need to help or supervise your child with this.
4.Using a needle and thread, carefully sew both pieces of felt together, leaving the top open. Again, you may need to help your child with this step.
5.Create a loop with a piece of ribbon and glue it to the inside of the top of the stocking.
6.Decorate your stocking — glitter, buttons, stars and sequins are great choices.

Visit a Christmas market
Christmas markets are fun for the whole family and there’s sure to be one near you. Spend the day browsing through the many stalls and picking up some cute handmade gifts before warming up with a hot chocolate. You may be able to enjoy a spot of carol-singing too, to really get you into the Christmas spirit.
To avoid any grumbles, make sure you and your little ones are well wrapped up. Tuck them into their warmest wellies to tackle the wet weather and make sure they wear their winter coats, hats and scarves.