Christmas morning is such a special and precious time with your family. And it’s truly magical when there are small children in the house. And while all the magic may look like it was nearly effortless on Christmas morning, we all know that there are SO many hours of preparation that goes into getting Christmas morning ready for your family. In that spirit, I’ve prepared a Christmas morning preparation checklist to help you make sure you have everything on hand you need to make the morning successful and easy.
Prep Ahead Work
Successful little elves will do some prep work ahead of time! Get ahead of the game with these ideas.
Pre-Assembly:
Pre-assemble anything you can. Especially big-ticket items like bikes and tricycles and things that your child is going to want to jump on and ride immediately. Find a handy spot in the garage where you can assemble toys and then hide them with old blankets or boxes.
If there are toys that you know will need quite a bit of assembly, look and see if it’s possible that you could put it together, then simply put it in another box and wrap it that way, all assembled. I order a ton of stuff from Amazon and a lot of the time it comes in huge boxes. I save some of those so I have a variety of sizes of boxes at my disposal when wrapping and assembling time comes around!
Christmas Morning Assembly
Sometimes, it’s just not going to be avoidable. You are doing to have to put some toys together on Christmas morning. And that’s totally ok. That’s part of the morning! And if it’s the toy your child is just itching to play with, tell them you can put it together just as soon as everyone is done opening gifts. Don’t make them wait too long, but it’s alright to not completely halt Christmas morning to put a toy together too.
Cameras
Make sure you have your camera all charged up and ready to go. I know these days, it’s mostly people’s phones, and that’s totally fine too. Just make sure you have plenty of battery power ready to go for your Christmas morning pictures.
If you think it’s going to be a particularly eventful moment, make sure you try and capture it on video. If you don’t want to have to remember to switch it to video at the moment, you could always set up a camera in the corner or on a tripod to video the full Christmas morning experience. We have a Nikon camera that can record excellent video. I can set it in the corner and let it run for the time we are opening gifts. That way if there are any precious moments, they are caught right then and there and you don’t have to worry about trying to catch it all with your phone.
Set the Scene
Try and take the time to set the scene for Christmas morning. Get ahead of your child(ren) and turn on the Christmas lights on the tree. One of you can hold the kids in another room or upstairs for a few extra moments while the other goes to make sure everything looks great and ready (and gets the camera ready!)
It might also be fun to have a little Christmas music playing. I’ve got a playlist filled with all the Christmas classics ready to go for our Christmas morning. You can listen to it here on Spotify if you’d like!
Christmas Morning Prep Kit
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Having a Christmas morning prep kit is one of the most essential pieces of advice I could give you for a smooth Christmas morning. You need a basket to keep this all together and handy. And inside this basket, you need the following items:
- Batteries – all sizes
- Screwdrivers – multiple sizes
- Scissors
- Notepad and pen
- Camera/Phone and Chargers
- Trash Bags
- Scotch Tape
- Small zip-lock bags – for small toy pieces
- Flashlight
- Reading glasses/magnifying glass
- Ipad/Phone for Facetiming/Skype
Click HERE to download your Christmas morning prep checklist.
Food
Everyone has their own Christmas morning breakfast traditions, and to each their own. But if you are looking for something to add or need to begin a tradition, give some of these ideas a try!
Quick Foods:
Donuts and pastries from the local bakery or the bakery section of your grocery store would be quick and easy breakfast food for a hectic Christmas morning.
Bagels and cream cheese would also make an easy and delightful breakfast for Christmas morning. And that’s as easy as it gets!
In our family, we make a few cans of cinnamon rolls to munch on while we open gifts. There is always the delicious smell of cinnamon rolls cooking while we open presents and it’s like a giant, warm hug!
If you are looking for a heartier breakfast, there are a TON of make-ahead casseroles you can search for online. Most of these breakfast casseroles can be prepped the night before, so all you have to do is pop them in the oven and let them cook up while you are opening gifts and enjoying Christmas morning.
A few recipes I found that looked promising were:
- Top 10 Christmas Morning Casseroles from Budget Savvy Diva
- French Toast Casserole from Freezer Meals 101
- Apple Fritter Breakfast Casserole from Num’s The Word
- Easy Breakfast Casserole with Potatoes and Ham from The Food Charlatan
Schedule
Do keep in mind the time and schedule if you need to be somewhere to celebrate Christmas with others. We generally gather as a family around 9 or 10 for a big breakfast and to open family gifts together.
So, that means we need to be opening our presents at our house around 7ish to get everyone ready in time to go to the gathering. We’ve never had to wake a kid up, that’s for sure. Usually, we are done by 7 am! The magic of Christmas tends to bring early rising kiddos!
Don’t rush Christmas, and definitely set a schedule for the day that works for you and builds in plenty of time for the kids to play with their new gifts.
Take it All In
Now, for the most important part. Your work is done. You’ve shopped, you’ve baked, you’ve prepared. You’ve made it magical. Now, it’s time to sit down and enjoy Christmas with your family. It’s time to take a deep breath, really take in the morning,and make some sweet memories. There’s only a few Christmas morning when your kids are small and Christmas is this huge deal. Enjoy every single second of it.
Wrap Up – Christmas Morning Prep Checklist
In conclusion, Christmas morning is a time to be enjoyed and remembered. And the last thing you want to do is spend it scrambling to make sure you have all the pieces and parts and odds and ends in place. Spend a little time on the front end getting everything ready and prepared and you’ll thank yourself when it’s time to sit down and open gifts on Christmas morning. Use your Christmas morning prep checklist and you’ll be prepared for a smooth and delightful Christmas morning.
We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a blessed and happy new year. Just keep shuffling!
Related Posts:
- How to Quickly Recover from Holiday Overspending
- Easy Ways to Save Money on Christmas Gifts
- Practicing Mommy Self-Care During The Holiday Season
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