Budget-Friendly December 2018 Bucket List

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December is one of our favorite times of the year. We love the music, the lights, the cookies and the holly jolly spirit that tends to saturate the atmosphere all month long.

With the spirit of Christmas in mind, we have composed a bucket list of activities to help enhance this wonderful time of the year. This family-oriented and budget-friendly bucket list for the month of December comes with many merry and bright activities to be enjoyed by everyone.

We invite you and your family to enjoy completing these December activities. At the end of the month, we would love to hear about the activities you and your family participated in!

December Bucket List

• Attend A Light Up Festival – Many cities and towns have annual festivals that focus on them lighting up all their Christmas Lights for the season. My SO and I love attending our local “Light up the Bluff” festival. We will get hot cocoa from our local coffee shop and walk down the bluff enjoying the lights and Christmas music they have.

• Send Christmas Cards – This is one of my favorite activities to do around the Holidays. With the advancement of technology, the art of sending handwritten letters and cards has become less and less over the past years. If you haven’t sent Christmas cards before or in a while. We challenge you to do so this year. You may be surprised by how exciting and jolly it makes you feel!

• Visit Santa – Who ever said that visiting Santa had to be just for the kids? Bring some childlike fun into your month by visiting a local Santa. Make sure you also get a picture with Santa! Parents do not be afraid to do the same when you take the kiddos to meet the big guy. HO HO HO MERRY CHRISTMAS!

• Write Letters To Santa – Writing letters to Santa can be a fun family event. Did you know Santa actually has an address? You can send your handwritten letters to Santa and receive a response before Christmas. The earlier you send them the better!
  • Letters From Santa
  • Package From Santa
  • Write To Santa
  • Email Santa

• Visit A Christmas Tree Farm – We recommend getting a live tree at least once in your lifetime. If you make this year the year that you try out a live Christmas tree, then visit a local U-Pick Christmas Tree farm. Many U-Picks offer budget-friendly options in the type of pine trees they offer. Make it even more special by getting a family picture taken in front of your tree.

• Put up the Christmas Tree – This activity is geared more towards our artificial Christmas Tree families. Pick a day that the whole family can help in getting the tree put up. Do not forget to capture the memories!

• Decorate the Christmas Tree – Spending time together as a family decorating the Christmas Tree is one of our favorite memories. The decorations can be homemade making them super budget-friendly and adding to the sentimental value of the decorating time. Even if you buy your decorations, the sentimental value can still be part of the time spent with family picking out the decorations and strategically placing each one on the tree. The decorations can be the same year after year, but amazing how each year the tree can look different!

• Go On A Sleigh Ride – This has been on my wish list for many years. Our local town has horse drawn trolley rides available throughout the year. I have always wanted to go on a Horse Drawn sleigh ride during the night with a blanket, hot cocoa, light snowflakes and just enjoying the sounds and views of Christmas Decorations. Make it a date night with your special someone or a special memory to add to the whole family!

• Donate to a local Toy Drive/Coat Drive – Consider giving back this year! Many local businesses participate with other organizations that work to give back through toys for tots, various Angel Trees, Adopt-A-Family for Christmas and winter gear drives. One of my most treasured Christmas’s were when my parents chose to Adopt-A-Family for Christmas. Each of us 5 kids still got one gift and a stocking. The magic was when we went to deliver Christmas to this family and how excited they all were. That experience has always stuck with me and I hope to give my daughters the same experience as they get older.

• Watch Christmas Movies – We would say there is nothing better than snuggling up with blankets and the family to watch classic and new Christmas movies. Freeform, Netflix and Lifetime practically play Christmas movies the whole month of December. With a small subscription or perhaps for free you can have all this at your fingertips!
  • 25 Days of Christmas on Freeform
  • Netflix
  • Lifetime

• Create/Buy an Advent Calendar – As a child, every year we had a chocolate surprise advent calendar. My sister and I would take turns alternating the day! This is a tradition that I can’t wait to start with my girls. Now that we have the world of Pinterest, we can even get more creative and make our own. Make a fun afternoon out of it and put together an advent calendar that will delight the whole family!

• Make A Gingerbread House – Do you remember those milk carton Gingerbread Houses we would make in grade school? Bring that magic into your home by building your own Gingerbread house with your favorite treats. Heck, you could make a whole village if you really wanted to! (PS. If you do make a village, please share those photos!)

• Sip Hot Cocoa In Front Of The Fireplace – There is nothing like a good old-fashioned cup of hot cocoa especially enjoyed by a warm fire. Do not have a fireplace, no worries. You can still just enjoy that cup of hot cocoa. Do not be afraid to spruce up your hot cocoa by adding marshmallows and using a candy cane to stir. For a little extra kick add some Kahula or Bailey’s into the mix.

• Make and Decorate Christmas Cookies – This activity could get quite messy and the cookies might not come out perfect. However, Santa really appreciates them and the kids will always remember the time they made and go to decorate special cookies with their mom, dad, grandma and any other adult figure in their life.  Some of our favorites are below!
  • Peppermint Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
  • Hot Chocolate Cookies
  • Soft Batch Christmas Sprinkle Cookies

• Make Christmas Crafts – On those cold snowy days, we love getting creative inside. Thanks to Pinterest, there are so many ideas available to keep yourself and the kids busy during winter break. We are sharing some of our favorite, budget-friendly Christmas crafts to make with the whole family.
  • Scrap Ribbon Tree Ornaments
  • Pinecone Christmas Trees 
  • Jingle Bell Necklaces
  • Bow Tie Christmas Wreath

• Go On A Christmas Lights Tour – There can be many options to go view Christmas Lights. Some businesses and towns conduct their own Christmas Light shows or you can take a drive to your most festive neighborhood local to capture the sights. Just driving around the main streets of your town can bring a fun and budget-friendly evening to you and your family.

• Make Homemade Holiday Gifts – If you are finding your budget a bit tight this year, consider making your own gifts to surprise everyone. Do not worry if you are not creative or crafty, the following gifts below have multiple options and are simple to boot. Remember it is the thought that counts the most!
  • Mason Jar Gifts
  • Christmas Ornaments
  • Christmas Ornaments from the kids
  • Photo Gift Ideas

• Read Christmas Themed Books – There are many fun ways to incorporate reading Christmas books into December. Many families utilize the 25 days of Christmas as a way to read a Christmas themed book each night leading up to Christmas. However, you choose to read Christmas books, check out some of our favorites below!
  • ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas “A Visit from St. Nicholas” 
  • Bear Stays Up For Christmas – Karma Wilson
  • The Littlest Elf – Brandi Dougherty

• Go Christmas Caroling – Every now and then we would have families show up at our front door to sing Christmas Carols. And perhaps this is only something you have ever witnessed in movies. However, this encourages us to try something new and spread Christmas cheer. Now we are encouraging you to try something new this year.  This can be a small family event or a large family event by joining in with other families or local churches and organizations. The options are endless on where you can Christmas Carol.

• Make Your Own Ugly Christmas Sweater – It seems that each year Ugly Christmas Sweater day events or parties are becoming increasingly popular. Bring your own unique vibe while also savings on the budget by making your own. You can pick up low cost Christmas ribbon, glitter and sweaters at any local thrift shops.

• Attend A Holiday Performance – There are many low-cost options to attend various Holiday performances by yourself or with your family. Check out local public schools, colleges, performing arts centers, and any other local event venue.  Events that we are looking forward to here in our Southwest Michigan are:
  • A Steamed Nutcracker
  • Christmas Wonderland
  • Scrooge The Musical
  • How The Grinch Stole Christmas

• Prepare Your 2019 Goals – If you haven’t already starting thinking about your goals for the New Year, December is a great month to begin! December as always been a great month to look back at the past year and determine the progress we made towards our goals. After we have acknowledged our successes and failures, we can move forward in how we should prepare our next year of goals differently. In addition to setting our goals for the next year, we plan to create a vision board for extra clarity and focus.

Do you create monthly bucket lists? How have bucket lists changed your life? What is one thing that you are looking most forward to in December 2018? Share your thoughts in the comments!