Celebrate the Holiday With a Mix of Classic and Unique Christmas Dates
‘Tis the season to be jolly—grab your spouse, friends, and family, and start chipping away at (or at least marking time on your calendar to participate in) a few of the festive, fun Christmas activities below. We know it can be controversial dropping Christmas content mid-November, but we want your family to enjoy everything the holidays have to offer by way of making loads of memories together this year, so we’re giving you Christmas date ideas now to start thinking about. Consider opting for more experiences and less gifts this season. Check out our list of 25 cute and cozy Christmas dates!
1. Decorate for Christmas
Decking the halls should certainly count as a date! It’s likely some of you have already decorated. If you’re holding out a bit longer, make the experience as fun as possible. Put on your Santa hats, nibble on snacks, and blast Christmas music while you’re fluffing trees and hanging lights.
2. Go to a Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony
Don’t miss this annual event—search for a Christmas tree lighting ceremony near you to attend with your spouse or the whole family. It’s a great way to kick off the holiday season!
3. Attend a Holiday Concert
Do you see why we dropped these Christmas date ideas now? Don’t delay searching for holiday concerts in your area. If you’re a Christmas music lover, head to town for a musical evening where you’ll hear classic carols.
4. Visit a Christmas Tree Farm
Some people go to cut down a tree; others go for the experience! Either way, head to a Christmas tree farm near you—many will also have snacks, hot cocoa, fire pits, shopping, and maybe a visit from Santa.
5. Do an Advent Study
Spend the days leading up to Christmas studying scripture with your spouse or your entire family. Anticipate celebrating the birth of Jesus by reflecting on this sacred time together.
6. Attend a Christmas Show or Play
Check out holiday calendars around town to see if any local theaters or even schools are putting on Christmas plays or shows.
7. Go Holiday or Window Shopping
Whether you have a long list to work through or not, head out with your honey to Christmas shop or window shop. Grab a latte or hot cocoa, and stroll hand in hand amid the hustle and bustle of the season.
8. Host or Go to an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party
Pull out your tacky holiday sweaters for a fun evening with your spouse. Wear them to a party, or wear them to dinner—who cares?! It’s Christmas—anything goes!
9. Explore a Christmas Market
Opt to purchase unique gifts for your friends and family this year. Rather than going to the mall, see if there’s a Christmas market nearby where you and your sweetie can spend the morning or afternoon browsing.
10. Wrap Christmas Presents
We didn’t say you should forego all gift giving this year. Pull out wrapping paper, tape, scissors, bows, and name tags, and spend an afternoon or evening wrapping presents you’ll give to each other or family members this season. Don’t aim for perfection; aim for turning this tedious task into a family fun night!
11. Look at Christmas Lights
Whether you love attending a fancy light show or throw on your jammies, hop in the car, and drive the surrounding neighborhoods, take an hour to check out all the Christmas lights around town—it’s one way to make the evening brighter!
12. Create a Christmas Playlist
Christmas music…you love it or hate it. If you and your spouse fall in the same camp of loving it, spend a little time creating a Christmas playlist featuring your favorite songs and artists you can listen to all season long.
13. Watch Holiday Movies
This date can last all season long—have everyone pick at least one Christmas movie they want to watch this year, and then throughout the days leading to Christmas, cuddle up on the couch for holiday movie nights—a classic Christmas experience you can’t skip.
14. Cook a Christmas Recipe
Escape the cold, and warm up in the kitchen with your spouse, cooking one of your favorite holiday recipes together. Enjoy an evening at home having intentional conversation while sharing your delicious dinner or dessert.
15. Make Your Own Christmas Ornaments
Making your own Christmas ornaments shouldn’t just be for little kids to do at school—plan a family craft night where you create homemade ornaments to add to the Christmas tree.
16. Bake Holiday Cookies
There are so many Christmas cookie recipes to choose from. Pick one to tackle together, or have a Christmas cookie bake-off to see whose recipe turns out the tastiest.
17. Deliver Sweet Treats to Your Neighbors
See above for date idea number 16—do you have extra? You could bake several sweet treats and deliver them to your neighbors at some point during the holiday season.
18. Volunteer
Let’s face it—volunteering is a great idea year-round; however, specifically during Christmastime, consider spending the afternoon volunteering at a local soup kitchen or purchasing presents to donate to a toy drive.
19. Travel to a Romantic Christmas Destination
Turn a date into a weekend trip! Take an adult only trip or bring the whole family on a Christmas vacation. Maybe, you’ll head to a cute town a few hours from home, or you’ll fly to a winter wonderland—wheels up!
20. Decorate Christmas Stockings
You likely already have Christmas stockings hung, but you could decorate other stockings to hang as additional décor, for example as decoration on everyone’s bedroom door.
21. Have a Peppermint Tasting Party
Gather a bunch of peppermint flavored foods and drinks—peppermint bark, peppermint cookies, peppermint hot chocolate, etc.—and have a tasting party. Which is the best?
22. Decorate Gingerbread Houses
Are you going old school by hot gluing graham crackers to milk cartons, or are you going to purchase a gingerbread house kit? Either way, encourage everyone to display their creativity—who will decorate the best gingerbread house?
23. Go to a Christmas Eve Church Service
You likely already participate in this tradition, but you could use Christmas Eve as an opportunity to visit other churches in your community or watch different Christmas Eve services online.
24. Go on a Christmas Scavenger Hunt
You could approach this date several ways. One example is to hide a specific number of candy canes around the house and see who can find the most. Or, search online for different Christmas-themed scavenger hunts you could do in your home or around town like, “Find a picture of Santa,” and “Hear bells ringing.”
25. Have a Christmas Photo Shoot
Whether your favorite photographer is hosting sessions in front of Christmas trees, you head out to the mall to visit Santa, or you set up a tripod in your living room, make sure to get a snapshot of your family this Christmas to look back on!
Be intentional this year about experiencing all the joy of the season—reflect on the birth of a savior, see a smile spread across someone’s face as they open a gift, or look for the sparkle in your little one’s eyes as they’re mesmerized by the twinkling lights. Find ways to spread joy and receive joy with your spouse and your family. From WinShape Marriage, we wish you a very merry Christmas season!
