Frugal Friday: More than 100 Frugal Family Activities for CHRISTMAS!

I have some wonderful memories of wonderful Christmas times with my family growing up. But as a parent how do you create those? It's easy for family time to get lost in all the hustle and bustle of Christmas parties, Christmas shopping, and just day-to-day busyness. Are you making sure that you take some time to really enjoy this wonderful season with your family? Well, in case you need some help, today I'm sharing more than 100 frugal family activities for Christmas! 

1. Decorate the Christmas Tree
2. Build something out of snow - e.g. a snow man, or a snow animal
3. Go Sledding
4. Make homemade gifts for each other
5. Donate some food to a local food bank
6. Bake Christmas Treats
7. Set up the nativity and play with the characters. We usually use a plastic nativity set that we have, but if you don't have one you can make one out of card stock. 
8. Watch an old Christmas Movie
9. Go on a night hike
10. Make a homemade wreath
11. Go visit Santa and take a picture
12. Sing "Feliz Navidad" and have a Latin Christmas party!
13. Make Christmas cards to give away
14. Create a Christmas Board Game
15. Go on a walk or drive to see the Christmas lights in the neighborhood
16. Shovel a neighbor's walk
17. Read a Christmas Story
18. Doorbell ditch something on a neighbor's door
19. Read the nativity story
20. Write a Christmas poem
21. Have a Bethlehem dinner
22. Spend an evening playing board games
23. Invent a new holiday tradition
24. Build a snow fort
25. Make and decorate a gingerbread house
26. Make homemade Christmas ornaments
27. Make a popcorn garland to hang on the tree
28. Go caroling at a senior citizen or retirement home
29. Make a paper chain to count down until Christmas
30. Put together a puzzle
31. Have a sleepover under the Christmas tree
32. Go sledding
33. Play this cute Gingerbread dice game
34. Have a pillow fight
35. Make Christmas cookies
36. Use this secret service star idea to give service in your families
37. Write letters to Santa and mail them
38. Go window shopping and enjoy the holiday displays (just make sure you stay outside, or it won't be very frugal!)
39. Make reindeer food to sprinkle on your lawn on Christmas eve
40. Dress up in costumes and act out the nativity story (this was always our Christmas Eve tradition)
41. Go to the library and check out some Christmas books to read
42. Make some jingle bell shakers and sing jingle bells
43. Pick a family to play the twelve days of Christmas to - make a gift and deliver it secretly on their door each day for 12 days before Christmas
44. Have a hot chocolate party
45. Make a Paper Christmas Train
46. Instead of "Simon Says" play "Santa Says"
47. Take your own family Christmas pictures
48. Have a pajama party!
49. Make snowflakes
50. Make some snowballs and have an indoor snowball fight!
51. Dress up as Christmas trees
52. Play "I spy" with the Christmas tree ornaments on the tree- this game entertained us for hours when I was a kid!
53. Sing Christmas Carols
54. Make Christmas Fudge
55. Hang Christmas lights in the kids room and leave them on for them while they are falling to sleep - I remember how magical this was to me as a child.
56. Hide something in the house (we usually choose the baby Jesus from our nativity scene) and play hot and cold to find it. 
57. Make red & green play dough
58. Snap goofy camera shots behind a headless snowman.
59. Count down to Christmas with this good deed jar
60. Have a picnic in front of the Christmas tree
61. Dance to some Christmas music
62. Make a cardboard box house (out of a refrigerator box) and decorate it for Christmas
63. Make Giant ice marbles to decorate outside
64. Choose a Christmas tradition from another country to incorporate into your Christmas celebration this year
65. Go exercise together. We need it! Especially with all the extra treats around...
66. Leave a Christmas gift for your mail carrier
67. Make blessing bags to give to those in need
68. Do something nice for the person behind you in line at the store. 
69. Frost sugar cookies
70. Here's a cute idea to wrap up gifts under the tree for 12 activities to do during the Christmas season.
71. Have an evening at home and sit around the fire (or a pretend one) and share your favorite Christmas memories
72. Have a special Christmas plate that each child gets to take turns eating on for dinner.
73. Make an advent Calendar and count down until Christmas.
74. Make Rudolf Candy Canes or Christmas mice to hang on the tree
75. Help the kids make gifts for their friends or grandparents.
76. Make Salt Dough Ornaments
77. At the beginning of December, each member of the family writes a gift to give Jesus during that Christmas season. The papers are put inside a box wrapped with gold paper and placed under the tree. The box is opened on Christmas and the gifts are read aloud.
78. Make luminaries to line your sidewalk. This was a tradition that some of my family members have who live where it's still good weather during the holidays.
79. Make hand print gifts from the kids. There are so many cute ones out there and the kids love to participate. Even the smallest kids can.
80. Make marshmallow snowmen
81. Print out Christmas coloring pages to color
82. Make Baby Jesus Bread
83. I love these activity ideas to make the Christmas season centered around Christ.
84. Make a paper snowball launcher and have a snowball fight!
85. Make tracks in the snow for someone to follow
86. Make gifts for the neighbors
87. Learn to sing Silent Night in German
88. Make a wreath out of evergreen boughs
89. Decorate Gingerbread cookies
90. Draw names for secret Santa names. Put all your families names in a hat and each person draws. Each day during the Christmas season do something nice for your person in secret.
91. Have an old fashioned evening using only candles for lights.
92. Clean out the house and donate toys & stuff to charity.
93. Make some homemade wrapping paper
94. Have a picnic next to the Christmas tree
95. Make snowflakes out of tortillas, spread with butter and a little cinnamon sugar and broil until crispy
96. Make edible gifts for the birds
97. Play name tune with Christmas music
98. Have a Christmas Scavenger hunt
99. Make some edible ornaments for the Christmas tree
100. Have a hat contest to see who can make the best Christmas hat out of construction paper.

And if you still need even more ideas, here they are:

Lots more Christmas Ideas

Nativity Activities
> 100 Frugal Activities for Winter

What about you? What does your family enjoy doing at Christmas time? Do you have any fun traditions that you want to start or have done in the past? Thanks for sharing and hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!