The office party has been cancelled; midnight mass will likely be muffled; Santa’s grotto is shut (he’s ice-olating); and Christmas bubbles are causing a whole new kind of headache this year. But, you don’t have to panic. Once you have established who you are spending your five festive days, there are plenty of ways to stop the fun from fizzling out, even if many of December’s familiar traditions have been put on ice. None of them, we promise, involve Zoom.
So if your diary has tinsel blowing through it this December, read on for some entertaining festive ideas on things to do with your Christmas bubble.
Celebrations
1. Santa’s grotto
Yes, most meetings with Santa have migrated to Zoom (bonus – no beard-pulling online) but the biggest and best is still up and running ‘IRL’. Santa’s HQ has been transported to the magical world of, er… Ascot by Lapland UK. Best of all, it is open to a secret and select group of children including yours.
A visit begins with a personal letter of invitation, posted to your home by the big man himself. On arrival, kids are issued with an Elven passport and travel through secret pathways on a totally immersive and hands-on theatrical adventure. Family groups help to assemble toys in Father Christmas’ factory, make gingerbread with Mother Christmas in her kitchen, skate the ice rink and finally have an audience with Santa. You might find your eyes watering a little, and not just because of the price tag (tickets are from £75 a head).
If you can’t (or won’t) stretch to that, then it’s the DIY option for you. Create your own Elven workshop. Decorate the sitting room, brew some hot chocolate, warm some mince pies and fire up the Christmas tunes, then Gather everyone round the table for a present wrapping session. Remember to only wrap presents for people outside your bubble, unless you want to be a Christmas Grinch.
2. Christmas movie marathon
Thanks to the miraculous commercial success of the festive format, you could watch a Christmas movie every night through December and never run dry. So light the fire and the Christmas lights, drizzle some melted chocolate over popcorn and gather everyone on the sofa under a pile of blankets. Bliss.
3. Perform a poem
If your Christmas aesthetic revolves less around tinsel and more around tradition, then ask everyone in your bubble to pick and learn a Christmas poem. Gather everyone together for a recital on Christmas eve. You can even add mulled wine for Dutch courage.
Competitions
4. Christmas Masterchef
Allocate everyone in your bubble a dish to perfect over the next couple of weeks, and finally contribute to the table. The idea being that no single person is chained to the kitchen on Christmas day and also that your mother in law learns to perfect her bread sauce (not that it was anything other than delicious before… carefully how you tread here). Prizes for the best results.
5. Christmas Guess Who
This is a great game to play on Christmas Day, with a healthy dose of jeopardy injected into it. You’ll need an ordinary Guess Who board and some blue-tac to stick the heads of family members who can’t be with you over the standard faces. Passport photos are ideal, but you can also print out photos and chop to size. Watch as your opponent tries to zero in on your choice while exercising diplomacy (“does she have an… imposing nose?”)
6. Gingerbread Village
Challenge everyone in your bubble to create a gingerbread house (or skyscraper, palace, stadium…). Bring all the finished structures together to make a village, and give prizes to the secret Norman Fosters in your bubble. Lidl sells a good kit for £5.99, but more ambitious architects will want to go off-plan.
Food
7. Cook your way round the world
In Holland, on December 5, ‘Sint’ leaves sweets in children’s shoes. In Japan, families kick off the festive period by heading to KFC (no really, you read that right), while in Southern Italy Christmas Eve is celebrated with a seafood feast. Finnish families play a game of ‘find the almond in the cinnamon porridge’ on Christmas morning, and in South Africa, the consumption of fried caterpillars guarantees luck in the forthcoming years.
If you can’t face the creepy-crawlies (though Lord knows we could all use the extra luck for 2021) how about an Australian style Boxing Day barbeque (just add a heavyweight patio heater, like ATR ARTTOREAL’s electric patio parasol umbrella heater, £299 from Amazon)
Giving
8. Donations December
So many people, communities and charities need an extra helping hand this year, so mark each week in December with a charitable act, perhaps for a cause close to your home or heart. It doesn’t have to be cash.
In week one, you might take donations to your local food bank. In week two, perhaps buy a Christmas present for a child who won’t otherwise get one, via the Salvation Army’s appeal. In week three, it could be Christmas cards for your local care home. Ask everyone in the bubble to contribute ideas and causes. It’ll make you all feel far better than the office Secret Santa scheme ever did.
