We all know that Christmas is such a wonderful time of year, and there are already so many .

But the excitement really peaks on Christmas Eve and there are a few activities that we save for that day especially.

Find the best fun activity to create a lasting Christmas Eve tradition with your family. We’ve come up with 17 Christmas Eve ideas below:

By the time Christmas Eve rolls around, we’ve been sitting on secret gifts for weeks! It’s no wonder we’re all so anxious for our loved ones to open just ONE gift! Opening a gift on Christmas eve is a very popular tradition for families in the U. S. (while a number of other countries open ALL of their gifts on Christmas eve!).

We love giving pajamas or a book for opening on Christmas Eve, since it’s a small and simple way to end the night (rather than a big toy that kids will want to play with the rest of the night.)

Almost every family I know has that ONE particular Christmas movie that their family just loves. For us, it’s Home Alone. For my brother’s family, it’s Elf. And of course others can range from Die Hard to Miracle on 34th Street!

Whatever that movie is for you, get cozy, make some popcorn, and settle in for your Christmas Eve movie night!

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Reading the story of Christ’s birth is a wonderful way to end the night before Christmas. A lot of times Christmas day is filled with presents, visiting family, and making a big dinner. So,it’s a good idea to take some time before the action-packed day to really soak in what the holiday is all about.

If you have smaller kids, you can read from a Children’s Bible (my kids loved ) to make it more kid-friendly.

Food is the basis of so many family traditions, so why not Christmas Eve? A friend of mine always had fondue with her family on Christmas Eve, which I absolutely love! I know some other families have a tradition of ordering Chinese take-out for Christmas Eve.

We made homemade pizza for Christmas Eve for a few years which the kids loved! We made the dough and put out toppings for everyone. And the everyone got to create their own personal pizza made just how they wanted.

Getting together for some fun game time is the perfect way to set the tone of family togetherness. If you have a favorite family game, then Christmas Eve is a wonderful time to get together and play.

Or, you can play Christmas-y games like this (for ages 3 and up) or even a game!

What is a Christmas Eve box?

This was new to me, too. And at first I completely shunned it (because we’re already giving gifts, why add another gift?). But, it’s basically just a designated box that you can reuse every year (this is sort of what makes it special) filled with some little things that you would probably give to the kids on Christmas Eve anyway.

You can make your own easily with a crate, or go all in for a that will last for years.

Some ideas of what to put in the box would be: Christmas pajamas, a Christmas book, maybe a little treat/candy/popcorn, a hot cocoa mix with a special mug.

Basically just a few little things for the kiddos to enjoy during your Christmas Eve family night!

If you have older kids (or little ones who can handle a later bedtime), you can make it a tradition to attend your church’s Christmas Eve service. Most churches host a special service on Christmas eve, with candlelight and Christmas hymns, and it’s truly beautiful.

We love making classic sugar cookies with icing for Santa. It’s easy and there’s nothing the kids love better than piling on heaps of sprinkles to decorate for Santa Claus.

Some families go all in on Christmas Eve every year for a fun-filled day of playing games, building puzzles, baking cookies and cakes, and making Christmas crafts of all sorts. All while wearing their matching Christmas pajamas, of course!

I love this lovely and meaningful Christmas Eve tradition that I picked up from another family. They exchange new ornaments each year to represent their favorite memory of that year with each other.

On Christmas Eve, bake a birthday cake for Jesus.

This is one of my favorite Christmas Eve traditions that I inherited from my family.

We would make just a simple cake that was frosted, and then on Christmas day we’d light candles and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. I think it was an absolutely genius way to reinforce to the kids that we’re celebrating a birthday and that’s what really makes the day special.

You an follow this recipe that is loaded with symbolism.

Don’t stay up too late on Christmas Eve! You can track Santa with the to make sure the kids are headed off to bed before the big guy arrives!

Christmas Eve is the perfect time to find a living Nativity scene near you. When you go, you’ll see a live depiction of the birth of Jesus, complete with full-sized manger and real farm animals. (Live Nativities might be canceled this year, or may be drive through only).

Break out the (and maybe the earplugs, hehe) and invite your family to join in on a seriously fun Christmas song singalong. I guarantee this will be one of the Christmas Eve traditions that will be around for generations and will create memories to last a lifetime.

Who has the ugliest sweater? This is a fun game you can do every year, and is a great option for families with older kids. If your group is too small for a contest to make sense, or if you’d rather avoid competitiveness on Christmas Eve, just make it a fashion show!

On December 1st, make sure everyone knows about the contest so there’s plenty of time to plan. You decide if you want everyone to DIY their sweaters, stick with a price range (thrift store only?) or any other parameters you want. Then, on Christmas Eve, everyone shows off their sweaters to see who truly has the ugliest Christmas sweater of all!

Here are some fun you can check out for inspiration.

There are so many great ideas for fun and meaningful activities to do on Christmas Eve. I’m sure this list only scratched the surface!

But here’s the thing.

When it comes to creating a new tradition, sometimes the best ideas are the ones that happen spontaneously.

For example, we never planned to have looking at Christmas lights become one of our traditions. When the kids were small, we just thought it would be a fun way to end the night.

Then, the following Christmas, the kids remembered and said, “Are we going to do that thing that we did last year where we drove around in our pajamas with apple cider and cookies and looked at Christmas lights?”. So we said sure.

And from that point on, it was the thing we do on Christmas Eve, and it’s such a special and fun time for all of us.

So, the most important thing is to just be open to trying new activities with your family. You never know what’s going to stick and become your new Christmas Eve tradition!