Do you ever see those adorable Christmas ideas for kids on Pinterest and think… does that actually work?
We’ve scoured the internet for some of the most popular “Christmas hacks” and ideas out there and put them to the test.
Are they difficult? Do they take a lot of time? Is the outcome successful?
Let’s find out!
Pssst…. be sure to PIN THIS NOW so you can easily reference it later!
Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links. See our disclosure policy for more details.
The Internet’s Most Popular Christmas Ideas for Kids – Tested by Real Moms
We set out to try as many Christmas ideas for kids as possible. Here’s how it went:
DIY Glitter Ornaments
Have you seen pins about making your own glitter ornaments using floor polish? There’s a great tutorial about this easy DIY project at Today’s Creative Life that gives good tips for both glitter ornaments and painted ornaments.
I love these because the glitter is on the inside of the ornament so it doesn’t get all over your entire house! All you need is some clear plastic ornaments, pledge floor polish, and (of course) glitter.
I made these several years ago, and not only were they super quick and simple to make, but they turned out gorgeous! They’ve also held up perfectly over the years.
The Verdict? WIN!
Streamers Smash
I originally found the idea of a ‘streamers smash’ on Pinterest and it has become one of my all-time favorite Christmas ideas for kids and a yearly tradition in our household.
The idea is that when Santa comes on Christmas Eve, he sets up a “wall” made out of holiday-colored streamers that blocks off the tree and all the presents. On Christmas morning, the kids get to run through the wall and tear apart the streamers to make their way to the gifts.
This Christmas tradition is perfect in every way. First, it’s super easy to set up for parents the night before. Second, kids LOVE running through the streamers and leaving a mess of crepe paper in their tracks.
Finally, it serves a very practical purpose. Setting up the streamers prevents little ones from exploring their presents and any other Christmas surprises you’ve set up before the rest of the family rises.
Oh and buying Christmas streamers is also super cheap – so that’s a major bonus too.
The Verdict? WIN!
Candy Cane Place Holder
There are several versions of this idea on Pinterest, but the gist is that you glue three upside down candy canes together to create a placecard holder.
This looks adorable and seems super simple, right?
Ok, so there are a few variables that complicate it a bit, and perhaps that’s where things started to get off course for me. You have to decide whether to use small or full-size candy canes and whether they’re wrapped or unwrapped.
The mini candy canes were a little easier to get the angle right, but they must be unwrapped which makes them a bit sticky and you can’t eat them after.
For full-size candy canes, you have the option of keeping them wrapped which makes them easy to handle when gluing and you could still eat them later. BUT if your glue gun is too hot you can melt the plastic wrapper and make a mess. The full-size candy canes I used also were not as uniform with different angled hooks and small variations that made them a bit more challenging to glue the angles correctly.
Finally, this was not nearly as simple for me as it appeared. Getting the angles right took far more time than I anticipated or they aren’t sturdy and constantly fall over. So while the end result was cute, I did not find this very easy or time effective.
The Verdict? FAIL
Fancy Decorated Cupcakes/Cookies
This one was, believe it or not, my husband’s idea. I decided to wash my hands of it because I was positive it would be a miserable fail.
He bought a cupcake decorating kit with premade cupcakes, pre-colored icing, piping bags, and icing tips. He planned about six cupcake designs he wanted to try out.
I should add, this was something totally out of left field for my husband to suggest. In the 15+ years that I’ve known him he has never once suggested any activity baking-related. But I digress.
Somehow… the cupcakes he and the kids created turned out awesome. So the moral of the story is to not be afraid to try something new and different. Go for the fancy decorating!
The Verdict? WIN!
Matching Family Pajamas
All of a sudden matching family Christmas pajamas are everywhere!
I love the matching pj craze! It makes for adorable Christmas photos and is just so much fun!
The only drawback if you want to do this year to year, is that your growing kids will need a larger size and the super cute Santa T-rex print you found last year won’t be available again this year so you end up buying the whole fam new pajamas every year.
If you’re on a tight budget, pick a print that will be easy to find from year to year (like this red buffalo check) so you can reuse your jammies and have younger siblings wear hand-me-downs.
The Verdict? WIN!!
Wrapping Individual Books
This is one of the most popular Christmas ideas for kids I see floating around on Pinterest! Parents individually wrap 24 holiday-themed books and children unwrap one every day advent-calendar-style.
But, alas, this activity has so many flaws! First off, 24 books is surprisingly a lot! Sure you can reuse some of your old books, buy a few new awesome holiday reads, and get the rest from used book stores. But that’s still 24 books to have to wrap, on top of all of your other gifts – which equals lots of wrapping paper and time spent getting everything ready.
The Verdict? FAIL
RELATED 40+ Festive Advent Calendar Activities for Kids
Yearly Matching Photos
Have your kids pose with the same props, year after year, and watch them grow! It’s such a fun and easy holiday tradition.
We love kid-sized armchairs for this purpose. We bought them when the kids were babies and they used them constantly, so it’s been a great investment!
The Verdict? WIN!
Scrabble Tile Ornaments
Make your own personalized ornaments with scrabble tiles and ribbon! You can find a great tutorial for making these at Crafty Morning.
We made these ornaments this year and though it ended up being more of a mommy project than kid project (though they helped find the right letters), the ornaments turned out awesome! My kids were thrilled to have ornaments with their names and they made great gifts too!
You can buy the tiles and ribbons separately or go the easiest route of all and buy a kit with everything ready for you like this one (which yes, I totally did).
The Verdict? WIN!
Artfully Wrapped Gifts
I can’t help it, I adore wrapping gifts all pretty under the tree with fancy paper, ribbons, bows, etc. It looks gorgeous and the kids love it!
There are many beautiful options that are very eco-friendly if you don’t like wasting wrapping paper. And make sure to plan a few wrapping sessions throughout the month of December so you’re not super rushed at the end.
We have an entire basket FULL of Christmas-themed ribbons, bows, fake pieces of pine, candy cane twine, snowy wisps, adorable name tags, and these cute little felt ornaments we tie on with string.
The Verdict? WIN!
Store Ornaments In Egg Carton
This is such a simple and genius way to store small ornaments safely and re-use something that would otherwise just be trash. Egg cartons are ideal for storing small round ornaments.
Being a bit paranoid, I wrapped my most fragile ornaments and the ones that didn’t quite fit perfectly too and they all survived beautifully.
This was free, saved me time repacking ornaments, and was so so so ridiculously easy that I even let my KIDS help with taking down the tree.
The Verdict? WIN!
Salt Dough Ornaments
I’m not a craft mom, so I thought for sure following this tutorial from Messy Little Monster for salt dough ornaments would be a disaster.
Lucky for me, it was SUPER easy and turned out awesome! We just used regular acrylic paint and a sharpie for the details. Easiest grandparents gifts ever.
The Verdict? WIN!
Santa Footprints
I have seen this idea floating around Pinterest for a while and the basic idea is that you use either a shoe or stencil and either flour or baking soda (and sometimes even glitter???) to create Santa’s footprints leading to your Christmas tree.
This seems like a fun way to help keep the magic of Santa alive, but I have to admit that I have not actually done this. I have a very firm rule to not create extra messes since I will have to clean them up. This just sounds like way too much cleaning for Christmas morning. Do you vacuum it up before or after opening presents and can you ever get all of the glitter out of your carpet?
The Verdict? Undetermined (Anyone brave enough to try and let us know in the comments below?)
