9 Best Christmas Activities For Your Family To Do In The Garden This Year
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Winter is often the season where most of us want nothing more than to curl up indoors by the fire, but this year, why don’t you try making some adventurous new memories? Taking your family out into the garden for some Christmassy fun will get you into the festive spirit quicker than you can sing ‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.’ On top of that, being outdoors lowers blood pressure, reduces stress and improves mood[i], and that sounds like something we could all use throughout the festive season. So, to bring your family closer together, here are the best outdoor Christmas activities that will keep everyone busy this season.
1. Set Up A Festive Light Display
Transform your garden into a scene straight out of a Christmas movie this year with a festive light display in your garden. Christmas lights are an easy yet beautiful way to adorn your outdoor space and will entrance people of all ages that are lucky enough to walk past your property, so don’t hold back! For a truly festive light display, you could try:
- Choosing a theme – this could be specific colours, particular aesthetics, or certain styles that you like.
- Wrapping lights in and around bushes
- Using lights to spell out seasonal messages across the front of your house
- Lighting up pathways – Santa needs a runway!
- Dressing up trees
- Adding light-up ornaments
- Stringing up lights with Christmas garlands or greenery to hide wires
- Curling lights into baskets, jars or flower pots
- Adding a light-up wreath to your front door
Creating a Christmas light display is a fun activity for all the family and is also perfect for kids of all ages to get involved with. They’ll love helping to wind the lights around the garden, and they’ll love the results even more! For low maintenance outdoor Christmas décor, you can put your lights on timers that will come on and go off at the same time each day.
2. Decorate A Tree
If you’re lucky enough to have a lovely big tree in your garden – or, even better, an evergreen fir – bring the family together to decorate it like you have your regular Christmas tree. Wind strings of lights around the trunk, branches and foliage, tie ribbons to limbs, adorn the branches with tinsel, and hang baubles from every space that you can reach! If you’ve chosen a theme for your outdoor Christmas decorations, try to stick with it when decorating your tree, but otherwise, you can go a bit crazy here. Finally, once all your decorations are up, add a stylish tree bench to the trunk of your embellished outdoor Christmas tree so you and your family can sit and admire your handiwork long into the night. Alternatively, you could buy a small tree and place it on the patio, porch or an upturned flowerpot for a lovely rustic vibe. Since this winter’s set to be a blustery one, you might want to secure your decorations to the tree with a bit of extra string, so they’ll still be there come Christmas!
3. Make A Christmas Cake Bird Feeder
Birds desperately need dependable food supplies over winter because they have to travel further to find natural sources. So provide them with some respite in your garden with a little Christmas present! This Christmas cake bird feeder is easy to put together, requires no baking, and makes a great project to keep kids busy for a while, though it will require some adult supervision.
You Will Need:
- 100 grams of birdseed mix – you can make this yourself if you’d like. Birds can eat most seeds and dried fruits and even cooked rice and breadcrumbs.
- 60 ml of water
- 1 sachet of gelatine
- String
- Cookie cutters, preferably in Christmas shapes
- Baking paper
Instructions:
- Prepare the gelatine by the instructions on the packet, using 60 ml of water rather than the amount specified. Allow the gelatine to cool for a minute.
- Next, stir in the birdseed mix until it forms a firm paste. Add a little more seed mix if there is still liquid in the bottom of the pan.
- Lay the cookie cutters on the baking paper and fill them halfway with the seed and gelatine mixture.
- Then, cut your string about 20cm long, tie a knot in the end and push the knot into the mix. Cover it with more seed mix, then fill the rest of your cookie cutters.
- Finally, leave them to set overnight. Once dry, they can be removed from the cookie cutters and hung in the garden.
4. See If You Can Find Any Animal Footprints
Searching for animal footprints is the perfect activity after snowfall and will be fun and educational for kids and teenagers. Bundle everyone up and see if you and your family can spot who’s been visiting your garden through the night. Encourage them to take an interest in identifying the different animals and making notes of what tracks they see. Identifying animal footprints is an excellent way for kids to learn about wildlife and the importance of feeding and conserving it, so encourage everyone to get involved. To bring different species into your garden, try leaving out fresh water and a range of foods that will attract new wildlife for your children to discover.
5. Host A Festive Picnic In Your Garden
Get everyone wrapped up and pack your favourite Christmassy flavours for a festive picnic fit for Father Christmas himself! Set up a little space in your garden to hold your picnic – this could be a blanket on the lawn, a cosy hideout on the patio or a snug tee-pee style fort if you want to go all out. It’s likely to get very cold very quickly, so make sure everyone’s bundled up in coats and woollies and have a few extra blankets on hand for you all to huddle together. You could even light a little fire if you’d like. Finally, make sure your food packs a festive punch! Turkey or chicken and stuffing sandwiches are perfect Christmassy options, as are Christmas cookies, pigs in blankets, mince pies, and your favourite buffet delights. Wash it all down with cups of mulled wine, hot chocolate, or juice for the little ones.
6. Set Up A Scavenger Hunt
A scavenger hunt is a fantastic Christmas activity for kids and adults. Not only will it excite children, but a scavenger hunt makes the perfect party game when everyone’s a little bit tipsy – you might want to make the parties separate, though! Wrap up a present or two, place some imaginative clues around the garden, give everyone the first clue, then set them all off. The first group or person to find the gifts win! If you only have a small outdoor space, you can always add some clues inside the house too. It might be a good idea to have some consolation prizes on hand too, especially if you’re scavenger hunt’s for children, to avoid any tears or tantrums!
7. Create An Outdoor Nativity Scene
The true meaning of Christmas is often forgotten around the festive season. This year, serve up a little reminder of how Christmas came to be with a charming outdoor Nativity scene. This is an easy craft that requires adult supervision, and it makes a lovely, grounding decoration amongst all the Christmas lights and Santa images.
You Will Need:
- A Nativity scene silhouette image, printed out
- A craft knife
- A shadowbox or clear plastic container lid
- Glue stick
- Orange tissue paper
- An LED tealight
Instructions:
- First, cut out the Nativity silhouette using the craft knife.
- Then, lay the silhouette face down onto the shadowbox and secure it with tape.
- Glue pieces of tissue paper on top of and around the nativity scene.
- Finally, add an LED tealight behind the shadowbox to light up the scene.
8. Hold A Concert
To spread the festive spirit, gather family, friends and neighbours together for a Christmas carol concert in your garden. Print out enough lyric sheets to go round, find some instrumentals on YouTube and allow everyone to let loose on some Christmas classics. This is the perfect activity to do this year since any Covid-19 restrictions can be adhered to, meaning no one has to miss out on the festivities. Layout some drinks and snacks to keep everyone going, and you’ll be able to give the angels a run for their money!
This year, the beautiful Doorstep Carols will be taking place across the nation once more after such a positive result last Christmas. In addition, the organisers have upped the ante for 2021, so why not get you and your family involved for some wholesome festive fun?
Today Is Next Year’s Christmas Memory
Whether Christmas will look different once more this year, we can’t say. But, with these outdoor Christmas activities to keep you going, you’ll have enough festive cheer to carry you through to the next one!
Sources
[i] https://www.sharp.com/health-news/5-ways-being-outdoors-can-make-you-healthier-and-happier.cfm#:~:text=Lowers%20your%20blood%20pressure%20and,nature%20simply%20makes%20us%20happy.
Anna is the marketing and office manager for Garden Benches – a premium supplier of high-quality wooden benches and other outdoor furniture.
