It’s the most magical time of the year! These Christmas bucket list ideas help adults make the most of the season. Though you’re grown, you’ll feel the season’s magic as if you were young again. Let’s get festive!
Christmas Bucket List Ideas for Adults, Couples, and Friends
When I think of Christmas magic as a child, I think of the book The Polar Express, with lyrical words and immersive illustrations that take you to the North Pole to visit Santa and learn about the power of belief.
Fast forward a few years, and I think more of the movie The Family Stone — a chaotic mix of family, love, conflict, and grief, grounded in the reality of life in an imperfect world with flawed, mortal people. While the movie is beautiful in its ordinary way, it also evidences that the magic of Christmas can become lost as we age.
That’s why it makes sense to turn back time, so to speak, and learn how to make Christmas magical for adults again. You will love these ideas to find the season’s simple joys this year.
How can I make Christmas more magical?
- Read Christmas books.
- Watch Christmas movies and TV shows.
- Listen to Christmas music.
- Decorate your home.
- Burn holiday candles.
- Go shopping.
- Make holiday treats.
- Drink holiday drinks.
- Eat a holiday meal.
- Use an advent calendar.
- Do something nostalgic.
- Do something festive.
- Do something charitable.
- Travel somewhere festive.
- Write a holiday journal entry.
- Play a holiday game.
- Visit with someone special.
- Send holiday cards.
- Set boundaries.
- Spend time with children.
- Get a holiday manicure.
- Give gifts (to others and yourself.)
- Get dressed up.
- Wear holiday pajamas.
- Create new holiday traditions.
Read Christmas Books
It’s no secret that books are uniquely transportive, and that’s especially true for holiday books!
Even if you’re stuck at home, you can experience Christmas at Hogwarts castle with Harry Potter, in the era of Charles Dickens, or with Little Women‘s March sisters at Orchard House in Massachusetts.
There’s no shortage of Christmas-themed books on the market, but these posts will help you decide what to read:
- Best Christmas Books for Adults
- Best Christmas Books for Children
- Best Christmas Romance Books
- Best Christmas Short Stories
- Best Christmas Book Club Books
- Most Classic Christmas Books
- Best Young Adult Christmas Books
- Little Women Inspired Christmas
As a bonus, if you read on Christmas Eve, you can celebrating the holidays through the Icelandic tradition Jolabokaflod!
Watch Christmas Movies and TV Shows
The next fun thing to do on Christmas Day at home (or anytime during December) is to watch Christmas movies and TV shows. No matter how I feel, this always gets me in the holiday mood. It’s such an all-encompassing experience of sights, sounds, and storylines.
A few of my favorites are:
- The Office’s Christmas episodes (A Benihana Christmas is my favorite episode)
- Gilmore Girls holiday episodes (The Bracebridge Dinner is my favorite episode)
- Home Alone
- National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
- A Christmas Story (It’s usually on TBS the entire 24 hours of Christmas Day)
- Serendipity
- Love Actually
- The Family Man
- Elf
Listen to Christmas Music
The holiday season comes in such a small window of time, but the music is so beautiful! It’s nice to take the time to make a Christmas songs playlist or listen to one that’s already curated to feel the spirit of the season.
In high school and college, I worked at the Gap, which had the best holiday playlists of old and new songs, slow and fast songs, and non-holiday-themed songs that just feel like Christmas. The good news is they now post them on Spotify! I listen every year.
I also enjoy the Cozy Christmas Jazz playlist on Spotify and the sweetly melodic Charlie Brown Christmas album.
Decorate Your Home
The first thing I do to transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas is decorate my home with a Christmas tree, fairy lights, and lots of red. While it makes the world feel magical again, I also think the glow of little white fairy lights is extraordinary at giving that cozy, festive aesthetic.
Feeling extra creating? Make your own ornaments or decorate a themed tree with these posts:
Burn Holiday Candles
The sense of smell is so powerful in recalling memories and/or changing your mood. I love to enjoy Christmas with many candles, which I burn all December with scents like pine, gingerbread, berries, and candy canes.
A few of my favorites are:
Go Shopping
While these days, I do most of my shopping online, there’s no better time than the holidays to shop in person! We love to visit little towns with cute shops and window displays. It’s an extra fun way to cross a holiday task off your list!
Shopping online? I’ve got a lot of gift guides that can help you with that.
Make Holiday Treats
Baking is a fun holiday activity with a payoff at the end! Since many of these treats are seasonal, they will surely bring back that holiday magic for you.
Perhaps you prefer gingerbread men, fruitcakes, or even candy canes!
Drink Holiday Drinks
The secret is likely in the sauce…er, beverage. Whether it’s a non-alcoholic hot chocolate, eggnog, or a cocktail only for adults, like mulled wine, a good drink can instantly make you feel like “it’s a wonderful life” again.
Eat a Holiday Meal
Quintessential to most holiday celebrations is a meal. Even the thought of certain foods eaten at each yearly celebration can make you feel the comfort of Christmas.
For my husband, that’s the traditional Christmas Eve roast he’s eaten his whole life. He talks about it year round.
Use an Advent Calendar
If you want a fun holiday season as an adult, get back into the tradition of using an advent calendar. The anticipation it creates is a big part of the magic of Christmas.
Plus, you can use it to enjoy a daily treat! I use Keurig’s K-cup coffee advent calendar, and I look forward to my daily brew every morning during Advent.
Do Something Nostalgic
When you think about what made Christmas magical when you were a child, I’ll bet family traditions play a big role. So, tap into that feeling of nostalgia by doing something you did as a child during the holiday season.
Perhaps that means visiting the local light display or Santa, buying a live Christmas tree, or dining at the old spot.
For me, this means simply going home for the holidays!
Do Something Festive
There are so many things you can only do in December, so getting out and doing them may be what sparks holiday joy for you as an adult.
Go and visit Santa or a live Nativity display. Shop at a holiday market. Ride a holiday train. Go on a sleigh ride!
There’s nothing like a holiday market if you ask me. Ours became a beloved modern tradition, complete with mulled wine, carolers, and shopping!
If you’re in the Philly area, I recommend visiting the (free) Byers’ Choice Christmas Museum.
Do Something Charitable
A big part of the Christmas spirit is giving back. So, take advantage of Giving Tuesday (and beyond) by giving something back. As a bonus, giving even a little bit often creates holiday magic for both the giver and the recipient.
Here at The Literary Lifestyle, we donate books and make extra monetary donations to charities like Donors Choose and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
Travel Somewhere Festive
Perhaps your holiday vibes are low because you’re stuck somewhere that’s not festive.
We visited the (already magical) Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida, decorated to the brim with extra holiday spirit!
Other possibilities include New York City, Quebec City, and Germany.
Write a Holiday Journal Entry
If you want to feel Christmas magic on a budget, it doesn’t get cheaper and easier than journaling! Writing always helps me process my thoughts and emotions, so I have no doubt it can help you, too.
So, sit by a warm fireplace and write about a holiday memory, what you are grateful for this December, or your holiday wishes.
Play a Holiday Game
When we become adults, we give up the game-playing that was so characteristic of joy in our youth. Playing a holiday game quickly conjures up all those feelings of simple joy and in-the-moment fun.
In my family, after Christmas dinner, we play the “left-right” game with wrapped gag gifts. Everyone holds a present, and one person reads “The Night RIGHT Before Christmas,” which is a spin on the classic that contains a lot of the words “left” and “right” in it. Each time “left” or “right” is spoken, you pass your gift likewise and, at the end, open them.
It’s a hoot, as even passing can cause chaos, and then, it can also be funny to see who gets what…like the year my dad opened a lace thong!
Visit with Someone Special
A great way to make Christmas magical without spending money is by visiting someone special, especially if it’s someone you haven’t seen in a while. There is something so special about the simple act of gathering in person.
Send Holiday Cards
Designing holiday cards at Minted is another one of my Black Friday traditions, and receiving them all December is a great feeling as an adult.
It’s also fun to browse them at other people’s houses. They are all so cute and festive that they will make you feel good.
Set Boundaries
Let’s be real. One of the reasons Christmas loses its magic over time is that our lives become filled with expectations and obligations.
Saying “yes” to Christmas magic as an adult can mean you need to work on saying “no” to what is overly intrusive in your life, from work to the desire for perfection, nosy family members, etc.
I spent a lot of time working on boundaries, bringing me much more peace during the holiday season.
Spend Time With Children
The best source of Christmas magic may be the kids themselves! They believe in Santa and wish so readily and fully.
Build that snowman with them, write a letter to Santa, or even let them pick out one present for themselves, and you’re nearly guaranteed to feel a spark of childlike wonder.
Get a Holiday Manicure
As an adult, a little luxury that always makes me feel instantly better is a manicure. It looks and feels good.
My Friday night wind-down routine is my weekly manicure at home with my Olive & June products. It’s extra fun at Christmas because you can go extra on things like glitter and color mixing.
Olive & June also always has seasonal goodies like stickers and press-ons.
Give Gifts (To Others and Yourself)
Giving a gift is so powerful that it’s one of the five love languages. Perhaps nothing is more magical at Christmastime (although fresh snow is high up there too).
Although we are childless adults, my husband and I still love to give each other gifts on Christmas, and we try to make a whole experience out of it with music, movies, and snacks.
Get Dressed Up
Part of what made Christmas special for me as a child was wearing special clothes. That feeling now translates into a similar feeling at holiday parties as an adult, especially because I now work from home and am most often dressed down.
Pulling on tights, stepping into high heels, and zipping up a tartan plaid or black watch plaid frock instantly brings back that feeling that this moment is something special.
So, don’t be afraid to wear that red lipstick!
Wear Holiday Pajamas
One of my favorite feelings is putting on new pajamas, and that’s extra true on Christmas morning. Since you are at home when you are wearing them, you can get extra silly with them (like a zippered onesie), which can be part of the fun.
We love this feeling so much that we spend Christmas Day in our pajamas.
Create New Holiday Traditions for Adults
Lastly, learn how to make Christmas magical for adults by creating new holiday traditions. As we age, we can feel like the past was “the good old days” and the present can never quite match up.
Creating fun Christmas traditions for adults can breathe new life into what you have and are grateful for now versus what is gone or in the past.
It can be as simple as cooking something new out of your holiday leftovers or scouring the sales at the mall on the day after Christmas.
Printable Christmas Bucket Checklist Template
Share the graphic below or download and print it to track your progress completing these Christmas bucket ideas for adults:
So, have yourself a merry little Christmas now…
