Yes, it's that time of year! For those of you who have been following us for a while, you'll know that we're not super into the whole Christmas overconsumption thing. In fact, our family has been celebrating Buy Nothing Christmases for the past 9 years now. And I cannot recommend it enough - it is the best!
Also, because we feel that Santa has been somewhat hijacked for the nefarious purpose of corporate profiteering, we decided pretty early on in our parenting journey that we wanted our daughter to understand that Santa is a "pretendy" story that people tell at Christmas time (and yes, she also knows that neither the tooth fairy or Easter bunny are real! 😱).
Are we stealing the magic of Christmas from our young daughter? 🤔
Take a look at this face.
This is (then 4 year old) Savvy with the Christmas Pixies. Not looking too devastated.
So, here's how it works. Every year, on the first day of December, two little Christmas Pixies arrive on our doorstep with a note saying that they're back for another visit and what they’ll be doing for the coming weeks. Each day, up until Christmas, they appear somewhere in the house with a new note suggesting a fun activity that promotes generosity and kindness.
“Let’s bake some cookies for the neighbours”.
“Let’s collect some of your toys and give them away to the local children’s hospital”.
“Let’s donate cat/dog treats to the animal shelter”.
And our daughter LOVES it.
- Christmas magic – ✔️!
- Teaching our little girl how to be an awesome human – ✔️!
- And zero waste – ✔️!
So, with December just around the corner, I thought I'd share some of the activities that the Christmas Pixies might get up to this year...
26 Awesome Christmas Pixies Activities
🎄 Decorate your house
🎄 Make a christmas decoration for the grandparents
🎄 Make a card/video for distant relatives
🎄 Make a treat for the librarians / rubbish collectors / postie / firefighters
🎄 Pick up rubbish
🎄 Buy a coffee for the person behind you at the cafe
🎄 Offer to walk a friend's dog
🎄 Make treats to give out to local homeless
🎄 Community gardening
🎄 Make a treat for your neighbours
🎄 Offer to babysit for a friend
🎄 Donate items to the Salvation Army
🎄 Make a present for a friend
🎄 Make flower seed bombs and scatter them around the neighbourhood
🎄 Visit your local rest home to read stories / sing songs for the residents
🎄 Donate food (in tins or glass) to a local community pantry
🎄 Offer to weed your neighbour's garden
🎄 Donate books to a local dentist / medical centre
🎄 Make a card/gift for teachers
🎄 Pick flowers for the grandparents
🎄 Make a bird feeder for the birds
🎄 Make a bookmark and hide it inside a library book for the next reader to find and keep
🎄 Donate money to a charity
🎄 Clean a friend's car
🎄 Help with household chores
🎄 Create some Christmas beach art
Yay for the Christmas Pixies and a festive season focused less on materialism and more on spreading joy and kindness!
And, while we're on the subject, feel free to read about how our family celebrates a Buy Nothing Christmas!
[Thanks to The Imagination Tree for the inspiration for our Christmas Pixies]
Short on zero waste reusables? We're here to help 😊.
What lovely ideas, and what sweet children. The next step could be to bring all of this to summer solstice and come into harmony with our southern seasons. My new book on rituals for children & families will focus on connecting in with the rhythms of the earth in this land.
Great. I agree and will try to implement at least one of your suggestions