Favorite Things

These are a few of your favorite things! Ideas for gifts, traditions, and more.. 

I was recently asked to compile a list of favorite things from the ladies in my church congregation.  I thought it was a fun idea and asked people from my Instagram community to fill out a form of their favorites.  This post is the end result of those forms.  The idea is to get traditions, movies, books, service activities and more that you can do your family.  Scroll through to grab a printable booklet too!

Holiday Service Activities

Start off the holidays right with doing some service together.  Check out my Random Acts of Kindness Calendar .

• 12 days of Christmas and angel tree for children and the elderly
• Adopting a family to get gifts for
• Angel Tree ministry Christmas party
• Baking cookies for fire/ems/police/ nurses
• Blessing bags
• Bringing snacks and drinks to our mailroom workers.
• Bringing treats to the teachers on a long day.
• Canned food drive
• Caroling and delivering treats
• Christmas Angels
• Collecting food for our local food pantry
• Donating to needy families
• Doorbell ditch treats!
• Fulfilling giving tree requests
• Gifting toys to foster kids
• Giving to Salvation Army or local youth centre
• Going to the giving vending machines on Temple Square in Salt Lake
• Handing out gloves and toiletry bags
• Having everyone earn money to donate to a worthwhile cause. (Changes every year)
• I chair the annual holiday food drive at our elementary school. It’s amazing to see how our school family comes together every year to help so many families in need!
• I run an auction at my school that raises money to bring the holidays to our less fortunate students.
• Letters to missionaries
• Light the World, especially loved this year when everyone shared a person who was an example of service on social media.
• Making cookies/cocoa for the firefighters
• Midnight Christmas Eve
• Mitten Tree
• Operation Christmas Child
• Packing meals at feed my starving children
• Random Books of Kindness (handing out books to kids to spread Christmas cheer)
• Secret Santa with my kids for a family in need
• Serving Christmas Dinner at the homeless shelter
• Shopping, filling, and donating food bags to families in my school
• Shoveling neighbors driveways and side walks, babysitting kids for free so parents (my friends/family) can get things done.
• Shoveling sidewalks and driveways of neighbors and friends
• Sing at nursing home
• Singing carols by candlelight
• Snacks and water out for delivery people
• Sub for Santa. Pick a family and deliver some gifts/Christmas dinner
• Supporting the food bank and homeless shelter with food items and cash donations
• Team Emery Bear Drive
• Toys for kids who wouldn’t be getting any in 3rd world country
• Treats to Fire and Police Stations
• Volunteering with our church Christmas pageant
• We own a small business and we take family friends our products for their Christmas dinner.
• We put up Christmas lights for seniors in a mobile home community

Christmas Traditions

The things that you look forward to most every Christmas season.  There are a lot of similar traditions, but I found some new ones in here: 

• Baking and decorating frosted sugar cookies with all the family and having a contest with different fun categories
• “Breakfast for dinner” night – we go ALL out with every single breakfast item you can think of. It’s yummy and such a great time with family!
• Being with my family, we all spend the night at my moms house (they had three kids and we all have little kids) and we wake up and open gifts and then have a big family breakfast. I also love a candlelight Christmas Eve church service
• Birthday cake for Jesus
• Breakfast for supper on Christmas Eve! (Saves time Christmas morning and you don’t have two huge meals in the same day)
• Buying our tree and decorating house
• Caroling
• Chex mix and board games
• Christmas eve at my parents house. We always have pizza and and play board games and listen to Christmas music and track santa. We know track Santa for our kids and its just really fun.
• Christmas Eve Church service with treats afterwards
• Christmas Eve trailer ride to look at lights
• Christmas jammies. Traditions since I was a baby and now my kids’ favorite tradition
• Christmas movie marathons
• Christmas music and Hot Cocoa when my family decorates the Christmas
• Christmas pajamas, ‘‘twas the night before Christmas read by dad. Acting out nativity
• Clues on our presents
• Crafting with my kids – new ornaments, decorations, whatever
• Crepes for breakfast
• Decorating cookies with family members
• Decorating the Christmas tree together. Every year we each get an ornament that represents us for that year. It’s fun to look at each ornament and remember why we received it.
• Decorating the tree and reminiscing about memories associated with them
• Delivering baked goods to my neighbors
• Delivering the Neighbor Treats on Christmas Eve Day
• Driving around and looking at Christmas lights in our pj’s with cocoa
• Driving around looking at Christmas lights as a family
• Driving around to look at lights, decorating gingerbread houses, or going downtown to see the gingerbread houses that companies make (Seattle)
• each year we get our kids a special ornament. So decorating the tree with all of the years ornaments is so fun.
• Early morning big breakfast followed by opening stockings and then gifts.
• Family talent show on Christmas night
• Filling my kids’ stockings. We do different things every year. I kinda like being non traditional.
• Fondue on Christmas Eve
• Getting hot chocolate, listening to Christmas music while driving around looking at Christmas lights.
• Getting hot cocoa/ coffee and driving around looking at Christmas lights
• Going to church on Christmas Eve.
• Going to see Nutcracker and Santa
• Hallmark movies, hot cocoa, and downtime with my husband and daughtet
• Having a themed Grinch dinner then watching the movie.
• Helping my dad put up the Christmas lights each year!!
• Homemade ornament gift exchange between cousins
• Hot cocoa and driving to see lights
• Jammies & a book Christmas Eve
• Jesse Tree
• Just sharing a Christmas lunch with my small family
• Listening to Christmas carols, reading Xmas stories and watching movies.
• Little Lamb from Bethlehem
• Making Christmas Eve our big meal so that I can just sit and play with the kids on Christmas morning
• Making Cookies
• Making ornaments for family and friends
• Matching pjs
• Mini van express- The kids are sent to bed a little earlier than usual, where they find minivan express tickets on the pillows. they bring their tickets to the car where their dad is waiting with warm hot chocolate and he punches each child’s tickets before they enter. Then we drive around looking at Christmas lights, drinking our hot chocolate, and listening to Christmas music
• Movie night with fave snacks
• My husband’s Poppop reads ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas to all the littles on Christmas Eve, includes 4 generations now!
• new ornament each year for each person, usually representing something that happened that year or travel
• North Pole Breakfast
• Orange Rolls!
• Pajamas- either the matching family or crazy funny but always cozy
• Participating in Light the World! Going to our small town Christmas Parade. We live in Idaho. It’s usually freezing. And we’ve been hot more than once by frozen parade candy being thrown at us from the floats. But it’s so fun!
• Picking out a tree as a family
• Pizelles making
• Playing “A very special Christmas” album
• Playing games with my family
• Reading Christmas stories while drinking hot chocolate
• Reading different Christmas stories from the library to the kids
• Religious advent calendar
• Riding around looking at lights
• Scavenger Hunt for the family gift, getting dressed up and going to church
• Secret Santa but handmade gifts not store bought
• Seeing Santa and Mrs. Claus at our Christmas at the Zoo
• Spending Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with my family all together- good food and good family time
• Stockings – finding little gifts for each one – fav food, book etc that fit
• Swarovski snowflake ornaments on our tree… In 2001 we got our first. It was the bridesmaids gift at my wedding (12/22) and we’ve gotten the new one each year
• Taking pictures with the whole family in Santa Hats at the tree farm.
• Treats and music
• Tree decorating
• walking around the tree holding hands singing hymns (Danish tradition)
• Watching all of our favorite Christmas movies snuggled up by the fireplace
• White Elephant Family Parties

Favorite Gift to Give a Teacher

I asked you what you liked to give to teachers.  There were some fun ideas: 

• “Teaching Tiny Humans…” gear from @momculture
• (Very large) Personalized hand sanitizer
• A book for the classroom with a “Season’s Readings” tag
• A gift card to their favorite restaurant.
• A home baked cake or full recipe of treats.
• A set of seasonal paper plates and plastic ware with a gift card.
• Any kind of consumables. They have enough cups and gift cards lol!
• Barefoot dreams socks with gift card!
• Bath & Body hand soap w/ target gift cards
• Bath & Body Works Candle with a note that says “Thanks for being a light to (child’s name).
• Candles
• Christmas doormats (often found on markdown the year prior)
• Coffee shop gift card with a mug
• Cozy blanket with Redbox gift card
• Disney coffee mug with there favorite coffee
• Expo markers or Lysol wipes because they always need those
• Favorite restaurant gift cards
• Free movie and popcorn
• Gift Card combined with a simple handmade gift
• Gift card for their favorite fast food drink…I ask the kids to help, usually it’s McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A or McAllister’s
• Gift card to amazon/target/walmart
• Gift cards in a homemade yarn-wrapped ornament
• Gnomes!
• Hand lotion or hand soaps
• Hand sanitizer
• Handmade zipper pouch or lanyard with some treats or lip balm and our a gift card to our local pop store.
• Homemade baked goods
• Homemade goodies with a target or Starbucks gift card
• Homemade ornaments
• Homemade treats, caramel corn was a fave to give when I was a kid
• I like to give my teachers mugs (travel ones are cool too) and a Starbucks gift card!
• Massage
• Movie tickets, gift cards – things that don’t spoil
• Nail polish
• Our school does a wish tree. Teachers write their wishes for supplies for their class and you take the tag off the tree and buy it for their class!
• Our school gives gift cards from our scrip program – kind of boring but teachers appreciate the cash
• Personalized stationery (notepads, post-its, etc.)
• Small gift card with homemade cookies or nice chocolate
• Soap
• Something handmade: zippered pouch, shortbread. Or, a Christmas ornament
• Spa/nail/sonic gift card, teachers favorite candy
• Starbucks coffee mug
• Starbucks gift card and card
• Starbucks gift card and chocolate covered peppermint Jojo’s from Trader Joes
• Target gift card
• Target gift cards with chocolate
• Target/Amazon gift card (teachers spend so much of their own funds)!
• Whatever I know they’ll really like. Or a gift card.
• Wrapping paper, tapes, bows (things they may not have time to buy) or Gift cards to their favorite stores/restaurants… Something for them, not their classroom
• Yummy smelling Soap or favorite holiday cookies or gift cards

Teachers Favorite Gifts 

These are the things that teachers love to receive (I asked for only teachers to respond to this one).  Teacher Gift Ideas, what teachers really want!  Gift cards are by far the thing that teachers said they most appreciate.  I didn’t include all of the times they were mentioned here but it was A LOT. ;) 

• I loved getting gifts cards
• A card with a personal message from my student, coffee gift card
• Anything that made them think of me
• Anything, because it’s the thought that counts!
• As an after school educator I would like to receive a special letter from my kiddos and whose kidding, maybe a gift card or two!
• Candle, ornament, gift card
• Chickfila gift cards
• Coffee mugs
• Food
• Gift cards anywhere
• Gift cards, thoughtful notes, students art work
• Gift cards! Or homemade cards from students
• Homemade chex mix!
• Homeschool mom – but love when friends gift me with Ticonderoga pencils.
• I love gift cards, but a basket of my favorite things is the best!
• I love it when students gift me small gift cards to places I have mentioned!
• I love Starbucks cards and other gift cards because it helps me save money. I also love when parents bring me lunch. It’s only happened twice, but they let me know in advance.
• I taught middle school for several years. It was nice to receive baked goods or gift cards for food treats since our public school often did not dismiss classes for winter break until December 20th! This meant little time to bake for the holidays.
• Spa/nail/sonic gift card, teachers favorite candy, anything the student notices I like
• Starbucks card!
• Starbucks- I needed it 😂💁🏼‍♀️
• Target gift card and a handwritten note/picture from the child
• Target gift card and note from family/student

Neighbor and Friend Gifts

The ideas are a plenty for neighbors and friends.  I have a ton that I’ve shared over the years on here as well.

• Christmas treat plate with a variety of different delicious homemade goods
• A quart mason jar filled w/ layered dry ingredients for a cookie bake. We tied recipes on with a ribbon.
• Banana Bread
• Candles
• Carmel corn
• Chips and salsa
• Chocolate covered pretzels
• Christmas blanket with a cute saying.
• Christmas candies in a decorated jar, a clean burning candle,
• Christmas cookies
• Cinnamon rolls or other baked goods
• Clear glass gallon jars full of colored sugar popcorn
• Cocoa basket
• Cookie mix in cute packaging! (No baking)
• Date night! Dinner&movie gift cards
• Easy. Poinsettias
• Fleece blanket with Fleece Navidad note
• Food
• Food stuffs
• Frozen cookie dough
• hand soap and lotion
• Handsoap
• Home made salsa
• Homemade cookies
• Homemade Irish Cream with cookies and cocoa mix
• Hot chocolate!
• I love your counter spray idea!
• Merry and “Sprite” tags on a 2 liter Sprite
• Mixes – cookies & such in a jar you can make later
• Ornament that reminds me of them like a trip they took that year or if they had a grandbaby born that year ☺️
• Paper goods wrapped cute
• Paper plates and napkins “Happy Holiday wishes and night of no dishes”
• Photo frame ornament using their Christmas card!
• Pickle relish (although I don’t like it myself) 😂
• Popcorn and a redbox code
• Poppyseed bread
• See’s Candy box or Trader Joe holiday snack basket
• Something baked, homemade ham & apple pie filling one year was a bit, or homemade cinnamon rolls
• Soup Mix in a jar and bread
• Special holiday cookies that only my family makes (Swiss cookie called Bratzelis)
• Tray of Peppermint Bark
• We have a neighborhood cookie swap and all bring money that we would have spent on each other and donate it to a family in need.
• Wrapping paper or festive paper plates. Also our neighborhood donates money and we gift it to a families in need in the community. We rotate being in charge, it’s totally optional, you get a letter saying whoIs collecting money and when to get it to them by, and that’s it.
• Wreath of clementines

Holiday Dish

It wouldn’t be the same without these dishes in your homes at Christmas: 

• A tray of all our homemade cookies
• Almond Roca or the Christmas crack saltines
• Ambrosia- made with a mix of juice oranges and blood oranges, coconut and pecans from my home place in GA.
• Apple Pie
• Baked ham
• Breakfast casserole, Chex muddy buddies and eggnog
• Candy cane Hershey kisses! Hot chocolate too.
• cast iron skillet biscuits w/soft butter & jams
• Charcuterie and cheese tray, it’s my Christmas staple
• Cheese ball with Raspberry Chipotle
• Chocolate crinkle kiss cookies
• Chocolate fondue
• Chocolate pecan pie
• Chocolate, chocolate chip Bundt cake made in a festive Bundt pan, dusted with powdered sugar that looks like it snowed on top.
• Christmas cookies, spinach artichoke dip, tamales and chili (this is a huge southern tradition)
• Christmas Crack!
• Cinnamon and orange rolls for Christmas morning breakfast
• Cinnamon rolls & gingerbread cookies
• Clam chowder on Christmas eve/day. And Glühwein/kinderpunsch.
• Coffee cake
• Corn Pudding (it’s a Southern thing, and absolutely addictive)
• Crepe bar
• Eggplant parmigiana
• French toast casserole
• Fudge, cheesecake
• Funeral potatoes
• gingerbread men dipped in chocolate
• Ham, cheesey potatoes aka funeral potatoes, rolls, broccoli salad
• Have loved making charcuterie boards full of all the yummy things!
• Homemade Cranberry Sauce
• Homemade rolls
• Homemade stuffing and pumpkin roll
• Homemade sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles
• Hot cranberry tea
• Hot sausage dip in Hawaiian bowl
• I love all dips
• I’m all about the stuffing! Also my moms ham. In Ireland they boil it on Christmas Eve and have a sandwich before bed. Boiling takes most of the salt out. I can’t eat other people’s ham, way too salty 😂
• Just one? Chili and cinnamon rolls, not necessarily together but it wouldn’t be Christmas without them.
• Lasagna
• Lefse
• Little smokies with bacon and coffee cake
• Mashed potatoes
• Mini apple pies
• Moscow Mules
• My grandma’s homemade Mac and cheese
• My grandpa’s turkey and homeade noodles.
• My Great Aunt Billie’s Fudge
• My husband would say pumpkin roll but I say chocolate mouse pie!!!!
• My moms raspberry cranberry jello, sounds weird but it’s delish!!
• My moms sweet potato soufflé
• My moms tamales!! One of the things I look forward to for the holidays!!
• Oatmeal pancakes with homemade maple syrup
• Orange cranberry sauce
• Peanut blossom cookies
• Peanut Brittle
• Pepper jelly over cream cheese with crackers
• Peppermint bark
• Pierogi
• Pink Fluffy Dessert
• PRALINES from New Orleans School of Cooking
• Pumpkin pie
• Raspberry Yum Yum (it’s a layered cream cheese dessert that only seems to have a weird name when I tell new people about it.)
• Rolls..
• Russian Tea! It’s like Christmas in a cup :)
• Saltine toffee bark
• Sausage balls
• Sautéed green beans
• Scalloped potatoes
• Shiner Holiday Cheer (beer). :)
• Slice of Ham smothered in cream cheese wrapped around pickles
• Spicy Chex mix
• Sugar cookies
• sugar cookies and clementines dipped in chocolate
• Sugar cookies!
• Sweet potato casserole (with pecans!)
• Tamales!
• Those ridiculous meatballs made with grape jelly and chili sauce
• White Chocolate Cranberry Cream Cheese Snickerdoodles
• Yummy Yams 

Best Thing to Make with Holiday Leftovers

And if you have any leftovers from your meals, here are some ideas of what to make with them: 

• Warm ham and cheese sandwiches
• Turkey cranberry sandwich
• Turkey pot pie
• Turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce
• Turkey sandwiches
• Mashed potato bowls. Layer everything on and microwave!
• Our Best Bites Baked Potato Soup, I add leftover ham
• Freeze ham to use for quiche, casseroles
• Gumbo
• Turkey Chili
• Turkey salad
• Ham and cheese sliders
• Frying up those mashed potatoes
• Chili
• Cheesy turkey broccoli curry casserole
• Casseroles!
• Turkey sandwiches.
• We just eat the same leftovers again!
• Ham
• Turkey sandwiches on potato rolls
• Cranberry salsa
• Stuffing and green bean casserole
• Turkey Tettrazini
• Pumpkin pie
• Au Gratin Potatoes and Ham
• Ham & Funeral potatoes
• Ham and scalloped potatoes (with leftover ham)
• Turkey soup
• Lasagna
• Cinnamon rolls
• potato pancakes
• Turkey or gam sandwiches
• Turkey pot pie
• A chicken noodle soup but with turkey and egg noodles
• Bubble and Squeek
• Turkey Divan
• Potato Soup
• turkey sandwich with provolone, lettuce, Miracle whip, salt & pepper
• Turkey pot pie
• Holiday ham. Love eating on it for the next week.
• Mac & cheese with leftover ham – what’s more Christmasy than cheesy carbs!
• Turkey sandwich with stuffing and cranberry sauce on top
• Casseroles
• Turkey Corn Chowder
• Sandwiches with fresh leftover rolls
• Fried ham with pineapple rings or bubble and squeak
• Loaded mashed potatoes
• Simple sandwiches with homemade rolls
• Mashed potatoes with turkey gravy
• Turkey Shepard’s Pie
• The Best Foods Mayonnaise recipe for turkey & stuffing & cranberry I found on line
• Paninis with turkey, stuffing, cranberries and gravy

Favorite Christmas Songs 

O Holy Night was hands down the favorite Christmas song.  But Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas was a close second. Christmas music is my very favorite (much to my family’s chagrin).  I created a Spotify playlist that you can follow: All the Best Christmas Music 2019

• A Carol to my King
• All I want for Christmas – Mariah Carey
• Angels we have heard on high
• Any Grant—Breath of Heaven
• Anything Buble or Elvis
• Anything sung by Pentatonix
• BarlowGirl’s version of O Holy Night
• Breath of Heaven
• Carol of the bells
• Coventry Carol
• Do you hear what I hear?
• Dominic the Donkey
• hands down: Andy Williams “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!”
• Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
• I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, Silent Night
• I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
• I’ll Be Home For Christmas
• Il est ne le divin enfant and what child is this
• It could happen again by Collin Raye
• Joy to the World
• Joy to the World, Song for a Winters Night
• Last Christmas
• Little Drummer Boy & Oh Christmas Tree – they remind me of my grandma
• Mary Did You Know?
• Merry Christmas darling, Carpenters
• Noel
• O Come All Ye Faithful and Silver Bells
• O come o come Emmanuel
• River by Joni Mitchell
• Rockin around the Christmas tree
• Silent Night
• The Christmas song- only the Nat King Cole version!
• The Star Still Shines-Diamond Rio, Harry Connick Jr’s album is in heavy rotation too
• Toss up between Santa Baby & Baby It’s Cold Outside! And I really like the new song Katy Perry released last year, Cozy Little Christmas.
• We need a little Christmas by Andy Williams
• What Child is This?
• What Christmas Means to Me (it’s so catchy!)
• White Christmas by Bing Crosby
• Winter Snow or O Holy Night
• Wonderful Christmastime

Favorite Holiday Activity 

A few that you might want to try out this season or to keep in mind for next: 

1. Christmas Light Scavenger 
2. Nativity Christmas Countdown

Here are some of your favorites: 

• Cutting down our Christmas tree and driving around to look at lights
• Tree farm and holiday lights displays
• Candlelight service at church on Christmas Eve
• Time together around the fireplace.
• Brunch on Christmas Day
• Playing games
• Destroying our gingerbread house with a BB gun. We don’t like to eat it!
• Decorating Graham Cracker Houses
• Making Christmas cookies
• Looking at Christmas lights, visiting a live nativity. Every other year a nearby Stake does a huge activity “Journey to Bethlehem” and teams forms the stake center into Bethlehem. They have a room with dozens of nativities. People in costumes acting out the Christmas story. A “market” with crafts and food. Real animals.
• Church Christmas pageant
• Watching Christmas Movies every night
• Delivering neighbor gifts in matching pajamas while caroling
• Skating at an outside rink
• White elephant/yankee swap
• Ding and dash! Or extended family we ALL get together on the 23rd and have a talent show, treats and then we play Christmas songs on chimes my mom had made at her work years ago…kids love it
• Christmas tree hunting in the mountains
• Going to see Christmas lights together
• Anything where we spend time together.
• Cooking/baking together
• Making S’mores in the fire pit and playing games together
• Attending local production of Messiah
• Making treats
• Lights at Temple Square
• Watching holiday movies snuggled in front of the tree
• Christmas light at zoo
• Decorating homemade gingerbread houses
• Driving around looking at lights
• Building gingerbread houses
• Playing games
• Driving around to look at Christmas lights and ice skating
• My boys decorating the tree while we watch Elf
• Family get togethers
• Christmas light scavenger hunting
• Decorating, visiting with family and friends
• Playing board games and eating Christmas treats together on Christmas Eve
• Watching Christmas movies, reading Christmas stories, and holiday baking with my kids and husband.
• Just making the home feel cozy and time together. ❤️
• Baking with my girls
• Baking and decorating sugar cookies, playing fun games and then watching “Christmas Vacation”
• Christmas morning taking hours to open gifts and be together.
• Family means and wrapping presents with hubby
• Christmas Eve Lunch
• Baking cookies
• Watching holiday movies
• Sledding down the road with ropes tied into the back of a pickup
• Baking cookies
• The lights! We used to go caroling on Christmas Eve when I was little. It became part of the families we visited Christmas Eve tradition too. Just the singing and getting to go in a visit sometimes, plus sometimes they would put their coats on a join us and it would be a big throng by the time the night was done!
• Kids doing nativity, Nana camp
• Board games by the Christmas Tree
• Going to see Christmas lights and drinking hot cocoa in our pajamas
• Opening gifts
• Candy bar exchange, fake snowball fight and hot cocoa bar with five other families. Been doing it since I was five!!
• Playing games and remembering past Christmas and how much we have grown and changed
• The Grove in LA, Mission Inn in Riverside
• Christmas Eve church, going to see our local zoo lights at the holidays, and driving around to look at lights
• Dance parties in the kitchen!
• Walks around neighborhood
• Playing a board game we give the kids each Christmas
• Decorating cookies on Christmas Eve
• Going to Christmas Village (our towns Christmas light with little houses fully decorated
• Visiting Santa at Bass Pro/Cabela’s
• Grinch Night
• Driving around to see lights as an adult & as a kid my mom’s cookie decorating parties
• Baking and decorating cookies and gingerbread houses
• Making a gingerbread house
• Looking at Lights

Favorite Christmas Book 

I have a post with 25 top Christmas Books that you might want to check out.  Here are some others: 

• A brother like that
• A Christmas Carol
• A Special Place for Santa
• After the Nativity story, it would have to be The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
• Annabelle’s Wish
• Any Jan Brett book
• Christmas Jars
• Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
• Christmas oranges
• Christmas story from the Bible
• Elf on the shelf
• Fancy Nancy Christmas
• Gift of the Magi
• Grinch
• How the grinch stole Christmas & polar express
• I believe in Santa Claus
• I like the compilation books of short holiday stories.
• Jesus Storybook Bible tale of Christmas
• Legend of the candy cane
• Luke 2
• Morton’s Christmas Manger
• Olive the Other Reindeer. Silent Night, Holy Night. Christmas Train by Pres. Monson
• One Silent Night by Julie Warnick
• Polar Express
• Pretty much any kids’ Nativity book, but also, Harry Potter has Christmas scenes!
• Story of Jesus and his birth.
• The Bible
• The Birth of Jesus Christ
• The Christmas Extravaganza
• The Christmas Story
• The Gift Giver
• The Gingerbread Man
• The life of our lord by Charles dickens
• The Very First Christmas by Paul Meier
• Three trees
• Toot and Puddle I’ll be home for Christmas
• Twas the night before Christmas
• We Believe in Christmas or The Small One

Favorite Christmas Movie 

Elf was by far the most mentioned but followed closely by It’s A Wonderful Life, The Grinch and Christmas Vacation.  If your family likes watching movies, make sure to get my Favorite 80s Movies and Favorite 90s movies posts. 

• A Christmas Story
• Arthur Christmas
• Can’t go wrong with ‘Elf,’ ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ ‘Frosty the Snowman,’ and ‘Rudolf.’
• Charlie Brown Christmas
• Christmas chronicles
• Christmas story & home alone
• Christmas Vacation and The Holiday
• Christmas with The Kranks
• Elf
• Emmett Otter’s Jugband Christmas-my mom would mark the calendar as soon as the date and time of this showing was announced in the TV guide. We cancelled all our plans to watch this as a family every single year. No DVDs, DVRs or Netflix back then
• Fred Claus
• Grinch
• Grinch/Rudolph
• Home Alone and Christmas Vacation
• Home Alone and Elf
• How the grinch stole Christmas
• It’s a Wonderful Life
• Jingle all the way
• Love Actually, While You Were Sleeping
• Mickey’s Twice Upon A Christmas
• National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
• Prep and Landing
• Rudolf
• Silver Lining Playbook
• Sound of music not holiday but totally my fav
• The Family Stone or White Christmas
• The family stone.
• The Grinch (Jim Carrey’s version 🤷🏽‍♀️)
• The Grinch (the newer one with Benedict Cumberbatch)- it’s my 3 year old’s favorite too!
• The Grinch with Jim Carrey
• The Holiday, The Family Stone, Miracle on 34th Street (both old and new) Eloise at Christmastime
• The night they saved Christmas
• The Polar Express
• The Santa Clause
• The Santa Clause movies/1,2,3. And Christmas Vacation
• The star
• White Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Christmas Vacation

If  you were attending a Favorite Things Party, What would you bring? 

• A Bath and Body Works candle. They smell amazing and I burn them all the time.
• A board game, we love games
• A book….there are so many amazing stories to share
• A homemade recipe book with our go to electric pressure cooker/ air fryer and crock pot recipes. I would also bring a recipe food item to share.
• A meal because all moms run out of time to cook in December.
• A pair of Bombas socks
• A raw food dessert : so many people gf and lactose intolerant etc.
• Amazon gift card, because they have everything and I don’t have to leave my house
• Anker external battery/charger—cause the phone seems to always be dead on the go!
• Assorted Teas
• Baked Brie Cheese with fruit wrapped in Philo dough! Yummy 😋
• Bath and body Tis the season scent candle. This smell makes me so happy
• Bath and Body Works Car Air Fresheners – Love them. I can make my house smell like the holidays
• Bath bomb (a good one from a boutique or lush) or my fave smelling candle or both! Because I love to take a bath to decompress and these things are a little treat to myself
• Bathroom cleaner from Murchison-Hume. Works great and doesn’t trigger my asthma.
• Beauty products
• Buffalo Wild wings Asian Zing sauce. It’s our favorite. We have wings for Christmas lunch, as an easy finger food lunch.
• Burts Bees tinted lip balm (not the flavored ones) The ones with a slight tint.
• Butter mochi or furikaki Chex mix (we are Hawaiian)
• Candles, board game and slippers- they are my favorite things this time of year
• Candy cane chapstick
• Capri Blue Volcano candle – because it’s amazing!
• Car wash voucher I have been obsessed with getting my car washed lately from this cute car wash nearby and it’s something people wouldn’t think to buy themselves
• Chocolate
• Colorful Paper Mate Flair pens for lesson planning & happy planning, a Happy Planner sticker book, white flour sack dishtowels from Walmart-I always have one on my shoulder when in the kitchen, Dr. Teals lavender bubble bath, a Pampered Chef mini spatula, and Cinnamon Icebreakers
• Colorful Papermate Felt Tip pens, I Love them!
• Cookie dough scoop – because it makes baking cookies a breeze and none of my neighbors have one!
• Cranberry candle or pine candle
• Depending on the price: pen blade to open packages. More expensive: good essential oils
• Dots Pretzels & Dr. Pepper with vanilla & peach syrups & cream – they’re all so delicious! Also Rimmel Scandal eyes extreme mascara – perfect consistency, easy on, easy off, and still looks good the next day when I’m too tired to take off my makeup. 😂
• Dr Pepper and gnomes
• Dr Teal’s Epsom Salt, Zak smiling spoon, Mrs. Meyers, Land’s End personalized ornaments, Stance socks, Minky Couture blanket, Cozy blanket, (stuffed with goodies), Dinner conversation game, Sun Bum lip balm, natural licorice, and books!
• Dr. Bronners chapstick, b&bw hand soap, mrs Meyers products.
• Eyelash serum because we all want good brows and lush lashes
• Fancy hand cream because it such a nice way to treat yourself throughout the day
• Fresh Sugar lip balm in color Rose… Amazingly soft for the lips and subtle color with very smooth application. Crumble gift card, favorite dry shampoo (living proof is my favorite), snowdrop Mrs Meyers hand soap, or favorite decorative item like a Christmas pillow.
• Fuzzy Socks and black puma without socks. I love fuzzy for at home, and black socks are all I buy for everything else.
• Or
• Small fun notebook and a great writing pen. Preferably the spiral bound kind.
• I just did this! I brought a favorite card game (Five Crowns) and a Mint Utah Truffle
• I love the love handle for my phone. Something other people might not have but could use!
• I love to take a handmade zipper pouch, EOS lip balm, a gift card to our local pop shop, the book Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nelson, some sweets (cinnamon Santas and Mrs. Calls caramels are some favs! Also the S’more mix and almond coconut chocolate balls from Costco are all 👍🏻👍🏻) a magical makeup remover cloth, and a wet brush. I am just an average stay at home mom, money is not tight, but we are careful with it! So I don’t feel the need to spend a ton of money!! If there a high price limit I usually opt out of going. I also think keep it simple! And I love adding something handmade, but including store bought stuff too. I’m also under the opinion that ANYONE can use a cute sipper pouch. They are low calorie one size fits all!!
• Inexpensive magazine subscription- you can get for under $10 a year for some on Discount Mags. It’s a little fun mail each month ❤️
• It would probably be my favorite salt cellar from crate and Barrel or my favorite carafe.
• Just ingredients new deodorant! It works and I love it!!
• L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream in Lavender or Ultra Rich Body Cream – I put it on my hands every night in the winter and the smell helps me sleep and keeps my hands from drying out too much.
• Laneige lip sleep mask… my new favorite thing!
• Lip mask
• makeup eraser
• menstrual cup, haha but yes I’m serious
• Mint Truffles from Utah Truffles or The caramel macadamia clusters from Costco. I’m a sucker for chocolate.
• Mrs Meyers cleaning spray – I think its something people like and I love the fresh scents.
• My crocheted potholders & my current favorite scented dish or hand soap- I (& my friend’s) love these potholders & if I do dishes having a fun, usually seasonal scent makes the task more pleasurable
• My favorite popcorn or makeup remover cloths.
• My grandmother’s pound cake! It tastes like home and reminds me of all the Christmases spent at her house.
• My husbands homemade guacamole
• My instant pot guide and recipe book because the instant pot is a life saver
• My mocassins
• Not sure what this is? Food? Hand dipped chocolate covered Oreos
• Orbit spearmint whitening gum and buxom lip gloss
• Patè. It was my moms favorite and it’s something alot of people haven’t tried.
• Peppermint cleaning spray, it smells like Christmas
• Perk!! Best hot drink ever created!!!!
• Phone stand, got one for my desk at work and I can watch it without having to hold it, also good for the kitchen counter, bathroom, etc!
• Pizza and my fave book “love warrior,” Aveda shampure, “the wet brush,” dermologica trail size skincare, holiday throw blankets. I like fun, cozy gifts.
• Planner- Everyone needs to know what is going on with thier lives or especially of they have kids with activities.
• Sbux gift card or traveling mug
• Sharpie pens…they are my favorite writing tool.
• Smart wool socks. They’re perfect for the cold winters of MN/WI and are so soft!
• Some kind of homemade treats.
• Thayer’s Rose Petal facial toner- helps my skin feel not so dehydrated.
• The $1 Starbucks reusable cups. They’re my favorite coffee cups!
• The Big One plush blanket from Kohl’s… I get them on Black Friday to give to everyone and they’re perfect!
• Trader Joe’s hot cocoa bomb snowman. They are adorable, festive, unique, and taste so good.
• Trader Joe’s Chocolate covered peanut butter filled pretzels – they are heaven in a bite!
• Trader Joe’s shaving cream!
• Wet and Wild Lash-o-matic fiber extension kit. Works AMAZINGLY and isn’t expensive at all!
• Wet brush, those telepho looking hair ties, dry shampoo
• Wine. Because it’s one of my favorite things to have at a party lol.

Favorite Gift You’ve Received 

What’s your favorite gift that you’ve received that other people could give as well? These were the answers: 

• “Santa Key” for our door
• “Teach the children” Christmas Story with the items mentioned in the story
• A service – like house cleaning, etc.
• Anything handmade by my kids. 😊
• Kindle Fire
• Baked good, homemade bread
• Barefoot Dreams blanket
• big laundry basket full of post-Christmas cleaning supplies
• Bike necklace
• Board games
• Books!
• Breakfast or Lunch date invite
• Calendar from husband with planned out date nights, calendaring time, and discussion times all listed
• Candles are always a win for me… or a thoughtful ornament
• Christmas memory game
• cleaning spray, homemade potpourri, wrapping paper, paper plates!
• Coffee
• Cooking class gift certificates. Or a neighbor gift voucher- offering a couple of hours of gardening assistance- loved both!
• Date night
• Earrings
• Earrings, comfy slippers, favorite kitchen tool (chop n stir), spa candle
• Evening out for dinner and The Christmas Carol. I love shared experiences one on one with my loved ones
• Family Experience gifts – movie tickets, show tickets, etc.
• Fancy laundry detergent… Something I wouldn’t spend the money on myself but it smells so good!
• Flannel sheets, computer, luggage
• Fleece blankets tied around the edges
• Flight home for my brother to join us for our wedding
• Freezer meal
• Frozen crockpot meal with a note on how to use it on a busy night.
• Gift card for a family experience
• Gift cards for coffee and books
• Gift cards for coffee, movies, crafts- my favorite things
• Gift cards!
• Good Candles and soap!
• Handmade ornaments of my kids
• Homemade quilt
• Homemade vanilla extract (homemade food in general is my favorite)
• Honestly, warm winter socks!!
• I love candles!
• I love getting stovetop potpourri!
• Jewelry (cross bar necklace by Lisa Leonard with four stones to represent our four kids, from my husband)
• Kitchen towel with my grandmothers handwritten family favorite recipe
• Letter board
• Love updated printed pictures of niece, nephew & friends kids
• Maybe my Roomba
• Minky Couture blanket or my Cozy blanket(both companies are awesome at giving back)!
• Monthly club for picture books (I love picture books).
• Movie night basket or some other activity basket
• My daughter bought me a Venus flytrap one year. She was so excited to give it to me.
• Necklace with my kids names and birthstones.
• Necklace with my kids names on it
• Newly published cookbook
• Nice house slippers!
• One year my dad, who hates taking pictures, printed and framed a picture of each of us doing something significant with him. He took weeks to think about what would be a special activity to remember that we do together and then sneakily got our picture taken. Mine is a picture of him and I drinking coffee and eating donuts. Doesn’t seem like much, but that framed picture means the world to me. It’s rare to print pictures these days, so printed pictures seem to be a meaningful gift to give.
• Paper plates
• personalized notebooks/organizer
• Photo calendar or photo books
• Photo session
• Pictures, chatbooks
• Plant
• Really Nice PJs with a new book
• Silhouette or anything baking (new cookie sheets or SILPAT!) or measuring stuff
• Socks
• Something handmade.
• Something we can eat : not a dust collector
• Spending time together…movie, meal, show, day spa
• Stuffed rabbit named Tucker when I was a little girl- my daughter now keeps him on her bed 💗
• Swell water bottle (favorite, most used!)
• Their time and company
• Their time to take a Christmas trip together
• Things with pictures, ornaments with pictures, and calendar with picture from throughout the year
• Time – a lunch date, movie, baking lesson etc – either before or after the holidays
• Time gifts (tickets to a play/concert etc that I get to enjoy with the giver)
• Warm baked bread
• Watercolor portrait of my family
• Wooden tea box that has about 16 compartments for different tea bags!

I realize this is A LOT of information but I’ve made it into a printable booklet format too. 

Download the Favorite Things booklet.