December fills up with screens without anyone deciding it. A movie in the background while the cookies bake, a quick check of the group chat that turns into twenty minutes, everyone on the couch with their own glow. None of that is wrong. But if you'd like a few evenings this season that look a little different, it helps to have some ideas ready before the night arrives.
Below are screen-free Christmas activities for families, kids and grown-ups, sorted by where they happen and how much energy they need. Pick two or three. You don't need a screen-free month, just a few unplugged hours you chose on purpose.
Make it easy to start
The hardest part of a screen-free evening is usually the first five minutes. A few small moves help:
- Pick a time, not a whole day. "Saturday, 4 to 6" is easier to keep than "no screens this weekend."
- Give the phones a place to go. A basket by the door, a drawer in the kitchen. Everyone's goes in at the same time, adults' too.
- Have the first thing ready. Paper and tape on the table, the board game already open, boots by the door. Deciding what to do is often the moment someone reaches for a phone.
- Keep it short the first time. An hour that feels relaxed is a good start. You can always do more next week.
If you'd like help making room for this in a full month, our post on how to reduce holiday stress has a section on taking one screen-free hour a day. And if you plan the season on paper, Merry & Calm., our printable holiday planner, has 20 screen-free family activities among its calm pages.
Cozy screen-free Christmas activities at home
- Make paper chains and snowflakes. Old wrapping paper, magazines and printer paper all work. Hang them somewhere everyone walks past.
- Build a blanket fort and read Christmas books inside it. Take turns choosing.
- Do a holiday puzzle on a card table. Leave it out all week so anyone can add a few pieces when they pass by.
- Write the family's own Christmas story. One person writes the first sentence, then the paper goes around the table. Read it out loud at the end.
- Make a "best of the year" list together. Favorite meal, funniest moment, best day out. Keep it in a drawer for next December.
In the kitchen
Cooking together gives hands something to do, and nobody can scroll with flour on their fingers.
- Bake one simple recipe together and give each person a job: measuring, stirring, decorating.
- Decorate cookies or gingerbread with whatever is in the cupboard. Lopsided is fine.
- Make a hot chocolate bar with a few toppings in small bowls, then take mugs to the window or the porch.
- Cook a dish from a family recipe card and ask whoever wrote it, or remembers it, to tell the story behind it.
Outside, in the cold
A short trip outside breaks up a long day indoors. Dress warm and keep it short if it's freezing.
- Go for a Christmas lights walk after dark. Each person picks their favorite house on the street.
- Collect pinecones, sticks and greenery on a walk, then make a table centerpiece or simple ornaments at home.
- Feed the birds. String cereal loops or spread a pinecone with seed butter and hang it on a branch.
- Build something in the snow, if you have it. If you don't, a frosty-morning scavenger hunt works too: a red berry, a round stone, a feather.
Making and giving
Some of the nicest December evenings are spent making something for someone else.
- Write and decorate cards by hand for grandparents, neighbors or a teacher.
- Put together a small kindness basket for a neighbor: a few baked treats and a note.
- Wrap gifts together with music on and a rule that nobody peeks.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
These are days when screens tend to creep in, between meals, travel and new gadgets. A plan for one unplugged stretch can help.
- Christmas Eve candle or lamp hour. Lights down, one story read aloud, a mug of something warm.
- A Christmas morning walk before or after gifts, even fifteen minutes around the block.
- An afternoon card game tournament while dinner cooks, with names on a paper bracket.
Screen-free Christmas activities for adults and couples
Grown-ups get to unplug too, and a quiet adult evening can be one of the easiest to protect.
- Make a December playlist on paper, then play it on a record player, radio or speaker with the phone in another room.
- Host a small game night with friends. Ask everyone to bring a snack and leave phones in a bowl by the door.
- Write a letter to someone you only text.
- Plan a phone-free date at home. If you'd like ideas and conversation cards ready for a December evening, Unplugged Together. has 52 phone-free date ideas and 120 cut-out conversation cards, or start with our free list of screen-free date night ideas.
Put a few on the calendar
- Choose three. One at home, one outside, one for Christmas week.
- Write them on the calendar now, next to what's already there, and treat them like any other plan.
- Keep a backup for a night when everyone's tired, like a reading hour under blankets.
If you're mapping out the whole season, Merry & Calm. keeps these plans in the same place as everything else. Next to the 20 screen-free family activities, its calm pages include 6 calm resets, kind ways to say no and daily calm check-ins. It also has two month-at-a-glance calendars and a 6-week countdown with weekly priorities and to-do lists, so a lights walk or a baking afternoon can sit in the same week as the grocery list. Our post on how to plan for Christmas early walks through those six weeks one at a time.
When it doesn't go to plan
Some nights, someone will want the movie, and that's fine. Screen-free time isn't a test, and a Christmas film together on the couch is a lovely tradition too. If a plan falls apart, move it to another night or make it smaller. Ten minutes of decorating cookies still counts.
At the end of the season, jot down which activities your family enjoyed and which ones you'd skip. Next December, you'll have a short list to start from.
Start with one evening
Pick one idea from this list, put it on the calendar this week and get the supplies out the night before. That's enough to begin.
When you're ready to plan the rest of the season on paper, take a look at Merry & Calm. Any two guides get 25% off at checkout, no code needed (through Nov 30). Find your guide with the 30-second quiz.