Christmas tasks the kids can do
Share the workload and get set for the festive season without any hassle
Three Christmas tasks under-10s can do
• Decorate the tree
Get the tree standing upright, then let your children express themselves with baubles, tinsel and trinkets. Avoid glass decorations. After Christmas, give them tissue or newspaper and have a ‘wrapping up’ game packing it all away.
• Tidy up
Get your kids to collect up all the toys, books and mess around the lounge and kitchen. Check out our article Trick the kids into tidying up!
• Prepare veg
Some of the root vegetables might need a sharp knife and adult attention (perfect for dads) but washing can be done by children, and smaller fingers are perfect for the fiddly task of taking the outer leaves off sprouts.
Three Christmas tasks under-16s can do
• Organise your Christmas card list
Get names and addresses printed off by the member of the family who is never off your computer! Or go green and save money by getting them to seek out a website where they can personalise a short film with uploaded family photos and send out e-cards by email for you.
• Buy gifts for younger cousins
Give your teen the budget to buy the gifts for the younger kids on your list. They should be close enough in age to still know what will go down well!
• Make pudding
If they want to buy a traditional pudding, encourage them to shop around first and report back to you with a few options (a useful life skill!) or let them find something great in a cookbook and give them a small budget to buy ingredients. Alternatively, get your teen to sort the starter instead.
Savvy tip
Wrapping and writing labels takes more time than you think so share out this task with gifts that don’t have to be kept secret from your children.