The 12 days of Christmas

My friend Faye is one of those people who can always pick great gifts but last Christmas she outdid herself by giving us, as a family, a gift to countdown the 12 days of Christmas. It was such a fun gift that we all loved. Things have been so tough this year and we are all looking for ways to make Christmas special for those we love. So I asked Faye if she would share how she put this gift together for us.

Faye’s instructions for the 12 days of christmas

I wanted to do something special for Anita, Tony and Emily for Christmas. After a lot of thought I came up with a gift for the 12 days of Christmas. My idea was that they would get to countdown the 12 days of Christmas with a gift everyday. Its a different take on an advent calendar.

When it comes to choosing a vessel for the gifts you are only limited by your imagination. You can use a beautiful basket, a small suitcase, a Christmas box. Anything that is big enough to hold the gifts. As you can see from the above picture I also made gift tags numbered from 1 to 12. You could buy ready made gift tags and write the numbers on if you didn’t have time to make them.

The idea of this gift is not to spend a lot of money. Its really about the pleasure of giving and celebrating the season. Doing a basket for three people did complicate the process of picking gifts. If you are doing something for one person then you can really personalise the gift for them.

What gifts to include

The most important part of getting this gift together is planning. You need to allow time to gather the gifts. I did my shopping over a couple of weeks. Also ensuring that you have it finished in time to deliver it to the recipient in time for them to count down the 12 days of Christmas.

The first gift I chose for the Kellys was a book on European Food Trails as Anita and Tony were heading to Europe two days after Christmas. The last gift was a serviette holder that I knew they would love for their outdoor area. Some suggestions for other inexpensive gifts are:-

• Chocolate letters from Big W;
• Small packets of tissues;
• Sticky Tape;
• Pretty Serviettes;
• Pens or Pencils;
• Notepads;
• Books;
• Favourite lollies;
• Socks;
• Body products;
• Leaf tea;
• Gardening gloves;
• Small torch;
• Travel games;
• Candles;
• Mints;
• Chocolate Santas or Elves;

Here are some of the items included in the basket for Anita, Tony and Em.

When choosing the gifts I tried to focus on items they would use or eat ☺️. I hope you all give the 12 days of Christmas a go – Merry Christmas, Faye.

I hope you love Faye’s idea as much as we did. Let me know if you end up doing the 12 days of Christmas. If you would like another fun idea for Christmas why not try Friendsmas.

I have put together a printables set to allow you to create your own 12 days of Christmas with co-ordinating wrapping and tags.