My mom always told me to keep my alms in secret. To be honest, I never had a clue what that meant, but I figured it out watching my mom and grandmother around Christmas time. I learned about the value and pleasure of giving through the 12 days of Secret Santa.
12 Days of Christmas and Secret Santa Ideas Service Project
I remember going into my Grandmothers basement and seeing an entire chocolate factory. She spent hours making the most decadent treats. She worked full-time as an elementary school teacher, and though she did not have much time or money, she put everything she had into making those chocolate treats. I was so excited. I dreamed of eating chocolate treats for every meal.
That’s when I got the bad news: We were giving away all the treats. All that chocolate and bread and all those cinnamon rolls were going to other people–some of whom we did not even know. I had a lot to learn about service.
Luckily my mom taught me that giving away Christmas goodies can be just as fun as eating them. Every year my mom planned a “Twelve Days of Christmas Service Project”. Two weeks before Christmas she would pick a family that we wanted to make treats for, then every night for twelve nights we would secretly deliver the treats to their door, and then run away before we were caught.
Giving in Secret was a Big Part of the Fun
Secretly getting the treats to the door was always a fun challenge–especially when we were little. Sometimes we weren’t fast enough to make it back to mom’s car and we would have to walk home. Other times we would blow our cover by accidentally leaving a hat or some mittens with our name on them by the door. Other times, we were so slow getting away from the front porch that we would have to dive into the front yard bushes just to avoid getting caught. However, as the years passed our Christmas giving ninja skills got more and more refined and the unsuspecting recipients had no chance of ever knowing who had left the surprise holiday treats.
The best thing about the Twelve Days of Christmas Project is we learned to give and we had fun doing it. Not only did we have a chance to channel our mischievous natures toward giving a little holiday cheer, we also learned how good it felt to give.
Teach Your Children About Giving With the 12 Days of Secret Santa
Today I am teaching the same lesson to my kids. Not only do they get to learn about giving, it gives me an excuse to make a lot of Holiday goodies. Here are some ideas for Twelve Days of Christmas treats (not all of them have to be sweets):
- A small Christmas tree with ornaments
- Sparkling cider
- Hot cocoa or coffee kit (marshmallow, cups, and cocoa or coffee)
- Holiday CD’s or movies
- lotions
- gift cards
- bread and jam
- candles
- Christmas tree with lights
- a fresh wreath
- handmade hat or clothing
- ornaments
- homemade cookies and other treats
- you can also just run by the Dollar Store and let your kids pick out a cart full of items.
I love to buy pretty labels for each gift. You can print the days on each label or write on them. My kids also love to write notes and fun poems on them before we deliver them.
I got these for half off at Michael’s Craft.
I love giving handmade items because it costs very little and I know that people appreciate the time that went into the gift.
It is also fun putting a hot cocoa kit together. You can add marshmallows, chocolate, whip cream and candy canes. These paper cups can be found at Target.
You never know what someone is going through in life. The 12 Days of Secret Santa could help provide just the surprise that they need to make it through a bad day or week. Just writing about it gets me excited to give and to keep my alms in secret.
Share Your Family’s Holiday Service Traditions
I can’t wait to hear about your family and friends holiday service traditions.
Do you do the 12 days of Secret Santa for your family and friends?
What are your favorite gifts to give?
HAPPY EVERYTHING!
Whitney says
What a fun tradition! There is no better lesson to teach your kids than to serve. Love the cute gifts and tags with the 12days of Christmas. Cute cute!
Susie says
Love this post…my kids are just about at the age where they can learn and understand why we give and serve other less fortunate people. These are great ideas I will take home and use. Thank you Ashley.
MIKEY says
Amazing
Lindsey says
You so FANCY
Libby says
Great post! I love the gift ideas. This is a great way to teach children the meaning of gift giving at Christmas time. Thank you!
Nicole says
These are wonderful ideas to be giving, but the 12 days of Christmas actually begins on Christmas and ends on the Epiphany.
Jenny says
Last year someone gave my neighbor a 12 Days of Christmas where each day they got one piece of a nativity…I thought that was an especially neat idea.
Tonya says
We do this every year and I can truly say that it is the funnest part of the holiday. The kids love the door bell ditching part the best! Lasting memories have been made.
Erin says
We do, too! We learned about this by being a recipient. When we got ours they did the 12 days of Christmas theme with twists to fit the gifts… I.e. a penguin (holding a gift card) in a pear tree (tree made of cans of pears) lol. We have stuck with the song theme. Tons of fun for me & the kids 🙂
Kristina says
Great idea. Do you tell the person in the end or do you leave it a mystery?
Erin says
We leave it a mystery. Sometimes we’ve mistakenly left clues. I.e. a friend saw a tag on my counter like the ones on her gifts. 1/2 of the fun is being artful in denying any knowledge 🙂
Teresa says
My friend’s family purposely picks someone she has observed who seems to be alone, grumpy all the time, or ‘unloveable’ by popular standards.
They personalize the gifts as meangful, fashionable, humorous or food according to what they can learn about the recipient.
I best remember on day 3 when when the power had been out all day. She fixed stuffed & baked 3 Cornish game hens (with baby carrots & tiny taters) a $2 thrift store casserole dish, wrapped it in foil and an old bath towel & delivered it on the snow covered porch at dinner time ! We watched from across the street as the “grumpy neighbor” opened the door, nudged the towel with his foot, then bent over and hurried back into the house with his surprise supper and a great big smile on his face!
Kathie says
I love this idea! The gifts, the mystery giving… which we did as children especially on May Day and every chance we could!
Many years ago, newly divorced and very poor, I used this 12 Days of Christmas theme for our Christmas morning gifts (court ordered for the weekend AFTER the holiday) for my small children. This kept me busy and focused on creating new traditions. I selected and wrapped basic needs items like 6 pairs of socks or 5 library books that were later returned (they never even noticed)! 12 gifts hidden throughout the house (with clues related to 12 Days and related hidden meanings) for each child leading to the next gift. Christmas morning was amazing, relaxing and long. We have continued every year and my married son has expanded and improved: for example, they have 12 days related to an Advent calendar which vary with events for both outside the family and more private, like a buy a gift day, give a gift day, make a gift, share a gift, cook a gift with a carefully scheduled day, not necessarily Christmas, with clues and gifts and searching. The family sharing has become far more important than the gifts.