Christmas Staycation – 7 Ideas How To Spend A Joyful Season
The Christmas season is always the most beautiful and magical time of the year. Everyone turns into a festive mood, everywhere you can hear Christmas songs, and cities show off their best Christmas lightings. But it´s also the time of mulled wine, hearty meals, and people want to spend some quality time with their loved ones! Traveling during this particular season can be stunning, visit other cities, especially, in Europe, with all their Christmas Markets, is such a fantastic experience! But what if you can´t travel for which reason ever? No worries! There are so many possibilities to have a perfect Christmas Staycation in and around your hometown!
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7 Ideas How To Spend Your Perfect Christmas Staycation
Enjoy this festive season, treat yourself, and spend some time with your friends and family. No time of the year is so joyful and magical! Below you´ll find a few but exciting ideas of what you can do while staying at home during the Christmas season!
1. Have A Hot Chocolate And Read A Book
You don´t need to go far to spoil yourself with hot chocolate and a good story. Stay at home, grab your favorite book, and make yourself feel cozy. Nothing is better to stay inside in the warmth when it´s cold and crisp outside.
And if you´re lucky, it´s snowing outside while you´re sitting in front of a fireplace! Wouldn´t that be wonderful?
Or what do you think about taking a book that you wanted to read the entire year but never had the time for it? Instead of staying at home, go to your favorite café and treat yourself! Or take your best friend or your Mom and try out a new one? Drink a hot tea, have a great chat about everything and nothing at the same time, and have a wonderful time with yourself or your loved ones!
2. Enjoy A Christmas Movie Night
Take your best friend or yourself and set up a movie night with all your favorite Christmas movies. Make yourself a hot chocolate, a mulled wine, delicious tea, lit up some candles, and enjoy the night staying at home.
Another option is to go to the cinema and have fun watching a good old or new Christmas movie. Every year, from Harry Potter, to Star Wars, or Last Christmas, the movie industry produces new, fun, exciting, or magical films that bring joy to the world.
3. Throw A Christmas Biscuits Baking Party
Invite your favorite people and prepare yourselves for the Christmas season with delicious biscuits and Christmas pastries. Listen to Christmas songs, and if you´re thirsty, you can heat some mulled wine and have a drink on a joyful Christmas time with your loved ones!
4. Go Outside And Enjoy A Winter day!
Do you feel a bit overwhelmed by all that Christmas stuff, or you´re not in the mood yet? Check out the areas nearby if you can find a place where you can escape all the Christmas fuss and enjoy a day outside in the snow! For example, Winterberg is about an hour and a half from Düsseldorf and is perfect for a day trip into the snow!
5. Explore Christmas Markets In Your Hometown
As soon as the season begins, also Christmas Markets pop up everywhere. Here in Düsseldorf, where I live, we have nine different Christmas markets alone in the city center. One for each day in the week. Traditional food, Christmas pastries, all kinds of handcrafted things, and even an icerink are waiting for you!
That´s why, go by yourself, or do a Christmas Markets hopping with your friends and soak in the Christmas mood, the atmosphere, the smell!
6. Discover Christmas Markets and Lights In Another City
Also, the neighborhoods around, and especially the cities everywhere, have beautiful Christmas Markets. To most of them, you can quickly go by public transport!
Especially here in Düsseldorf, there are so many more possibilities to visit other cities. Cologne, Duisburg, Essen, Münster, and many more have beautiful Christmas markets and other Christmas attractions worth discovering.
For instance, have you heard about the Christmas Market at the chocolate museum in Cologne? I think this will be something which I´d like to do this season!
7. Escape Your Christmas Staycation And Make A Weekend Trip
If you don´t want to stay at home but don´t want to travel too far either, what about a weekend trip to one of Europe´s most famous Christmas Markets*. Travel to the Christkindl Market in Nuremberg, or the Castle Neubrunn in Vienna? I also heart that the Christmas Markets in Danzig, Budapest, and Prague are lovely! Even London has a certain charm, not everyone´s cup of tea, but hey, at least, they try.
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These are a few ideas for having an exciting, relaxed, or fun time during the Christmas season. What are you doing for the most festive time of the year? Do you have more ideas or suggestions for a Christmas staycation? Tell me more in the comments below!
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As soon as fall starts, everyone in our house starts craving warm drinks so hot cocoa and a good book sounds divine.
This is amazing! Makes me look forward to the Christmas time! Thank you for sharing!
Staycations are great, any time of year!
I love this! It’s so true going away is amazing, but not always possible. There are so many ways to enjoy the Christmas season at home. I personally love craft fairs and driving around looking at lights!
Oh yes, looking at the lights is amazing! I love to do this when I´m on the road somewhere in the US. Here in Germany, it´s not such a tradition to decorate the houses with lights. In general, this is done by the city itself at the most important buildings and streets and of course the city center! That private houses are decorated is still pretty rare
Christmas is my favourite time of year 🙂
Mine, too! 😉
haha I’m thinking about the things to do in Rome for the Xmas season too ! well, I think I gonna go outside and check out what’s outside in the city, but I do love your idea of hot chocolate X book!!!
Hey Menty, Christmas in Rome must be awesome, too! I haven´t made it to Rome yet, whether at Christmas nor any other time. I could imagine this is a lovely experience as well!
Love these recommendations! They are sure to make Christmas special!
Hi Kate, thanks for stopping by! Yes, Christmas is always a special time and doing a little self-care alone, or with friends or family makes it even more special!
What is your favorite thing to do during Christmas season?
Christmas is my favourite time of year! I can’t wait for it to snow here in Canada it’s really magical – hot chocolate a Christmas movie and holiday baking really gets me in the Christmas spirit!
Hi Rachael, that sounds awesome! Canada must be a completely different and special experience during Christmas time! And yes, even if you´re not in the mood yet, as soon as you start doing Christmas stuff, you´re getting into it! Have fun with the holiday baking!!
I am definitely going to do all of these things. Can’t wait to just spend days curled up with a book, a blanket, hot chocolate and candles while it snows outside. Is there anything better?
Haha, Emma, you´re right! There are not many things that are better 😀 Hope you´ll have a great and relaxed Christmas time!
Great ideas! Would love to curl up with a hot cup of tea and a book next to the fireplace!
Hi Rebecca, this is the best thing ever! Enjoy the festive season!
Great ideas! I think spending time at home gives you a good excuse for exploring the areas around you too. Got a day off but it’s cold and rainy? Go to a museum you’ve never been to before! There’s always a way to combat the cold. 🙂
That´s right Clazz! We usually don´t appreciate the things in your home neighborhood not enough. I´m not better, I often know more facts about the places where I´m traveling to but about my home neighborhood? I started a personal challenge this year… that I try to go outside and explore a new location in my hometown each month! Also this Christmas season I try to explore some Christmas Markets that I haven´t been to yet!
I get quite a bit of time off during the Christmas holidays. I hope to get to do the majority of your suggestion. Chilling with a book sounds delightful.
Hey Chris, nothing is better than to spoil yourself a bit, even with such small things as relaxing with a book and a hot tea or chocolate!
We had a staycation last year here in Canada and I loved it soooo much. It still felt like an epic holiday as we could go skiing on Christmas day, and I read, relaxed and went on some long chilly walks.
So, yeah I am happy to confirm these are all fab festive ideas. 🙂
This year we’re heading home to the UK to be with family, so it’ll be a staycation for our previous home, rather than our current home <3
That sounds awesome, Josy! Living in a ski area is even more amazing and offers loads of more possibilities to spend a staycation!
Any plans for your UK staycation yet? I love all the different traditions of different countries!
For me the ideal is to bake cooking (to get the house smelling like Christmas), and read a good book over a hot cup of tea ❤️
I love to have a baking session with my friends, too! I did it last year for the first time in a couple of years, and it was so much fun! I really missed it!
Super making me want to jump on the next plane out to Europe right now. 🤩
Go for it, Shafinah 😀 Europe is great during Christmas time!
I love staycations, particularly around the holidays – when the world can get crazy with all the shopping and the rush! I will be doing a staycation for the American Thanksgiving holiday and part of the Christmas holiday and I am super happy about that!
Hi Andi, I agree, those days can get a bit stressful. I, for example, am not good with a mass of people, which is not unusual during Christmas time! That´s why I love to keep the balance with quieter times at home!