Travel-Inspired Christmas Things To Do in 2022
Love family travel? These 7 Christmas things to do will check the box for travel-loving families.
If your family loves traveling together (like mine), Christmas isn’t really Christmas without a little something travel related thrown in.
We’ve found though that we don’t actually have to take a huge trip to celebrate our love of family travel. In fact, we like staying home for the holidays when we can. But, we always throw a little something into our holiday celebration to satisfy our wanderlust.
These 7 ideas for travel-loving might just help get you in the holiday spirit too.
Gift presents that give back to the world in which we travel.
What better way to honor the big wide world that provides all the great spots we love to adventure than by giving back to charities that support it? And of course you’ll be checking off your Christmas shopping list too.
My absolute favorite Christmas thing to do for my travel-loving family is to give gifts that give back.
For several years now, I’ve done that by shopping at Sseko Designs. They sell fantastic footwear, bags, jewelry, home goods and more to aid women in poverty in East Africa.
This year, Sseko has teamed up with another one of my favorites, Noonday Collection. Noonday Collection also sells products through fair trade from artisans around the world. They empower women to end a familial cycle of poverty.
And for another great jewelry option, I love the pieces I’ve gotten as Christmas gifts from The Giving Keys. The entire inspired collection aims to help people affected by homelessness.
For the the coffee lover in your family, Generous Coffee makes a great choice. Not only is it just really great coffee. Additionally, 100% of profits earned from sales are funneled to partner organizations that serve communities in need throughout the world.
And because just about everyone loves cookies, you’re sure to check off your shopping list at Doughp. It’s a cookie dough company that (deliciously) supports mental health and addiction recovery.
Learn more about how you’re helping the world in which we travel just by being here. Check out our Castle and Carpool’s charities page HERE.
2. Make a Christmas present out of memories from a past family vacation.
Photo books and other presents made from family vacation memories make great Christmas presents. And they’re a perfect way to share memories from past trips.
You don’t need to be a converted Ebenezer Scrooge to appreciate Christmas past, present and future. One of the things that makes Christmas so special is the nostalgia of holidays celebrated together in the past.
One of our family’s favorite Christmas things to do is to gift one another a present that helps preserve those family memories. And of course some of our family’s best memories are from family vacations taken together.
Companies like Snapfish, Shutterfly, and Google Photos make creating travel-inspired gifts easy. All your favorite travel photos can be organized in a photo book or picture collage. Or pick one photo from a family vacation to make into a gift like a Christmas ornament, coffee mug, or blanket.
3. Watch a Yuletide movie inspired by travel.
The magic of movies is perfect for helping us “travel” without leaving home. And some of the best Christmas movies are set in great family vacation destinations.
I think it was the Miracle on 34th Street (1947) that may have first sparked my love for New York. And all my kids wanted to visit the city after watching Elf (2003). Your favorite version of A Christmas Carol (1938, 1984, and 2009, among other adaptations) is sure to make you feel like you’re in London. Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) is likely to remind you of your family’s past travel mishaps.
Check out Travel and Leisure’s list of the best Christmas movies of all time to “travel” to great family vacation destinations portrayed in Christmas movies. Or turn to the Points Guy UK for this list of the best holiday movies filmed at airports to take to the friendly skies without leaving home.
Tickets to plays are great gifts too! If Broadway will be making an appearance in your Christmas plans, check out:
4. Celebrate the Christmas traditions of another country.
A great way to learn about other places is by creating crafts, trying recipes, and reading stories about the destination. Learning about the Christmas traditions of other countries is a fun way to get your travel fix without leaving home.
Teachers across the country have been using Christmas around the world lesson plans to teach about the world around us for years. But you don’t have to be in a classroom to appreciate the customs of other countries during the holiday season. Celebrating the traditions of a favorite destination is a great Christmas thing to do at home too.
Teachers Pay Teachers has lots of crafts, recipes, games, and other activities that teach kids how Christmas is celebrated in other countries. (And you don’t need to be a teacher to use the site.) Families can do activities from a country they’re hoping to go to. Or choose a country you’ve been to and loved as a way of revisiting a favorite place. Either way, kids will be learning about the world around them in a fun way. And isn’t that one of the best reasons we travel in the first place?
5. Read a travel-inspired book about Christmas.
Traveling through a book is a great way to venture far away even when you’re at home. And that’s true at the holiday season as well.
There are lots of great Christmas-themed books that will take you around the world. Some of our family’s favorites are:
The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson (set in Paris)
A Paper Bag Christmas by Kevin Alan Milne (set in America)
A London Snow by Paul Theroux (set in London).
Check out Childhood101’s list of more books celebrating Christmas around the world for a great Christmas thing to do for the whole family..
You might also like:
40 Inspiring Quotes That Will Make You Want to Travel and Learn
6. Plan a family staycation in your local area.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that we don’t always need to venture half way across the globe to find great travel opportunities. Often, there are fun travel things to do with kids practically in our backyard.
Checking out the things to do with kids in your local area may be the perfect way to satisfy your adventure-loving family without going far. Even just a trip around your local town to see the holiday decorations is a great Christmas thing to do. And it’s something that we can forget about when we’re busy traveling farther.
While “traveling like a local” is a popular theme to plan great family vacations, the inverse is a perfect way to see a place that’s already familiar to you. In other words, do an internet search of things to do near you or in a city close to you. Plan just like you would if you weren’t familiar with the area. You may be surprised at the number of things on the list that you haven’t yet experienced.
If you live near Washington, DC, like we do, check out Trekeroo’s Christmas in DC- The Best Washington DC Christmas Events for 2022. Live near the New York area? Timeout has a list of the best Christmas things to do in NYC. Or if you call another town home, Google is sure to come with a great list for you with the search terms “Christmas things to do near me.”
7. Gift a future family vacation.
There’s rarely a year in a our family that a gift of a future trip can’t be found wrapped up under our Christmas tree. And this year will be no different.
Christmas is a perfect time to plan the best family vacations, weekend get-aways and trips to places we’ve been wanting to go. What could be better wrapped up under the tree?
Looking forward a fun way to gift a trip? Our free printable itinerary planners can be found in our family travel activity e-book. Just click the link in the header. Then print, fill out, and wrap as a way to give an upcoming trip as a gift.
If you’re travel plans are still up the air, our family travel activities can be a fun way to gift a trip without having all the details worked out first. In fact, having the kids help with the planning sometimes makes the gift all the more fun.
