A Quick and Easy Guide to the 12 Days of Christmas {Grown-Up Edition}

A Quick and Easy guide to the 12 days of Christmas {Grown-Up Edition}

The holiday season can be daunting with so many things to remember from school plays and parties to the plethora of gifts required for teachers, coaches, friends and family. The last thing any of us want to do is over-complicate anything in the month of December. BUT …

If your spouse is tough to buy for or you simply want to do something special, I recommend giving “Twelve Days of Christmas.” At first this may seem like too much work, but many of the ideas I’ll share can be found right at your local grocery store or grabbed on the way to pick the kids up from school. With very little planning, you can give a gift that will blow them away with your thoughtfulness and attention to detail.

Choose a Theme

There are several ways to go about this. I’ve seen themes for each day (Movies, Golf, Baked Goods) or items to match the themes in the Twelve Days of Christmas song. Any way you choose to execute this will be perfect. I like to play on the numbers and do 1 item on day 1 and 12 on day twelve, etc…

Make a List

Start with a list. Write out #1-#12 and decide what you’d like to give for each day. Consider ease of item procurement and choose items that you can get locally or quickly through Amazon Prime to reduce stress. You’ll need all items to be wrapped & ready by December 12^th, so plan accordingly. Select items that will make your spouse smile. They don’t have to be expensive or extravagant, just thoughtful.

NOMB Team Picks

• Massage oil w/ coupons for a certain # of massages
• A new set of drill bits with X # of bits
• A Magazine, VPaperie , or other subscription for 6 or 12 months
• Large Bottle of their favorite beverage
• Two cute cufflinks (or earrings!)
• X # Movie Tickets
• 4-pack of non-stick egg rings
• iTunes or Google gift card with certain $X
• Bags of High-Quality Coffee Beans
• X Pack of Undershirts / Underwear / Socks
• 6-Pack of Beer / Kranz Coffee / Soda
• 4-pack of Red Bull
• X # of Native Nail Polish
• Collage Frame with X # of Photos
• X # of their Favorite Candy (Reese’s Christmas Trees?)
• Sucre Macarons / Chocolates
• Gift Bag of Pistachios
• X # of carefully selected songs on iTunes
• $X Gift Card to their favorite coffee shop
• Family Christmas Ornament with X # family members
• New / Used Records or CD’s with a certain # of tracks

Ready, Set, Give!

Once you have your list, think about how you’d like to present your gifts. I like to use 12 festive bags from the Dollar Tree, but if you have the time and want to use what you have on hand, wrapping paper works great too. I’ve seen tags with poems, catchy rhymes or song lyrics, but I simply label each bag 1-12 and leave the gift on his pillow after dinner each night. Begin your gift giving on December 13^th and give through December 24^th.

Have you ever done something like this? Share photos in the comments!