My family would like to welcome you to Greatful Moments Christmas Interactive Gift Guide. In this post we will be making our Christmas Treat Jar , box or envelope to hold our Christmas Tickets

This jar is going to become a place where we keep track of the activities we’ve completed, the tickets we’ve earned, and all the little Christmas memories we’re making along the way. And the best part? You don’t have to spend money to make one.

If you’ve been following Greatful Moments, you already know that I don’t want this Christmas Interactive Gift Guide to be just another list of things to buy because we all know Christmas can get expensive very quickly.

There are gifts to purchase and food. Decorations and School activities. Parties. Travel. And all the little things that seem to come up during December. So I want our Christmas guide to be different.

We’re going to look for ways to have fun without automatically reaching for our wallets. That’s why we’re going to start by looking around our own homes. Maybe you already have a jar, envelope, or box.

Maybe you have an empty food container or you have a Christmas cup. Maybe there’s a basket sitting in a closet or you may have an old box or gift bag. Use it! You don’t need a special Christmas Treat Jar, bag or envelope from a store. The container isn’t what makes this special. What we put into it is what makes it special.

Throughout our Christmas Interactive Gift Guide, we’re going to have activities that families, friends and neighbors can do together. All of the activities will be for everyone of all ages. Some of these activites can bring several families or neighbors together.

When we designate an activity as a Christmas Ticket Activity, completing that activity earns a Christmas Ticket. That ticket goes into your Christmas Treat Jar. But if you read for 10 minutes you will be able to earn a second ticket. One activity. One ticket. One more Christmas memory. And then we do it again.

But You Don’t Have to Use the Tickets the Same Way This is where I want you to have fun with it. If you want to print our Christmas Tickets, you can. If you want to color them, color them! If you want to decorate them with Christmas stickers, do that.

If you want to write the activity and the date on the ticket, go ahead. If you have children who love crafts, let them turn every ticket into its own little piece of artwork. You could even have everyone in the family decorate their tickets differently. There isn’t a right or wrong way.

At the end of the challenge if you made a jar keep it and use it as part of your Holiday decorations. On the bottom of the jar make sure and write who made it and the date because these jars can be used next year.

If you don’t want to print tickets. That’s okay. You can use stickers to keep track of your activities. Every time you complete a Christmas Ticket Activity, put one sticker somewhere to mark it.

Maybe you have a Christmas sticker book sitting in a drawer. Maybe you have leftover stickers from another project. Maybe you have regular stickers. Use what you have. And if you don’t have stickers?

Draw a star. Draw a Christmas tree. Make an X. Color in a square. Write the number of activities you’ve completed. You don’t have to buy anything. Use a Calendar You Already Have

Here’s another idea. Find a calendar that’s already sitting around your house. Maybe it’s hanging on the refrigerator. Maybe it’s on a desk. Maybe it’s an old calendar you haven’t thrown away yet. You can use that.

Every time you complete one of our Christmas activities, mark that day. Put a sticker on it. Color it. Draw something. Write a number. Whatever works. And if you don’t have a calendar, you can make one from a piece of paper. Again, we’re using what we already have.

Or you can use both you don’t have to choose. You can put the actual Christmas Ticket into your Treat Jar and put a sticker on your calendar. That gives you two ways to watch your Christmas adventure grow.

The jar shows all the tickets you’ve earned. The calendar shows all the days you’ve spent making memories together. And I think there’s something pretty special about being able to look back at that calendar after Christmas and see all those little marks. Each one represents something you did together.

If you want to decorate your Christmas Treat Jar, look through your craft supplies first. Do you have ribbon? Use it. Bows? Use them. Christmas stickers? Perfect. Markers? Crayons? Construction paper? Leftover wrapping paper?

The main thing is to use whatever you have and to not spend money and you can make it fancy or you can make it silly. You can let the kids decorate it or you can let the adults decorate it. You can let everyone add something. Or you can leave the jar completely plain. There are no decorating rules. This isn’t a contest. We’re making memories, not competing for the fanciest jar.

The funniest part of this challenge is everybody can participate! Children. Teenagers. Parents. Grandparents. Friends. Neighbors. You can even make this a family activity, or you can invite other people to join your Christmas adventure.

Maybe your children have their own tickets. Maybe the whole family has one jar. Maybe grandparents keep their own jar. Maybe two families participate together. That’s completely up to you. The important thing is that everyone has an opportunity to participate.

What Happens to the Tickets at the End? This is where the Treat Jar becomes really fun. At the end of our Christmas adventure, your family can decide what you’d like to do to celebrate all those completed activities.

Maybe you choose a favorite Christmas treat and make it together. Maybe you have a hot chocolate and cookie night. Maybe you have a family movie night. Maybe someone gets to choose what’s for dinner.

Maybe you have a family game night. Maybe you take a Christmas lights walk. Maybe you choose a special outing. And here’s something I really want you to remember: The reward does not have to cost money. In fact, some of the best rewards may be the ones that don’t cost anything. The whole purpose of this is to encourage us to spend more time together—not more money.

Our Christmas Money-Saving Rule before you buy something for one of our activities, stop and ask yourself: Do we already have this? Then look around your house. Check the craft drawers. Look in the pantry. Check the Christmas decorations. Look in the closets.

Ask your friends and family if they have something you could borrow. Then, if you still need something, check the clearance aisle or look for an inexpensive option. Don’t forget about free groups on Facebook.

Our order is simple:

Look at home first.
Ask friends and family second.
Check the clearance aisle.
Buy only what you really need.

That’s going to be part of our Christmas adventure, too.

Your Christmas Treat Jar is about more than Tickets. I hope that by the time Christmas arrives, your jar is full. But I don’t just mean full of paper. I hope it’s full of memories you made wit your friends and family.

Maybe you’ll have a ticket from a Christmas baking activity. Another from a family movie night. Another from a neighborhood Christmas lights walk. Another from a craft. Another from an outing. Another from something you did to help someone else.

And when you look at those tickets, you’ll remember the activity that earned each one. That’s why we’re doing this. We’re counting memories while spending time with our friends and family.

So today, we’re starting our Christmas Treat Jar. Find your container. Decorate it if you want. Choose where you’re going to keep it. Then decide how you’re going to track your Christmas Tickets.

Will you use our printable tickets? Will you color them? Will you decorate them with stickers? Will you use a calendar? Will you use stickers on the calendar? Will you use the jar and calendar together? It’s completely up to you.

And don’t forget to print the Christmas Treat Jar Instructions below and keep them with your jar so everyone knows how our Christmas Ticket system works. Because this is just the beginning. We’re going to have plenty of Christmas activities ahead.

And every time you complete one of our designated activities, you’ll have another opportunity to add a ticket—or another mark on your calendar—to your Christmas adventure.

Do the activity.
Earn a ticket.
Fill the jar.
Mark the calendar.
Make a Christmas memory.

That’s what the Greatful Moments Christmas Interactive Gift Guide is all about.

Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed.

🎟️ Printable Christmas Tickets

Once the challenge is over come back and let me know what you thought of the activities and how many tickets your family earned.

Thank you,

Glenda, Charlie and David Cates