Start a fun new tradition with your husband by giving him 12 Days of Christmas!
12 Days of Christmas is a tradition I started with my husband over 6 years ago…when my hubby and I were just fresh-faced newlyweds.ย It’s a tradition we both look forward to every year, starting December 13th.ย Want in on the fun?ย Find out below how to celebrate 12 days of Christmas for your husband!
It’s my favorite time of year…Christmas!
I love the decorations, I love the smells, and I love the music. But more than anything, I love the traditions we’ve created within our family.
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is doing 12 Days of Christmas for my husband each year. It’s something we both look forward to so much!
If you’re looking to show your significant other a little extra attention this holiday season, keep reading to see how you can start doing 12 Days of Christmas for your spouse.
12 Days of Christmas for Your Husband
This post may contain affiliate links, at no extra cost to you.ย To read my affiliate disclosure, click here.
How Does “12 Days of Christmas” For My Husband Work?
12 Days of Christmas is a tradition I started several years ago with my husband to show him a little extra love around the holidays by surprising him with 12 small gifts on the 12 days leading up to Christmas…December 13th-24th. And it’s now one of our favorite Christmas traditions!
12 Days of Christmas is something that really brings my husband and me closer in our marriage, especially during such a busy season when sometimes marriage is put on the back burner (how often do we make it all about our kids?).
With all the busyness of the holidays also comes anxiety, irritation, and a loss of patience….sometimes aimed right at my spouse.ย Taking the time to intentionally serve my husband during these days renews my love and appreciation for him andย everything he does for our family.ย
“12 Days of Christmas” Gift Ideas
So we’re talking 12 gifts…a different gift each day from December 13th-December 24th.ย
How much you want to spend on each gift is totally your preference, but I usually stick to more “stocking stuffer” type gifts.ย Especially since we will still usually exchange a “bigger” gift on Christmas day.
Not sure what kinds of gifts to buy?
You want to make sure you get something that your husband actually likes, so I created these free printables for each of you to fill out with all of your favorite things!
My husband and I each filled these out, and we keep them in our wallet so it’s handy at anytime! Get yours FREE below!
Here Are Some Easy, Small “12 Days of Christmas” Gift Ideas
Food
Over half of my “12 Days” gifts end up being food-related, because who in the heck doesnโt love food?? I love picking out foodie items at stores like Ross or Marshalls because theyโve got such a funky variety. Here are some other faves:
- Health Bars: If your guy is a health nut, protein bars are always an easy choice.
- Small Snacks: Chips, popcorn, nuts, beef jerky, etc.
- Favorite Candy Bar (that’s where your list comes in handy)
- Gum/Mints
- Beer: If your hubby is a craft beer lover, lots of grocery stores sell bottles individually. Last year a reader shared that she did โ12 Beers of Christmasโโฆso fun!
Clothing
If youโve got a practical dude, then a few โnecessitiesโ could never hurt.
- Undies: Festive boxers or tighty-whities? No judgment here.
- Socks: Amazon has such a fun variety of socks! Give a pair for “12 Days” and save the rest for a gift on Christmas morning! Check some of them out here!
- Undershirts
Hobbies
What does your hubby like to do? Find a small gift related to their favorite pastime.
- Kitchen Utensils: If your hubby (like mine) likes to cook, then you canโt go wrong with the fun kitchen utensils at stores like Ross or TJMaxx.
- Golf Tees/Golf balls
- Guitar Picks
Gift Cards
Iโm talking like $5โฆ
- iTunes
- Starbucks
- Sonic (or other favorite fast food places)
Free Stuff
If youโre tight on the budget, try acts of service or quality time instead of gifts.
- Home Date Night: The Dating Divas have the cutest date ideas….most of them completely free!
- Cook his favorite meal
- Massage
Other
- Scratch Off Tickets
- Phone Chargers: I donโt know how my hubby goes through so many, but he does. Itโs actually a gift for him and me, so heโll stop stealing mine all the time
- Car Air Fresheners
- Silicone Rings: These are becoming more and more popular! I got my hubs a variety pack a few years ago, and they were a hit!
Here’s a Tip:
My 1 suggestion to make this whole experience stress free (and way more enjoyable on your end) is to plan ahead. Do NOT, I repeat….do not wait until the day before to buy each of your “12 Days” gifts. Sit down, make a list of 12 small gifts and go to the store and buy them.
All at once.
Then, all you have to worry about over the next 12 days is pulling out a gift that you already bought and giving it to your husband.ย
I wasn’t fully prepared the first year I did this (I only bought about half of the gifts), and I was stressing.ย Never again.
It’s December 13th! Now What?
On December 13th it’s time to “deliver” your first gift!
Be sure to print or write numbers 1-12 to go along with your gifts. Here are some free printable numbers here, or you can write them on a piece of scrapbook paper….or a Post-It (make it easy on yourself).
Also, if this is your first year doing 12 Days of Christmas for your husband….don’t tell him what you’re doing!ย Like, don’t announce “I’m doing 12 Days of Christmas for you this year!”
No.ย
Give him his first gift on day 1, and don’t say anything else about it.ย It’s more fun that way.ย He’ll probably be confused, but by day 3 he’ll probably figure out that something exciting is happening (that’s why you want to make sure you have numbers next to your gifts).ย
The confusion and anticipation is half the fun!
Here Are Some “Delivery” Ideas:
1. Make it fun. When I first started 12 Days of Christmas, we were newlyweds….married just 3 months! So I kind of overachieved and wrote cheesy little rhymes that went along with each gift. I still have them all too! I took the #1 card and wrote on the back:
“You’re a great husband,
no ifs, ands, or buts.
To show that I love you,
here’s a bag of nuts!”
Totally cheesy, but it turned out to be alot of fun coming up with rhymes. I’d have that next to a (obviously) bag of nuts…..and put it in a random place in the house where I knew he would find it.
2. Christmas mailbox.
You can pick one of these up at your local dollar store or anywhere else that has Christmas decor.ย
I kept it on the kitchen table, and each day when I put a gift in there I’d raise the little flag to signal that it was filled with something.ย
Sometimes it was fun to wait until the end of the day to put something in and raise the flag.ย Mainly because it was hilarious watching my husband walk by the table 50 times a day trying to covertly see if the flag was raised.
3. Leave them in random places.
Don’t feel like you need to have a mailbox or anything.ย One year it was fun to just leave the gifts in different places at different times of the day.ย
Like on the bed, in the shower, or in the refrigerator.ย That year was fun because he never knew when/where he was going to get his 12 Days of Christmas gifts.
A Word of Warning…
If you plan on starting this tradition…you’re in it for the long haul! ๐ My husband loved 12 Days of Christmas the first year I did it and was genuinely surprised each day he received a gift.
Year 2…I don’t think he was expecting it to happen again, so he was still pretty surprised.
Year 3….I purposely waited until the evening of December 12th to give him anything, and hilariously watched him semi-pout most of the day because he thought 12 Days of Christmas wasn’t happening.
By year 4, he knew it was officially a tradition of ours and was waiting in anticipation for December 13th to roll around.
Share Your “12 Days” Experience!
Last year, so many of y’all shared your amazing ideas on Instagram and I was so excited to see how many people participated! I’d love for you to tag me @herhappyhome so I can see and share how you celebrate! I’ll also be posting new gift ideas, Q&A, etc in my Instagram posts and stories, so be sure you’re following so you don’t miss out. ๐
Don’t forget your free “Favorite Things” printables to get you started! And check out my Amazon suggestions for more gift ideas not included in this post!
Amanda says
I donโt have social media except for TikTok but I definitely think this is a great idea!! I usually do this for his birthday month and give him a gift from the first of the month all the way to the day of his birthday which is the โbig giftโ.
Anonymous says
The twelve day of Christmas are after Christmas.
Mary H says
I do this with my boys (now grown) since jr high. We do โFriday giftsโ. Same theory but every Friday between thanksgiving and Christmas they get a gift. Easier on the budget and the anticipation really grows week to week. One year they wanted โmy own pack of Little Debbieโsโ. Easy enough!! So fun.
Her Happy Home says
I love that idea!
Sherry says
Thank you! My husband and I do not exchange gifts as it all feels like too much as we keep our focus on kids/grandkids but they are all older now and this sounds like great fun, keeping it small and beginning 12/25, you are adorable and inspired me right away to do this. now because I read thru comments I shared and we will do it for each other, our Christmas has just been revitalized โค๏ธ
Her Happy Home says
I’m so happy to hear that Sherry! Thank you for the kind words!
Hannah Shelbo says
That sounds absolutely adorable and something I would love to do! I’m just going to have to start next year though. This year we’re taking a trip up North for Christmas.
Her Happy Home says
So fun! You’ll have a whole year to plan for next year!
Kriss says
Such an amazing idea. Especially we just had our son. And I want to have some amazing traditions for our family
Her Happy Home says
Absolutely! This is one of our favorite traditions!
Isabella says
You do realize that the Twelve Days of Christmas begin on Dec 25th (the first day) and end on Jan 6, (the twelfth day), which is also called 12th Night or Epiphany. It took the Magi 12 days to travel across the desert to reach Nazareth, and the manger where Christ was born.
While I love this idea, either call it something else, or begin your gift giving on the 25th, and end it on Epiphany.
MelissaGrace says
You donโt have to be rude. Many people are unaware of Roman Catholic tradition- even those who are also follow high liturgical churches. People are allowed their own traditions.
Kathy Mayer says
I agree
Faith MacNeil says
Depends on if you’re Christian or not. I’m not and YULETIDE was stolen by Christianity and the Christian calendar. So let her do HER THING and stuff it.
I LOVE THIS POST! I’m so going to spring it on my new husband (yep.. newlyweds this year!!! Woot!). He loves bourbon and I think I saw a place that does those little bourbon bottles with all the different kinds!!! He is going to love it!!!!!
Nona Wiktorek says
I did this for my daughter. When she was little it was gifts and transitioned to more activities as she got older. I start on December 25 because that is the official start of Christmas, so it didn’t conflict with the anticipation of Advent. Working on the theological at an early age.
Jo purchase says
Great idea but no one here seems to realize that the12 days of Christmas BEGIN on Dec.25 and go through to the eve of Epiphany which is Jan.6. They do not precede Christmas.
Anonymous says
Technically we don’t really know the exact date of Christ birth it is not said anywhere in the Bible this is true so there’s that in fact his birth was probably more closer to spring if you really study what the Bible says and doesn’t most people celebrate Christmas Day on December 25th so why would you not start giving the gifts 12 days before that’s only a Catholic religion thing and they chose that day it’s not the written truth just saying. It’s an adorable idea!!
Jenny says
We started doing this our first Christmas as well. Except we both do it for each other and itโs so exciting getting our gift from our stocking each morning and then one big gift on Christmas Day. Each year we sit down and come up with prompts together. Weโve used: my favorite thing to do with you isโฆ, to pamper myself Iโd like toโฆ, a book Iโve been wanting to readโฆ, something Iโd never buy myselfโฆ. Weโve gotten pretty creative over the years and have done movie charcuterie, hikes, arcades, a guilt free gaming session coupon for my husband gamer, etc.. Itโs a tradition weโll always cherish!
Her Happy Home says
Hi Jenny! I love how y’all have gotten creative with your ideas!
Esther Patterson says
Just curious, what gifts did u get from ur husband?
Her Happy Home says
Hi Esther! This is only a tradition I do for my husband. ๐ He still traditionally gives me a few gifts on Christmas morning.
Ann says
I really like this idea. I have been married for 60 years and this seems like such a fun thing to do. I think we can enjoy ๐ life at any age. (I am 81). Canโt wait to do this! Ann
Her Happy Home says
Aw, it made my day reading this! I hope you and your husband are both enjoying it this year!
Jeanette says
You actually have more time
Than you think to do this, as the 12 Days of Christmas START on Christmas and end on Jan 6th – the Feast of the Epiphany. You are doing 12 Days of Advent
Katie says
So instead of buying tons of junk. I have the idea to do 25 days of christmas. Not necessarily gifts only. But each day we do a new thing. Will be harder to do it with my kiddos. Bm/bd are divorced and we get them every other week. But i still cant wait to have fun when they are here.
Her Happy Home says
Such a great idea Katie! I hope y’all are enjoying it!
Rachel D says
I love this idea! I think I will do this for my boyfriend (yes, it is odd to say that at 47 years young)! This will be so much fun and something he won’t expect at all especially since we don’t want to do Christmas presents for each other this year – this will be a sneaky way to do something little for 12 days! Love it!
Her Happy Home says
I’m so happy to hear that you will try it! I hope you and your boyfriend are both having fun with it! ๐
Kris S says
Hubby loves, loves, loves Christmas! Me? I work retail so by Thanksgiving Iโm already burned out. Lol! I think 12 Days of Christmas will be a fun way to indulge his love for the holiday and bring me s9me Holiday cheer too!
Her Happy Home says
Aw, that’s great Kris! I know it will bring joy to both of you!
Anonymous says
Think I joined but not sure.
susan says
what a fun and exciting way to make Christmas extra special for your spouse i love it!
Tiffany says
I love this. Thanks for the great ideas. Iโm excited to start this, this year!
Scheryl says
I have been thinking of this for some time now. It is a great help that someone else has done this sort of thing. I can use all the help I can get. I love the rhyme idea. Any suggestions will help.
Jenn says
Fun idea but the 12 days of Christmas are actually the 12 days that follow Christmas Day, not a countdown to Christmas (Advent is for preparing and “counting down” to Christmas).
Her Happy Home says
It’s definitely not meant to be a “traditional” 12 Days of Christmas….just a fun countdown for my husband. ๐
Elizabeth wilson says
Replying to the comment above:::Why are some people total jacka$&es I mean reindeer?๐๐ ๐คฃ๐ …ugh .. thanks for the fun idea during this crazy time !!! I hope you and your loved ones all have a wonderful holiday