How to Set Up a “12 Days of Christmas” for Your Husband

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.  It’s a tradition we both look forward to every year, starting December 13th.  Want in on the fun?  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

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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.  Taking the time to intentionally serve my husband during these days renews my love and appreciation for him and everything he does for our family. 

“12 Days of Christmas” Gift Ideas

So we’re talking 12 gifts…a different gift each day from December 13th-December 24th. 

How much you want to spend on each gift is totally your preference, but I usually stick to more “stocking stuffer” type gifts.  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!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things-FREE Printables

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 doesn’t love food??  I love picking out foodie items at stores like Ross or Marshalls because they’ve got such a funky variety.  Here are some other faves:

1. Health Bars: If your guy is a health nut, protein bars are always an easy choice.
2. Small Snacks: Chips, popcorn, nuts, beef jerky, etc.
3. Favorite Candy Bar (that’s where your list comes in handy)
4. Gum/Mints
5. Beer: If your hubby is a craft beer lover, lots of grocery stores sell bottles individually. Last year a reader shared that she did “12 Beers of Christmas”…so fun!

Clothing

If you’ve got a practical dude, then a few “necessities” could never hurt.

1. Undies: Festive boxers or tighty-whities? No judgment here.
2. 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!
3. Undershirts

Hobbies

What does your hubby like to do?  Find a small gift related to their favorite pastime.

1. Kitchen Utensils: If your hubby (like mine) likes to cook, then you can’t go wrong with the fun kitchen utensils at stores like Ross or TJMaxx.
2. Golf Tees/Golf balls
3. Guitar Picks

Gift Cards

I’m talking like $5…

1. iTunes
2. Starbucks
3. Sonic (or other favorite fast food places)

Free Stuff

If you’re tight on the budget, try acts of service or quality time instead of gifts.

1. Home Date Night: The Dating Divas have the cutest date ideas….most of them completely free!
2. Cook his favorite meal
3. Massage

Other

1. Scratch Off Tickets
2. Phone Chargers: I don’t know how my hubby goes through so many, but he does. It’s actually a gift for him and me, so he’ll stop stealing mine all the time
3. Car Air Fresheners
4. 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!

Check out my storefront on Amazon!  You’ll find lots of “12 Days” gift ideas for your husband as well as other goodies for Christmas!

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. 

I wasn’t fully prepared the first year I did this (I only bought about half of the gifts), and I was stressing.  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!  Like, don’t announce “I’m doing 12 Days of Christmas for you this year!”

No. 

Give him his first gift on day 1, and don’t say anything else about it.  It’s more fun that way.  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). 

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. 

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. 

Sometimes it was fun to wait until the end of the day to put something in and raise the flag.  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.  One year it was fun to just leave the gifts in different places at different times of the day. 

Like on the bed, in the shower, or in the refrigerator.  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! 😄  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. 😊 

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!

For Christmas DIYs, decor, gift ideas and more, check out these posts:

• Affordable Christmas Decorations for Your Home This Season

How to Set Up a “12 Days of Christmas” for Your Husband