How to Sleep on Christmas Eve

With Christmas morning only three sleeps away, we’ve put together some tips, tricks, and straight-up hacks on how to ensure you and your kids get some sleep on Christmas Eve.

Ah, the magic of Christmas Eve. If you could bottle it, you’d make millions. It’s potent, you see. A pure, unfiltered hit of nostalgia, transporting you back to the cosiness and excitement of Christmases past.

But such dizzying levels of nostalgia can be overstimulating – especially for children – and getting to sleep on Christmas Eve can be a genuine challenge. And that’s without mentioning the other sleep disruptors of Christmas: the pressure of hosting guests, travelling to visit relatives, or even just calming hyped-up kids.

And there’s the snag. Lack of sleep on Christmas Eve can jeopardise your enjoyment of the big day itself, so it’s important to maximise your shut-eye while Santa’s in flight.

Why Do You Struggle to Sleep on Christmas Eve?

Nostalgia and stress aside, why do we struggle to get sleep on Christmas Eve? Well, it depends on who you are (and how old you are, but that’s by the by).

You see, for kids, it’s the raw excitement of the festive season. For the majority of December (and, let’s face it, November) they’ve been bombarded by festive imagery and it all leads toward a single point – Christmas Day.

So, naturally, by Christmas Eve, their excitement levels are stratospheric, making it difficult to sleep. It probably doesn’t help that Christmas lore suggests Santa will personally visit. Like a kind reverse-burglar.

For adults, however, it’s a slightly different story. Yes, there’s the excitement. Yes, nostalgia does strange things to our emotions. But more than anything, it’s that low-level Christmas anxiety – the kind that keeps us awake worrying about everything from undercooked entrées to simmering family feuds.

So, in the spirit of Christmas, let’s explore how to get to sleep on Christmas Eve.

Santa won’t visit if you’re awake. It says so in the song...

1. Moderate Your Sugar Intake

Christmas treats are roughly 80% sugar (the other 20% is magic, in case you wondered) and they’re everywhere on Christmas Eve.

Visit a friend? Mince Pie. Office party? Assorted chocolates. Even the advent calendars are in on the sugar rush, often reserving their biggest and most tantalising treat for Christmas Eve.

As such, restraint is key. Try to limit your sugar intake and set sensible limits if you have little ones. You might even set a confectionary cut-off of three hours before bedtime (for kids and adults) to allow the sugar to whizz through your system.

By doing so, you’ll ensure that everyone settles into bed ready for restful, revitalising sleep, allowing them to make the most of the big day.

2. Stick to Your Regular Lights Out Time

Two statements: equally dangerous to sleep. Ready?

a) “Oh, let them stay up for another hour or two. It’s Christmas!”
b) “How about we stay up ‘til midnight? Open a sneaky present?”

It’s tempting, oh so tempting, to flex regular sleep routines at Christmas. But you shouldn’t.

If you’re already in an established sleep routine, ditching it on account of festivities is a sure-fire way to confuse your body and damage your sleep.

You’ve already put in the effort to communicate with your body when it’s time to sleep, so switching things up at the eleventh hour is going to make it more difficult to drift off when you do decide to hit the hay.

Ditto for kids. By letting them extend their bedtime, you’re adding to the already stratospheric levels of excitement and signalling to them that yes, they should be awake.

Instead, wind down as normal. Maybe add some festive flourishes to your usual nightly routine, such as a Christmas-themed bedtime story, but other than that, stay the course.

3. Use Santa as A Negotiation Tactic

How to get your child to sleep on Christmas Eve: bribery edition.

Okay, so not bribery. Not really. More… negotiation. After all, you’ve spent the best part of a month telling them that Santa’s making (and checking) his magical list, so you’ve already set the bargaining stage.

The framing, however, is entirely up to you. The softer, more restrained version is to steer into Christmas lore and remind your little ones that Santa physically can’t visit if they’re not asleep. He’s eager to deliver presents, but the magic only allows him to do so if everyone in the house is asleep.

If you pitch it just right, it’ll work like a dream. No kid will risk missing Santa.

Stockings, Milk, and Cookies

Once you’ve bribed, begged, and bamboozled your kids to sleep, you can sneakily fill stockings, strategically nibble at cookies, and sip at the milk you left out for Santa.

Don’t forget Rudolph’s carrot. Your kids won’t!

You might even take yuletide inspiration from other Christmas traditions around the world. Tip: be very careful if you choose the Krampus.

4. Plan for the Big Day

As noted, anxiety can play a significant role in disrupting sleep on Christmas Eve.

Whether something trivial like seating plans, vegetable quotas, mismatched glassware or something more pressing such as visiting relatives or long travel days, worrying about Christmas Day is (sadly) a Christmas tradition in and of itself.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. And by setting aside some time to plan out your day, you can address and alleviate whatever’s keeping you awake.

You don’t have to go into too much depth. You might write a simple to-do list. You might pre-plan your cookery timings. You might just write up an itinerary allowing you to better visualise the day ahead.

You don’t even have to write it down. If you prefer talking it out over a cup of hot chocolate, that’s fine too.

Whatever method you use to manage Christmas anxieties, the goal is to reduce stress by planning your day as much or as little as makes you comfortable, so you can rest easier the night before it begins.

5. Have an Active Christmas Eve

No, that doesn’t mean you have to run a marathon, but if you’re looking for a dependable Christmas sleep hack. getting as active as possible is a winner.

Need activity inspiration? We’ve got you. You could try:

• Ice skating
• A festive scavenger hunt
• A walk in the woods
• Bike rides
• See a pantomime
• Visiting Christmas markets
• Sledging (white Christmas permitting!)

However you choose to get active, you’ll be pumping more oxygen around your body and expending the energy necessary to ensure that you’re tired enough to sleep when you turn off the (Christmas) lights.

Ho! Ho! Ho! That’s the end of our list. If you’ve got your own patented plans for how to get to sleep on Christmas Eve, gift them to your fellow readers on social.

For more festive sleep tips, check out our sleep blog.