ALL LIFESTYLE
Here Are No-fuss At-home Christmas Celebration Ideas with Your Family
We all know Christmas comes around fun with colored fairy lights, decorated pine trees, ribbon-wrapped gift boxes, and dinner tables filled with holiday specials—but when time is scarce and the piggy bank is empty, how can we celebrate the season just as warm and jolly?
The most beautiful thing about Christmas is that it gives every family a chance to get together in their own little ways. Whether to celebrate it with spaghetti or pancit, puto bumbong or bibingka, or lechon manok or crispy pata, is totally up to how things are going at home with the loved ones you are celebrating it with.
If you find this year’s Christmas to be approaching faster than usual and you’re left empty-handed for the most awaited season of all, fret not! There are many ways to enjoy without sacrificing the feeling of home and tradition.
Here are easy Christmas celebration ideas you can do with your family:
• Serve ready-to-eat meals
Cooking is indisputably the most time-consuming duty when it comes to preparing for Christmas. You’re cooking caldereta? Congratulations. You’re going to have to go to a crowded, wet market full of holiday rush shoppers, probably bargain a little bit, go home to cut your veggies, tenderize your meat, season it, and then adjust a minimum of three times to get the taste right. That’s already one to two hours of your time and it’s just the first dish. When you get a ready-to-eat meal, you’re basically saving an entire day’s worth of cooking time.
Many restaurants have started offering heat-and-serve meals for families and larger groups to enjoy high-quality food at home with ease, just like Miguel & Maria which offers a lot of great Filipino dishes such as chicken relleno, barbecue ribs, roast beef, and more.
What makes these the best options? Miguel & Maria has been in the industry serving quality dishes since 2015 and is operating three casual dining family restaurants in the Philippines. The ready-to-eat selection ranges from breakfast to dinner staples including kare-kare, pork binagoongan, baby back ribs, beef salpicao, beef tapa, and bacon steak.
• Watch a Christmas movie
Easy? Check. Enjoyable? Also check. Watching a movie is slowly becoming a forgotten family activity during Christmas, and it’s very much worth revisiting. There’s something intimate in sitting together, watching the same movie, and exchanging laughs and side comments like you’re in an entirely different world. What makes this good is that it gives the family the time to slow down and bond, not to mention that Christmas movies are typically made for people of all ages—family-friendly and great for children to adults.
Of course, the night would not be complete without snacks. To keep it light and healthy for the kids, the classic otap; from Flavors of Quezon is everybody’s favorite—flaky, sugary, and absolutely delicious.
For the adults, something a little bit indulgent won’t hurt once in a while. This pork chicharon is irresistibly crunchy and tasty, perfect for pairing with your favorite dips or even on its own!
• Go for a karaoke
What’s Filipino Christmas without someone belting and hitting notes like they are Mariah Carey herself? This simply proves that a fun and festive celebration is almost never about the food, the money, or the gifts, but always about how the family finds laughter and enjoyment in the moment. With this, you can never go wrong with singing your heart out after a year of trials and accomplishments!
Your best company for a karaoke night is speakers that won’t let you down—perfectly balanced, have superior voice clarity, and deliver amazing bass response—like the Havit Speakers from Search Commercial, Inc. They have a 3.5mm input jack compatible with most devices, have a frequency response range of 90 Hz to 20 kHz, and a power output of 3W. Affordable yet reliable. Who would’ve thought that a joyful Christmas evening would only need a set of speakers?
With over a decade of experience, Chef Miko truly has gained expertise in every aspect of food creation.
• Cozy up the home with scented candles
Can’t hop on a plane this year for a holiday vacay? Not something to be bummed about. If you got scented candles, you do not need to leave the house to feel the holiday spirit.
Scented candles are one of the most underrated ways of giving your home the full Christmas vibe. It’s like the missing piece of accessory in that almost masterpiece of an outfit you’re hesitating to wear out. If the grand meals, blinding lights, and overstimulating decorations aren’t cutting it, you know it’s the sense of smell you aren’t hitting!
There are a number of scents that effectively hint at the Christmas spirit—cinnamon, gingerbread, chocolate—the list goes on. Lucky us, we don’t necessarily need these on the kitchen counter to get the scent in your nose. Get yourself a good scented candle and your favorite Christmas aroma will fill the room in minutes.
If you want a fresh scent that not only screams holiday, this peppermint scented candle by Heaven At Home might be for you! It has a sharp, minty odor that is distinctly cooling and often gives a sense of cleanliness. It also has a sweetish, pungent aroma that reminds you of winter. Yes, this is the closest we can get to experiencing winter in a tropical country. Finally!
• Shop for Local Products Online
You don’t always need to stick to tradition to have a good Christmas celebration. Building it bit by bit with well-thought-out items and spending it with your loved ones is more than enough. Iskaparate is an online shop that is highly rich in unique products perfect not only for celebrations but also to add to daily life. Their offerings are proudly locally made, having a touch of Filipino culture in every item, while possessing export-quality
So if you’re on a search for good items that whimsy your home and uplift local entrepreneurs, you know where to shop!
Click here to visit Iskaparate.
