Christmas in July ideas

Christmas doesn’t have to be celebrated only once a year. These Christmas in July ideas can help you have a mini-celebration to mark the halfway point.

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This guest post is written by Lisa Sharp, who blogs over at The Stress Free Christmas. She loves Christmas so much that celebrating it once a year is not enough!

July 25th is the halfway mark to Christmas and the perfect time to have a Christmas in July celebration. You get to see what it would be like to celebrate Christmas in a different hemisphere and therefore a different season.

It’s fun to celebrate with friends and family.

I’ve actually been a big fan of Christmas in July ever since I was a kid.

The Disney Channel would play Christmas movies and episodes for a weekend or so in July. I’d pull out some Christmas decorations I had and would draw a Christmas tree on a chalkboard.

Ever since then, I’ve loved spending at least a day or two watching a Christmas movie and having a fun holiday treat on my own.

This year, why don’t you plan to celebrate Christmas in July as well? No matter how big or small you want to go, it’s guaranteed to be a lot of fun!

Christmas in July decoration ideas

Christmas isn’t Christmas without the decorations.

If you’re like me, you don’t really want to have to pull out all your normal Christmas decorations so instead use things you already have around your home.

If you’re in a country that’s cold right now, you likely already have a lot of great winter decorations that you can use, such as cozy throw blankets.

In the warmer countries, get creative and use summer items to craft your Christmas in July decorations, such as pool noodles turned into candy canes or beach balls made to look like ornaments.

There are a lot of fun ways to turn summer items into Christmas-themed decor.

You can also get crafty and make some paper snowflakes to hang around your house. Another quick decor idea is to put some Christmas scrapbook paper in frames.

A fake fireplace made out of cardboard and construction paper is also fun. You can even hang mini stockings with a party favor for each guest on it.

You could also make a run to the thrift store and see if anyone has been spring cleaning their Christmas decor and pick up some cheap pieces to use.

One of the fastest ways to make your home look festive is putting up Christmas lights. Nothing makes it feel like Christmas faster.

If you happen to have an evergreen tree in your yard, you could even decorate it as your Christmas tree.

And of course, if you want to go all out, you can pull down some of your Christmas decorations, or use some of these classis Christmas decorations you can use year-round.

Scent is part of decorating as well: it helps to create mood. Here’s how to make your house smell like Christmas.

Christmas in July outfit ideas

If it’s warm outside, throw on some red and green warm-weather clothing.

For colder climates, this is a good chance to finally wear an ugly Christmas sweater that is usually far too warm to wear around Christmas.

Just make sure your outfit is fun and festive and it will be perfect! Christmas in July is all about enjoying yourself.

Christmas in July food

Food is the glue of tradition.

There’s a raft of Christmas in July food ideas to choose from.

If it’s warm, then go with cold versions of your favorite holiday foods. Things like frozen hot chocolate or frozen eggnog are perfect.

You can also make a vanilla shake and add peppermint extract and some crushed peppermints on top.

A (frozen) hot chocolate bar with lots of fun toppings is a great holiday food idea. You can even have each guest bring a topping.

You could also make an ice cream sundae bar with holiday-themed toppings like red and green sprinkles, crushed peppermints, red and green candies, marshmallows, and even red and green fruit!

If it’s cold, check out one of these hot chocolate recipes for some delicious chocolately drinks.

No matter what the weather is like green and red versions of food are always good. A fun and easy treat are Christmas Funfetti cake mix cookies. You can find green and red sprinkles throughout the year so it’s easy to make them any time.

You can also check out other Christmas cookie ideas here.

Christmas in July activities

Unleash your Christmas spirit with this fun range of Christmas in July activities.

• Make your own ornaments. There are a lot of simple ideas online for fun Christmas ornaments. You can have a table with all the supplies and each guest can make their own.
• If it’s warm, have a water balloon fight with only white balloons and pretend it’s a snowball fight.
• Pop some popcorn, make a festive drink and turn on a Christmas movie, or even have a movie marathon. This is a really great option for a date night or a family night. Here’s 25 romantic Christmas movies to watch.
• Have a white elephant gift exchange. Just be sure to put a price limit on gifts so it’s fair. You can even do a version with small gift cards so everyone has a useful prize when it’s done.
• Live near a beach? Have a sandman building competition. Or if there is snow where you live stick with a snowman building competition. You could even make play-dough snowmen if neither is an option for you.
• Turn on some Christmas music and have a Christmas karaoke night. YouTube has videos with the lyrics to help you set this up in your living room.
• Decorate cookies: they can be sugar cookies or gingerbread. Have lots of icing and decorations for guests to use. This doubles as your food for the party so even better.
• Have a Christmas craft night and make crafts that make great gifts. There are a lot of good crafts to make in a group. As a kid, a club I was in made rag wreaths one year. That’s a really easy craft to make while watching a Christmas movie together. You can also just search “Christmas crafts” on Pinterest and find all kinds of great ideas. This is a fun way for everyone to get a jump on Christmas gifts.
• See if a local painting and wine place would be interested in hosting a Christmas themed night or host your own.
• Make the most of the whole month by creating an advent calendar and filling it with these advent calendar fillers for adults as you lead up to a mid-year celebration.
• Have an ugly sweater contest, or if it’s hot, an ugly Christmas t-shirt contest. Check out some of these top picks:

[lasso category=”ugly-christmas-sweaters” columns=”1″ link_id=”13379″ style=”grid”]

There are so many fun ways to celebrate Christmas in July. It’s a great way to take a break and have some fun together.

It’s also a good reminder that Christmas is best when we focus on the experience and not on the things. A Christmas in July party can be thrown very cheaply and doesn’t need to involve gifts but you will still have a ton of fun.

Keep this in mind as the holidays near and consider focusing more on memories and less on gifts. That’s what stays with us.

If you want to learn more about having a stress-free Christmas visit The Stress Free Christmas. I give tips and tricks all year long so you can have the best Christmas yet – in December as well as Christmas in July.

(Why not add celebrating Christmas in July to your Christmas bucket list?).