Give someone creative 12 days of Christmas gifts with these great ideas! Plus, use the set of printable 12 days of Christmas tags to make gifting just a little easier!
My family has done secret 12 days of Christmas gifts for a family in need for as long as I can remember. It’s a tradition that started back when I was young that we still do now. We’d organize 12 different secret drop-offs starting from 12 days before Christmas through Christmas morning.
And I’ve been able to continue that tradition with my own family and friends – sending gifts to friends who have lost family members, new moms who needed a little cheer, and more!
I love the 12 days of Christmas so much I did an entire 12 days of Christmas party and 12 days of Christmas games!
I’ve put together some free printable gift tags that you can use with 12 days of Christmas gifts along with ideas for each of the days – both traditional ideas and not so traditional ideas!
Hopefully this will give you enough ideas to get started with your own giving!
12 Days of Christmas Gift Ideas
I’ve broken my gift ideas out by day and included two different things for each day:
- A non-traditional rhyming/related gift idea that goes with the included gift tags
- Gift ideas for the traditional song gift (e.g., partridge in a pear tree)
The 12 days of Christmas tags available to download at the bottom of this post have three different tag versions – a traditional tag, a non-traditional (that matches my ideas), and ones with a blank line you can fill in whatever you want.
1st Day of Christmas Gifts
Non-traditional gift: A present for under the tree
For the non-traditional gift, I left this one pretty open so you can really get them anything you want – just wrap it up like you would put it under the tree. Super simple and great to customize for pretty much any person or family.
Traditional gift: A partridge in a pear tree
There are a lot of different things you can do with this, just a few ideas to get you started:
- Pairs of anything – socks, shoes, pants, gloves, mittens
- Pear anything – pie, socks, ornament for their tree, chocolate covered pears
- Partridge anything – ornaments, stuffed partridge, a partridge toy
2nd Day of Christmas Gifts
Non-traditional gift: Two treats to love
I left this fairly open as well, just pick out two treats that the person or family will love. They could be bags of candy, ice cream gift basket with all the toppings for ice cream, Christmas tree brownies, a homemade apple pie, or really anything.
Traditional gift: Two turtle doves
Just a few gift ideas that quickly come to mind:
- Turtle candies
- Dove chocolates
- Dove bath products like soap, body wash, etc.
- Stuffed turtles and doves (if they have kids)
- Ornaments to hang on their tree
3rd Day of Christmas Gifts
Non-traditional gift: Three cards fo spend
I came as close to rhyming with hens as possible with three cards to spend. We typically like to include gift cards of some sort in our 12 days of Christmas gifts so this is an easy day to gift them. Stick with your budget and grab three small gift cards – $5 is great for things like fast food and $10 and above is great for pretty much anything else!
We like to try and give at least one practical and one fun. And with this year being a bit strange and people wanting to go into stores less often, doing a gift card for somewhere they can order things directly to their home is a great option.
Traditional gift: Two turtle doves
Just a few gift ideas that quickly come to mind:
- Turtle candies
- Dove chocolates
- Dove bath products like soap, body wash, etc.
- Stuffed turtles and doves (if they have kids)
- Ornaments to hang on their tree
4th Day of Christmas Gifts
Non-traditional gift: Four yummy birds
Another thing we love to do when we give 12 days of Christmas gifts is to give food for a holiday meal. So instead of four calling birds for the 4th day of Christmas, I love the idea of giving four yummy birds.
Get them a variety like chicken, turkey, and cornish hens to make for one delicious holiday season! Or just get them chicken in bulk they can cook all Christmas long!
My very favorite place to get yummy birds is Perdue Farms because I know where the meat comes from, the quality is fantastic, and it ships directly to your house quickly.
Plus, right now they have a ton of holiday gift sales going on right now that would be perfect for 12 days of Christmas gifts! These are just a few of the bundles that would be great for four yummy birds! All of these bundles are at least 30% off regular price if not more!
PLUS if you use my links in this post, you’ll get an extra 15% off your entire purchase!
- Diced chicken breasts bundle (what we used for our sheet pan teriyaki chicken)
- Bulk Harvestland Chicken Breasts
- Perdue Organic Chicken Sampler (perfect for Instant Pot chicken tacos!)
- Bulk Perdue Cornish Hens
- Perdue Chicken Basics
- Perdue Fresh Cuts Chicken Bundle (on sale for less than $30!)
Traditional gift: Four calling birds
This one was a lot easier when people used calling cards to pay for things! But now, here are a few fun ideas:
- Apple gift card
- Anything bird related
- Phone related items – cases, Pop Sockets, screen protectors, screen cleaners, stickers, etc.
- Say Whaaaat? game
5th Day of Christmas Gifts
Non-traditional gift: Five rolled things
So you could definitely do gold things, but I kind of like changing things up so went with rolled things for the 5th day of Christmas gift. Just a few examples of things that are rolled that would make great gifts:
- Toilet paper
- Paper towels
- Clothing
- Towels
- Blankets
- Actual rolls like these yummy yeast rolls or these homemade crescent rolls
- Coins
- Balls
- Rolls of vinyl, stickers, paper
- Cinnamon rolls
- Anything with tires
Traditional gift: Five gold rings
Out of all of the gifts (including the 1st day of Christmas), five gold rings is the one people can remember the most (or at least that’s what the survey said in my Christmas family feud game!).
Luckily it’s one of the easiest days to gift since literally all you need are either five gold things or five rings. And those are both a piece of cake!
6th Day of Christmas Gifts
Non-traditional gift: Six games for playing
If you couldn’t guess from the name of my blog, the 6th day is one of my favorites with its six games for playing! If you need help picking out some games, these are my favorite board games for groups, these are my favorite board games for adults, and these are my favorite board games for kids!
You could do this with video games, holiday games, and more!
Or just give them a printed out copy of my party games for adults ebook with 15 of the best party games ever inside!
Traditional gift: Six geese a laying
For some reason they decided that people really liked getting birds in the traditional version of 12 days of Christmas, which makes it a bit tricky to get traditional gifts that aren’t all bird related. Here are a few creative options for day 6 all centered around eggs and laying eggs.
- Kinder eggs
- Surprise eggs of some sort (you could even make your own DIY surprise eggs)
- Plastic Easter eggs filled with treats or money
- Egg toss game
- Egg frying pan and dishes for eating eggs
- Instant Pot for making the best hard boiled eggs
7th Day of Christmas Gifts
Non-traditional gift: Seven boxes brimming
Since every person and every family is a little different, I left this one pretty open as well. Gift seven boxes brimming to the top with something (or not actually brimming, just get boxes). You could do gifts or things that naturally come in boxes like:
- Shoes
- Snacks
- Cereal/granola bars
- Jewelry
- Chocolate
- Pizza
- Boxed sets of music/movies
- Subscription box
Traditional gift: Seven swans a swimming
We’re back to the birds again – this time swans swimming. Here are a few ideas that work well for the idea of water, swimming, etc.
- Bath and body products
- Swimming/water toys
- Swan shaped jewelry, dishes, home decor
- Towels
- Water bottles
8th Day of Christmas Gifts
Non-traditional gift: Eight meats for grilling
Did I mention that I love gifting food? Instead of maids for milking and getting cow milk, you’re gifting actual cows (or other food instead!). Make sure that the recipient is home then deliver one of the Perdue Farms bundles below for a holiday full of delicious grilled flavor from high-quality meats!
And don’t forget, shop with my links below to get that added 15% off!
- Sirloin Steak and Premium Proteins Gift Bundle
- Best of Perdue Farms Steak Sampler Bundle
- Five-Star Steakhouse Experience Gift Bundle
- Niman Ranch Pork & Beef Value Bundle (only $29.99 right now!)
Traditional gift: Eight maids a milking
Finally we get away from the birds and move onto cows! There are tons of different things you can do with this day!
- Gift card for a maid service
- Cleaning products
- Cleaning tools (vacuum, broom, etc.
- Milk duds
- Milk chocolate anything
- Anything with milk
- Anything with cows
9th Day of Christmas Gifts
Non-traditional gift: Nine songs for dancing
With the traditional gift being ladies dancing, I wanted to do something related to music for my version. You can take these songs for dancing any way you want but some musically related ideas to get you started include:
- Musical movies (Greatest Showman, anything Disney, etc.)
- iTunes gift card
- Headphones
- Music box
- CDs (if that’s still a thing for them)
- Just Dance video game
- Concert tickets
- Musical tickets
Traditional gift: Nine ladies dancing
Really you could use any of the music themed gift ideas above or you could try something more dancing themed like:
- Dance shoes
- Tickets to a ballet or dance performance
- Dancing jewelry, shirts, etc.
10th Day of Christmas Gifts
Non-traditional gift: Ten things for sleeping
One of our family traditions is getting new pajamas every year for Christmas. Those would be a great addition to this sleeping day plus you could add any of these as well:
- Pillows
- Blankets
- Stuffed animals
- Slippers
- Cozy socks
- Face masks
- Aromatherapy/sleeping oils/lotions
- Bedding
- Sleep monitors
Traditional gift: ten lords a leaping
Out of all twelve of the days, this one was by far the hardest to come up with ideas. Here’s what I came up with to hopefully give you some ideas to start with:
- Anything related to jumping – small trampoline, jumping shoes, trampoline park tickets
- Lord of the Rings items
- Lord of the Flies items
- Lord of the Dance items
- Lord & Taylor Gift certificate
- Leap movie
- Leap frog toys
11th Day of Christmas Gifts
Non-traditional gift: Eleven wipes for wiping
Another easy themed day we typically included with our 12 days of Christmas gifts was cleaning products or bath and body products. This wipes for wiping idea works for either OR is perfect for a family that has a baby or toddlers who literally might need diapers and wipes.
- Diapers and wipes (or any baby products)
- Bathroom products
- Paper towels, towels, kitchen towels
- Cleaning products
- Beauty products (like face wipes, cooling wipes, etc.)
- Nail polish products (the nail polish remover wipes are great)
Traditional gift: Eleven pipers piping
We’re back to music related items on this one plus anything that you might pipe or that has to do with piping. Here are some fun ideas for gifts related to piping:
- Cupcake baking kit or frosting piping tips/set
- Pipe cleaner craft kits
- Pipe wrench and other tools
- Piping Rock supplements and vitamins
- Bagpipe music or Lord of the Dance video
- Anything that should be piping hot – hot chocolate, spiced cider, etc.
12th Day of Christmas Gifts
Non-traditional gift: Twelve clothes for dressing
The last themed gift we always give during our 12 days of Christmas gifts is clothes. While the tag says dresses dressing, you can give any type of clothes they might need – coats, shoes, pants, dresses, you name it!
Traditional gift: twelve drummers drumming
When I think about twelve drummers drumming, all I can think about is noise. So much noise! This one is kind of fun because you can either go with the drumming/music route or you can go with the twelve route and do a dozen anything. Here are a few ideas to get started:
- Dozen roses
- Donuts or any other baked good
- Packs of a dozen Christmas favors of some sort
- Toy musical instruments
- Real musical instruments
- Sheet music (if you know someone plays an instrument)
- 12-packs of soda
- 12 oz strip steaks
More Gift Tags
- DIY gift tags with washi tape – make these simple DIY gift tags with paper and washi tape!
- Thanksgiving gift tags – ten different printable gift tags perfect for any Thanksgiving celebration!
- Berry holiday gift tags – add these printable gift tags to a berry treat or baked good (like this cranberry orange bread) for a yummy gift!
- Orange gift tags – pick up some orange items, put them in a box, and add one of these tags for a creative gift!
- Out of the blue gift – the surprise way to surprise someone who needs a little uplift or cheer!
Download the 12 Days of Christmas Tags
Like I mentioned above, I put together three different versions of tags for each of the 12 days of Christmas gifts! There are ones that go along with my non-traditional gift ideas above (e.g., five rolled things), ones that go with the traditional gifts, and ones that have the day with a blank line that you can write your own things on!
Enter your first name and email address in the form below to get the tags. If you do not see the form, click here to get to it.
Or if you’d rather not fill out the form, you can get a copy in my shop here.
Once you fill out the form, you’ll immediately receive an email with a link to download the tags. If you don’t see the email right away, make sure to check your spam and promotions folders.
The file will include:
- 2 pages with non-traditional tags
- 2 pages with traditional 12 Days of Christmas tags
- 2 pages with 12 days of Christmas tags with blanks for filling in yourself (examples shown below).
Just print out the tags you want to use, cut, and add them to your 12 days of Christmas gifts!
SHELLY says
Thank you, Love your ideas! Helps me so much!
Britni Vigil says
No problem! I’m glad you find it helpful!
Dawn says
How do you give these 12 days of Christmas gifts to a family in need? And what day do you start it on?
Britni Vigil says
You can do it however you choose. We’ve done it as a secret drop off thing years in the past, mailed them to people across the country, or just given them to someone who knows we’re bringing them. Or you can do all 12 days in one box and just wrap them up and label them as certain days. You can start them whenever you want but I think traditionally it’s either the 12 days leading up to Christmas (including Christmas morning) or you can have day 12 be on Christmas Eve.
Donna says
Cute- but why don’t you give the gifts during the 12 Days of Christmas? Or change them to countdown to Christmas or similar?
Britni Vigil says
You can do them whenever you want!
Shae says
These ideas are AMAZING, thank you!!!