Australian Christmas Traditions Kids Love (and the Stories Behind Them)
Australian Christmas traditions make no sense to anyone north of the equator, and that’s exactly why kids love them. Santa swaps his sleigh for a surfboard, lunch is cold prawns instead of hot roast, and the soundtrack is cicadas, cricket on the radio and someone yelling “shut the screen door!”
From our little Hunter Valley workshop, here are the Aussie Christmas traditions kids actually look forward to, the true stories behind a few of them, and some easy new ones to start this year.
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Why are Australian Christmas traditions so different?
Two words: it’s summer. Christmas lands at the start of the long school holidays. Most families keep the classic bits (the tree, the stockings, carols about snow nobody has seen) and adapt everything else to the weather. That’s what makes Australian Christmas traditions so fun for kids: a bit silly, and almost all outdoors.
Kid fact: In Australia, Christmas crackers are usually called bon bons. Same paper crown, same terrible joke, different name.
Australian Christmas food traditions
Prawns, ham and a very cold lunch
Plenty of families still cook a roast, but lots swap it for seafood, cold ham and salads, because nobody wants the oven on when it’s 38 degrees. Prawns are the star, even for kids who ignore them the rest of the year.
Pavlova and the great pav debate
The pav is the dessert of the Australian Christmas. It’s named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who toured Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s, and both countries still claim they invented it. Kids don’t care who wins the argument. They care about the crunchy bit on top.
Cherries, mangoes and the leftovers
Cherries and mangoes are in season in December, so a bowl of each usually lands on the table. Then comes the best tradition of all: leftovers. Ham sandwiches on Boxing Day and pav for breakfast.
Our ibis, Binny, takes Christmas lunch very seriously. Her Christmas Lunch tee shows her in a paper crown with her napkin tucked in and her knife and fork ready. She has lovely manners, but she will ask for seconds.
Outdoor Australian Christmas traditions
The beach, the pool or the sprinkler
Christmas afternoon often means a swim, or a backyard sprinkler. Some surf clubs and shopping centres even have Santa arrive on a surfboard, a jet ski or the back of a fire truck, which kids think is the most sensible thing they’ve ever seen.
All that outdoor fun is also peak sunburn season, so hats are part of the uniform. Our kids bucket hats $35 are cotton twill with a UPF 50+ rating, a 6.5 cm brim and a toggle chin cord that keeps them on in a beach breeze. They fit 51 to 54 cm heads, which is roughly ages 4 to 10.
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Spike Bucket Hat
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Swoop Bucket Hat
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Chuckles Bucket Hat
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Binny Bucket Hat
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Backyard cricket
Every family has its own rules. The fence is six and out, the dog is a fielder, and the youngest always gets one more chance.
Boxing Day: cricket and the Sydney to Hobart
On 26 December, two big sporting traditions kick off. The Boxing Day Test starts at the MCG in Melbourne, and the Sydney to Hobart yacht race leaves Sydney Harbour. The first Sydney to Hobart race was in 1945, when nine yachts set off on what was meant to be a casual cruise. Today the course is 628 nautical miles.
Carols by Candlelight and Christmas lights
Carols by Candlelight is one of the best-loved Australian Christmas traditions, and it has a lovely backstory. On Christmas Eve 1937, Melbourne radio broadcaster Norman Banks walked past a window and saw an elderly woman sitting alone, singing along to “Away in a Manger” on the radio by the light of a candle. He wondered how many people spent Christmas on their own, and the next year about 10,000 people gathered in Melbourne’s Alexandra Gardens to sing carols together. You can read the full story on Vision Australia’s Carols by Candlelight history page.
Today most suburbs run their own carols nights in local parks, where kids get a candle or glow stick and stay up way past bedtime. Then there’s the Christmas lights drive. Make it a game: whoever spots the most inflatable Santas gets first pick of the bon bons.
Aussie Christmas nature: beetles, bush and baby magpies
Christmas beetles
Christmas beetles are named because the adults come out close to Christmas. There are around 35 kinds, nearly all found only in Australia, and the adults munch eucalyptus leaves. According to the Australian Museum, sightings around Sydney have dropped over the past 30 years as grassy woodland is cleared, so spotting one is a real treat. Count them on your evening walk.
NSW Christmas bush
This native shrub has soft cream flowers in spring. After the flowers finish, the part around each one grows and turns a bright red, just in time for Christmas.
Baby magpies
By December, most magpie chicks have left the nest and swooping season is winding down, which is good news for kids on bikes (and for Swoop, our magpie who is scared of swooping season himself). If your kids got a fright this spring, our guide to magpie swooping season has gentle tips for next year.
New Australian Christmas traditions to start with kids
The best family traditions are small ones kids look forward to every year. Here are five.
1. Christmas tee morning $35
The Aussie answer to the Christmas jumper is a Christmas t-shirt. It’s cool enough for a 35-degree day. Our Aussie Christmas t-shirts for kids come in sizes 2 to 14 on soft, garment-dyed cotton:
- Spike: Deck the Halls: an echidna who’s worked out his spines make a great Christmas tree.
- Swoop: Swooping Season’s Greetings: our nervous magpie in a festive helmet.
- Binny: Christmas Lunch: an ibis ready for the best meal of the year.
- Chuckles: Cracker Joke: a kookaburra laughing at the bon bon joke, even if he isn’t sure why.
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Spike: Deck the Halls
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Swoop: Swooping Season’s Greetings
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Binny: Christmas Lunch
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Chuckles: Cracker Joke
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Not sure on size? Check the kids t-shirt size guide. Size exchanges are free, so if in doubt go one size up.
2. The bon bon joke-off
Everyone reads their bon bon joke out loud and the table votes on the worst one. Chuckles the kookaburra would laugh at all of them. He’s always laughing, and he never quite knows what at.
3. A Christmas Eve story
Settle overexcited kids with one of our free read-along stories. Snug and the Dark is about a monster under the bed who’s scared of the dark, which is very handy on the one night kids are supposed to go to sleep early.
4. Colouring at the kids’ table
Leave a stack of our free colouring pages and some pencils on the kids’ table. It buys twenty quiet minutes while the prawns get peeled.
5. A Christmas sticker swap $6
Give each cousin a different Christmas sticker pack and let them trade. Each pack has six die-cut stickers, about 7.5 cm each, and every Flipsy character has a Christmas edition. Sticker postage is $4.50 for any number of packs, and free on three or more. If your kids catch the collecting bug, have a look at the Flipsy collectibles.
Doing a family Kris Kringle too? Our Secret Santa gifts for kids list has ideas under $10, $20 and $40, and you can meet the rest of the characters on the Flipsy gang tees page.
Ordering for Christmas? We print and post within 1 to 2 business days, and shipping is free on orders over $80. After that it’s up to Australia Post, so check their Christmas sending dates and leave a buffer. Every first order also comes with a free starter pack.
Australian Christmas traditions: FAQs
What are some Australian Christmas traditions?
Popular Australian Christmas traditions include prawns and cold ham for lunch, pavlova, a swim, backyard cricket, Carols by Candlelight, Christmas lights drives, and the Boxing Day Test and Sydney to Hobart on 26 December.
Why is Christmas in summer in Australia?
Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, so its seasons are the opposite of Europe and North America. December falls in summer, which is why so many Aussie Christmas traditions happen outdoors.
When did Carols by Candlelight start?
Carols by Candlelight began in Melbourne in 1938, started by radio broadcaster Norman Banks. About 10,000 people came to the first one in Alexandra Gardens. Since 1959 it has been held at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.
Why are they called Christmas beetles?
Because the adult beetles come out around Christmas time. There are about 35 kinds, and nearly all of them are found only in Australia.
What are bon bons at Christmas in Australia?
Bon bons are what most Australians call Christmas crackers: the paper tubes you pull with a partner that go bang and hold a paper crown, a small toy and a joke.