Every year, I think maybe this year we will celebrate Saint Nicholas Day and maybe gift the neighbors with Christmas cookies on that day and do some special things. But we have so many other things to think about, I don’t ever get around to it.
This year I’ve started thinking about it early. Very early. It’s still November, and I’m about to publish this post about celebrating Saint Nicholas Day with your kids. I’m pulling together all of the fabulous ideas I can find — plus I’m gifting everyone who wants it with a GORGEOUS Saint Nicholas coloring page in this post.
Don’t forget to enter our Christmas Blessings giveaway which you will find at the end of this post.
If you live in any Western country, Saint Nicholas Day is celebrated on December 6th. Eastern European countries celebrate Saint Nicholas Day on December 19th. The most common celebration of this day is feasting, a church service focused on the spirit of giving, and the setting out of shoes or stockings on the 5th to be filled by Saint Nicholas.
Most Americans (except those living in areas heavily influenced by German immigrants) have moved this tradition to be merged with their celebration of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
We prefer to keep Christmas Eve and Christmas Day mostly about Jesus and I think that having a Saint Nicholas Day celebration will be a fun way for my kids to learn about the traditions of St. Nick aside from those Holy Days we set apart.
How to Celebrate Saint Nicholas Day with Kids
My favorite tradition for Saint Nicholas Day is the practice of taking small treats or favors to your near neighbors and dear friends to honor the memory of Saint Nicholas and his giving spirit. Learning about the various traditions surrounding Christmas and how they have evolved from the memory of the original Saint Nicholas of Myra would also be an excellent way to celebrate Saint Nicholas Day.
Read the real story of the legend using this fabulous picture book: Saint Nicholas – The Real Story of the Christmas Legend. If you don’t celebrate Santa Claus in your home you might want to leave out the last page, so maybe read ahead.
Your children might also enjoy putting together this articulated Saint Nicholas paper doll — a printable download from StellaMarigoldArt.
We always enjoy watching Saint Nicholas: A Story of Joyful Giving from VeggieTales
Here are a few other posts with great ideas for celebrating Saint Nicholas Day with Kids:
Crafty Mom Share has a great post on Saint Nicholas
Wise Owl factory has a free printable about Saint Nicholas Day in the Netherlands
Awe-Filled Homemaker has a Saint Nicholas Unit Study, a free Saint Nicholas printable, and a free Saint Nicholas Coloring Page.
Cooking Whiz Cafe has Saint Nicholas Day Donuts
–>Click here to get our free Saint Nicholas Coloring Page and we’ve included a brief history of the saint to share with your children as well!
God bless you & yours. This is all so wonderful! I cannot wait to share.
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This would be a blessing to us because we have some renovation projects we need to do.
I’ve never heard of celebrating St. Nicholas Day before. What a great idea!
I love that you are planning so early. I have been trying to plan ahead for Thanksgiving. Gotta work on Christmas next…
Winning this would be a great blessing to our family. Medical bills have piled up and Christmas will be sparse this year. And I love the printable Santa. I may have to print it out for myself!
This would bless my family by helping us stay warm this winter season.
@tisonlyme143
While we keep perspective while gift giving, other expenses do not disappear this time of year. This will definitely bless whoever receives this with a little “wiggle room” in the budget. At my home that means van repairs. Thank you for the chance to be blessed!
What great idea to do this, as an answer to the Santa Claus questions when it’s not celebrated in the the home.
This money would help us buy a much needed car for our family!
This is a great idea! We are trying to encourage giving and Random Acts of Kindness in our kids. This is something we are going to incorporate in our holiday celebrations this year. Thank you!
Thanks for the material you share!
Winning this giveaway will help to get much-needed supplies and I could help others I know in need.
This would help me purchase a home computer and hopefully get a different job in order to spend more time with my kids.
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Winning this giveaway would really help us do some repairs at our house.
What an awesome Christmas giveaway!!
This amount is the exact amount we’ve budgeted for anything above and beyond regular monthly expenses this year. I’d like to really bless my family by giving abundantly, but this number is a little bit scary on our tight budget! Not having to stress about eating into our set aside money would be an amazing gift and would help my overly-taxed husband enjoy the season.
What a generous gift to give! If I happen to win, I’ll take my honey on a staycation. We need time away from hustle & bustle to reconnect and relax. <3
Thanks for the give away. Merry Christmas to all. Thank you for all of the helpful ideas to make our holidays brighter! Blessings.
This a an awesome contest and thanks for the ideas.
This would bless our family by helping us to pay off bills and try to get ahead. Our goal is to be as generous to others as people have been to us…
Thanks for having such a generous heart. There is just not enough of that in the world these days. What a blessing this will be for the winner.
I would love to win
Winning would be a huge blessing for our family. With 4 of our kids in twice a week speech and occupational therapy, our 90 visits per year max from our health insurance is exhausted by August so that means we have to pay out of pocket for the remainder of the year. Close to Christmas, they sometimes skip visits altogether so we can use that money for gifts. Needless to say an extra $500 would be wonderful.
Great post! Thanks to this, I think we will be celebrating St. Nicholas’ Day! And the giveaway…what a blessing!
This giveaway would bless my family because I just found out I’m prego with #3! My littlest is 3 and I don’t have any baby stuff anymore!
Wow! What a blessing of a giveaway! May you be equally blessed!
I love the spirit of your blog. Keep it up!
It would bless us by giving us extra money to buy Christmas for my two kids.
Thanks for hosting the giveaway!
This would bless us by helping with our Christmas budget and bills.
This would be such a blessing to our family. Our children are used to receiving two gifts from us (one bought, one made); this would allow us to take them shopping for a gift to give each other, to share the joy of giving. It would also help with tuition for our parochial school. Thank you for the chance to win. Very generous gift for someone!
Thank you for sharing
Thank you so much for the free printable colouring page!
This giveaway would bless our family because my husband just recently lost his job and with myself being ill, we have really been struggling the past few years.
Thank you for such a great opportunity.
This giveaway will bless our family because I cut back on my hours to spend more time at home with my children, including one that was born two weeks ago!
What an awesome generous giveaway from all of you. I love the idea of treats for neighbors for St. Nicholas day.
What’s in the Bible did an awesome special on Christmas and saint Nicholas; I love their whole series, actually ?
Oh yes! I had forgotten about that one. I’ll add that to the post, thank you! That’s another great reason to get Jelly Telly!
Thank you for the opportunity to win! This would bless our family by allowing us to give more to others this season 🙂
If my family won this prize, it would help our Christmas budget. We would also be able to give to people in our local community that need help for Christmas. Thanks…
Giving. THAT is what the season is really about.
Christ GAVE us HIMself. Willingly. Because HE loves us – EVEN while we still hate HIM. Thanks for sharing.
Winning this would cover the majority of our kids’ Christmas gifts, which would help us pay for other things!
Thank you for the opportunity! What an amazing blessing it would be to our family of 6.
After my husband losing his job almost 2 years ago just a few months before our 4th baby was born, it’s been a TIGHT time financially. This $500 would be such a blessing knowing that we could treat our family to something special AND share generously with others who need some.
This would be a blessing for us since my husband has to have surgery Dec 4th and will be out of work 17 weeks after
Thank you for the Santa and for the chance to win!
The giveaway would bless us by helping fund our family time trip
As the parent of two special needs children, any extra money can go a long way toward therapy services. We also homeschool and could use funds to purchase curriculum for next year.
Winning this would help my family tremendously. My husband is in grad school & our budget is really tight this year. We are hoping to travel & see some of our family this year.
Thank you. A very early Merry Christmas to you.
This would bless us during a rough season. My parents have lost the company they built, and had to sell their house due to a year full of medical issues. As they haven’t anywhere to go they’re hopefully coming to live with us. We thought we had a while before needed updates and moving but with four little kids, my parents and grandmother moving in it’s going to have to be now.
This is great! I hadn’t realized there is a separate day for St Nicholas. I think I will incorporate this into my homeschool bookclub! An extra tidbit for kids excited by Christmas!
Love the Saint Nicholas printable, it will be good for the kids to fill in during read aloud time.
What a neat contest, most home educating families would be blessed by this because so many of us live on one income.
Thank you for this! My son is named Nicholas and we are wanting to make St. Nicholas Day a more important day in our family. Great ideas that could easily turn into family traditions!!! Thanks again!!!
Can’t wait to try this.
Thank you for your blog and wonderful ideas!
Winning would bless our family this year due to the challenges we have faced. We have opened our home to a beautiful young adult woman that was living with an abusive roommate and a family that sanctioned it. When you add that to my other 4 children who still live at home, this year is going to be challenging and very blessed!
Winning this would mean we would be able to get our children Christmas gifts this year.
It would bless our family by enabling us to bless others during the holiday season. I love to give to others and this would help us give much more to those in need! Thank you so much for the opportunity!
What a wonderful blessing you have been to my family thank you for sharing so much with me and inspiring me on my journey.
To win this giveaway would be a blessing for me for several reasons. My mother recently passed away and with added expenses we are struggling to pay the bills. I want my children to have a great Christmas but I am praying that will happen. If i won i would use it for there Christmas presents.
Would be a blessing in helping with Christmas expenses.
Would help with Christmas expenses
Winning this Giveaway would bless my family in so many ways, especially with food and clothes. We are unable financially to have Thanksgiving Dinner or Christmas shop for our children. I was injured in July and had to have surgery. When the Dr thought I had healed up, I took a terrible fall and broke my tibiua in half which led to another surgery and having 2 plates and 13 screws placed into my leg. I am wheelchair bound now and unable to work.
This giveaway would help our family as we would love to use it to be able to buy nicer gifts for our extended family. And to help bless my sister who is getting married in less than a month.
I know the perfect family to bless this with.
This would bless my family because we would use it to pay off debt, and we are almost there!
What was wonderful giveaway! Such a blessing to the winners!
Winning this would allow us to save a little more and give a little more this Christmas.
What a wonderful blessing!
What an amazing giveaway. Winning this would help with much needed car repairs.
Our family would be so blessed to win – it would almost pay for all of Christmas! We have 8 children, 6 are still at home and 2 are all grown with their own families. I would use the money for memberships to different museums/aquariums/etc. because we are homeschoolers and we would all love that opportunity!
Have a Blessed Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year!
Amy