DIY Wooden Christmas Eve Box: Creative Ideas and How-To Guide

We’re very competitive people and have always been the type to make a game out of any situation, so when we couldn’t decide on which design we wanted for our DIY wooden Christmas Eve box, we decided to each make our own design and have our Instagram followers judge them.

If you’ve never heard of them, Christmas Eve boxes are something you fill with things like new PJs, hot chocolate, popcorn, a movie, a board game, etc. and the family does all those activities together on Christmas Eve night. It sounded adorable and since we love a good competition as much as we love family traditions, this was very on brand for us.

Ultimately mine won (though I think Alex is a bit disadvantaged because we have the best most loyal followers judging), and our plan is to fill the other one up and donate it to a local organization so that hopefully it’ll be passed on to a family that could use a little Christmas cheer. Either way, we had a lot of fun making a project together and coming up with a friendly competition.

This DIY wooden Christmas Eve box was one of those make-it-up-as-you-go things, but it turned out so well. Luckily for you, I kept track of all my steps and measurements so you can recreate it and bring a new tradition to your home, too.

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How we made our DIY wooden Christmas Eve box:

Tools & Materials

1×8 at 8 feet
5mm thick plywood
¾” thick plywood
Paint or stain
Wood glue
Nail gun and nails
Table saw or circular saw
Sander

Make the drawer slide

Okay, this step sounds intimidating but I promise it looks harder than it is. For the box to have a sliding lid, you’ve got to cut a channel around the inside of the three taller sides for the lid to fit into, and to make sure each of my sides would have the channel at the exact same height, I just ran the whole 1×8 through before cutting the pieces smaller.

I used my table saw but I’ll give you two ways to do it:

Table saw option

Take the blade guard off the saw so it’s just the blade exposed out of the top, then use the little lever on the front of the saw to wind it down so the blade is only about ½” exposed. Mark ½” down from the top of your 1×8 piece and line it up with the blade. Clamp down your rip fence (the clamp guide part of the table saw) so you’ve got a guide to run your piece along.

Turn on the saw and run the wood through. You won’t see the blade because it’s not cutting the piece the whole way through, it’s just making a groove. Because your blade is probably ⅛” wide like mine and your plywood lid is 5mm, that groove you just made won’t be wide enough for the lid to slide into.

So, line up your groove with the saw blade again, and slide the 1×8 a little bit so the blade will now cut a bit lower, and clamp the fence down. Run the wood through again and repeat as many times as you need to widen that groove so the 5mm sheet of plywood comfortably fits inside.

Circular saw option

If you don’t own a table saw, you can still do this with a circular saw because it’s a similar concept. Lower the guard part (the flat metal part that sits on the wood you’re cutting) until only about ½” of the blade is sticking out the bottom. Mark ½” down from the top of your 1×8 piece and run the circular saw along that line the whole way (it won’t cut the whole way through the piece). Adjust your guide and saw a little bit farther along on the 1×8 piece and run the saw along it until you’ve got a groove wide enough for the 5mm piece of plywood to fit inside.

Make your piece cuts

Cut your 1×8 down into one cut at 15” and three cuts at 13.5”. Cut down the thicker piece of plywood into a sheet of 13.5”x13.5”, and the thinner piece of plywood to 14.25” x 13.75”.

Grab one of the 13.5” 1×8 pieces and cut it longways so the groove is gone, so now you’ll have a piece that’s about 13.5” x 16 + 10/16ths.

Assemble

Note: Because I hand-painted a design on the inside, I painted the pieces before assembling them because I never would’ve gotten through painting the insides of that box without a billion hand cramps, so you could pre-paint like me or paint once it’s together as a box. Totally up to how your design will be, but if you’re pre-painting, do it now.

Take your 15” 1×8 piece and hold it upright, then grab one of the wider 13.5” pieces and hold it up against that 15” piece on the edge to make a right angle, making sure the grooves you just cut are on the inside corner. Add a bead of wood glue between the pieces and nail it into place, making sure the grooves line up.

Do the same with the other 13.5” piece to make the other side piece of the box, again making sure the groove is on the inside and that it lines up with the back piece. Take your shorter 13.5” piece and slide it between the two side pieces to make the front of the box, securing it in the same way as the others.

Sand it all down

Give it all a good sanding and if you haven’t already, paint or decorate it however you like!

Test your lid and fill with treats

The lid should slide right into the groove if you’ve lined them up right, but if it’s a tight fit just take the lid out and sand down the edges a little bit and it should help. Then all that’s left is to fill your new DIY wooden Christmas Eve box with treats and go on your (literally) merry way.

Here are a few ideas for fillers in your DIY wooden Christmas Eve box: