As a single British immigrant living in Vancouver, Canada there are many British Christmas traditions that I miss at Christmas time.ย Christmas in Canada is pretty different compared to how the British like to celebrate Christmas. From indulging in mince pies and a hearty roast dinner to watching the Queenโs Speech and pulling Christmas crackers, there are lots of unique traditions to enjoy for a very British Christmas.
In this guide, Iโll walk you through how to bring these traditions into your solo Christmas, with tips on British food, entertainment, and festive customs to make the season feel truly special, no matter where you are.
British Christmas Food
Pigs In Blankets
Naturally, I am starting my run down with food…
Pigs in blankets are so good! In the UK and Ireland, we eat a lot of pigs in blankets over Christmas, especially on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. We usually have them in our roast dinner, but they are just as delicious cold. They are small cocktail sausages wrapped in streaky bacon.
Brussels Sprouts
Love them or hate them, brussels sprouts are a staple item of a British Christmas dinner. As a kid, I hated the soggy sprouts that would be on my plate and it was always a negotiation with my mum but these days I like them…preferably with bacon.
Yorkshire Puddings
This one is slightly controversial because some Brits would say that you don’t have Yorkshire puddings or Yorkies for Christmas dinner but I LOVE Yorkshire puddings so any excuse…
Yorkshire puddings are made with eggs, flour, and milk or water. They have a distinct hole in the middle that is filled with gravy, preferably Bisto when it’s served..
Mince Pies
It is just not Christmas without Mince Pies, and they are one of the treats that I miss the most in Canada. They just don’t make them as well over here. I miss Mr. Kipling’s pies!
Mince pies are pastries filled with a mix of dried fruits and spices that we call mincemeat.
Fun Fact – The first known mince pie recipe dates back to around 1830. By the mid-17th century, Brits started associating mince pies with Christmas but back then they were filled with meat and spices rather than dried fruit.
Christmas Pudding
Christmas pudding is a really rich and dense fruit cake that is made from dried fruits, spices, and brandy. It’s made weeks or even months in advance so that the fruit soaks up tons of alcohol.
Traditionally, the pudding is set alight and topped with brandy butter or rum butter on Christmas day. It’s usually served with cream, custard, or ice cream. In my house, it was always mom’s homemade Christmas pudding and custard. Yum.
Christmas Cake
Christmas Cake is a rich fruit cake topped with marzipan and icing. We make our fruit cake with yummy sweet white icing, and you will usually find it decorated with festive embellishments like holly or a Christmas tree.
Chocolate Yule Log
Chocolate Yule Log…preferably Cadbury’s was a feature of every Christmas growing up. I always preferred Yule Log to Christmas Cake or Christmas Pudding as a kid. It’s originally a French tradition I believe, as it’s a Bรปche de Noรซl.
British Christmas Entertainment
Pantomimes
Popular, relatively famous British celebrities like pop stars, actors, and TV presenters enjoy doing a good old-fashioned pantomime.
Pantomimes or pantos as we tend to call them, are humorous slapstick plays that are usually based on a famous fairytale or story like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, or Peter Pan. They also often feature lots of men in drag and very extravagant costumes.
Panto’s always follow a certain storyline premise where there has to be a hero and a villain, and it is always interactive so the audience gets involved in the story. For instance, undoubtedly at some point during a panto, the villain will sneak up on the protagonist and the audience will scream “he’s behind you” while he or she has no clue what’s going on.
Christmas TV Specials
We love a good Christmas special of our favorite TV shows. In the UK Christmas specials of popular shows are aired on Christmas Day (or very close to the big day).
A lot of these specials occur outside of their usual seasons and sometimes happen long after a show has stopped airing.
Queens Christmas Speech
Every year, millions of households tune for the Queen’s Christmas address which we have affectionately called the Queen’s speech. It is regularly the most-watched television show on Christmas Day in the UK.
A fun fact I learned today is that the first Queen’s speech was 251 words long, but Queen Elizabeth II usually averages about 656 words.
Christmas Number 1 Single
Every year we eagerly anticipate who will get the coveted British “Christmas No. 1” spot. This musical tradition started in 1952, so for over half a century musicians have competed for the top spot on the British singles chart.
Christmas No. 1 alumni include Band-Aid with Do They Know It’s Christmas? (1989), The Beatles, Queen, The Spice Girls, and Ed Sheeran.
The Beatles have the record for the most consecutive Christmas No.1’s (4) closely followed by the Spice Girls in the 90’s (3).
Christmas Commercials
For the British, Christmas commercials are the equivalent of Superbowl commercials. We love to scrutinize and discuss them in detail, and we always anticipate the adverts of big names.
For instance, we love a good John Lewis ad, but pretty much every British supermarket and large brand tries to create buzz with a talked-about Christmas movie.
School Nativity Plays
Pretty much every primary school in the UK puts on an annual Christmas nativity play. They are a part of the culture for us British, and just like in the movie Love Actually, all the family will go watch the play. I have way too many embarrassing nativity play photos that will never see the light of day again.
Other Christmas Traditions
Christmas Crackers
Christmas crackers are made from cardboard tubes that are wrapped in colored paper and twisted at the ends.
Each cracker is usually filled with a paper hat, a silly festive joke or fun fact, and some kind of quirky little prize.
Christmas crackers are usually pulled at the start of the meal, and then the paper hats in them are worn during the meal.
Happy Christmas
Here in Canada, and the States everyone seems to say Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas but in the UK we usually say Happy Christmas.
Chrimbo!
We British have a lot of slang and colloquialisms for pretty much everything; telly (television), brolly (umbrella), chippy (fish & chip shop), and biccy (biscuit/cookie),
So naturally Christmas gets shortened as well, and we often refer to it as Crimbo (or Chrimbo). For a giggle, if you appreciate British humor, google Bo Selecta’s “Proper Crimbo” which was a big UK hit back in 2003.
Christmas Stockings On Beds
Most British children, hang their Christmas stockings at the end of their beds for Father Christmas to fill while they sleep.
Growing up, it was always so fun going to sleep with an empty stocking at the end of my bed and waking it up finding it full of little presents to open.
Father Christmas
Although a lot of British people call old Saint Nick Santa Claus, most of us refer to him as Father Christmas because the name is more “British” (according to The National Trust apparently).
Christmas Lights
Most villages, towns, and cities are decorated with Christmas lights over Christmas, and in large cities, a famous person usually switches them on.
The most famous Christmas lights in the UK are in Oxford Street in London, and in normal times thousands of people would go to watch the big ‘switch on’ around the beginning of November.
Boxing Day Sales
Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, is a national holiday in the UK and it has a very rich cultural history. For as long as I can remember, it’s always been a big shopping day. For us Brits, the Boxing Day sales are the equivalent of Black Friday.
12 Days Of Christmas
We believe that if you don’t take your tree and decorations down within 12 days of Christmas you will have bad luck for the next year. So, don’t be that house that still has its lights up through Valentine’s Day. Get everything down and put it away before Jan 6.
There are so many other things that make Christmas (or Chrimbo) a British Christmas but these are the things that have always stood out for me.
What do you think? Have I captured all the key British Christmas traditions, and have you tried any of these things? Let me know in the comments.
Read More About Christmas Time
- How To Have Yourself A Very British Christmas!
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I absolutely loved reading this, everything seems so festive and cozy! I was doing some research for a story set in England a while back, and I remember coming across some of the foods – super interesting every time x
Yay so pleased to hear that you enjoyed this post. British Christmas is definitely festive and cosy, I try to keep a lot of the traditions here in Canada so my Christmas is usually a hybrid British/Canadian affair.