Christmas gift rhymes – 36 ready-made rhymes and the art of writing your own

It's Christmas Eve, eleven o'clock, and the kitchen table is covered in tape, string and half-wrapped parcels. Someone shouts from the living room: “Has anyone got a rhyme for thermos?” Nobody answers. In three hours the presents will be handed out, and half of them still don't have a tag.

This page is made for exactly that moment. Here are 36 ready-made Christmas gift rhymes, all written for this page and sorted by how the parcel feels: soft, flat and hard, rattling, edible, an envelope, a joke or a gadget. And if none of them fit, there's a three-step method for writing your own. You'll find the gifts themselves in unique Christmas gifts.

Three steps: riddle, rhyme, dig

A good Christmas gift rhyme does three things. It's a riddle, it rhymes and it has a little dig. Think of it as three steps in that order.

1. The riddle. Don't write what the thing is called, write what it does. A hat isn't a hat, it's “the thing that sits at the very top, where the thoughts live”. The further from the name you start, the more fun the guessing gets.
2. The rhyme. Choose the end word first, and choose one with lots of words that rhyme with it. “Tree” gives you see, free, me and tea. “Orange” gives you nothing at all. Then build the line backwards.
3. The dig. Add something that only applies to the person receiving it: that they're always losing their glasses, can never find their mittens or claim they don't snore. It's the dig that gets the rhyme read out twice.

Last comes the clap test. Read the rhyme aloud and clap your hands on every stressed syllable. If the first line gets four claps and the second line seven, it limps. Cut or swap words until the lines clap about the same. The klapp in julklapp – the Swedish word for a Christmas present – was originally a knock on the door, but you can clap out the rhythm all the same.

36 ready-made Christmas gift rhymes by the shape of the parcel

All the rhymes can be copied straight onto the tag. Feel free to change a word so they fit your recipient.

Soft parcels

Soft parcels are the hardest to keep secret, because everyone has already squeezed them. So the rhyme has to do the work.

Socks

Two little friends who never want to part –
until the washing machine takes one. Then it breaks your heart.

Mittens

Four brothers share a bed and snuggle up tight,
the fifth has a room of his own, which seems only right.
Two cosy houses keep warm through the snow,
and move to the hat rack when the thaw says go.

Hat

This one sits up top, where your thoughts like to stay,
and keeps them all warm on a freezing cold day.

Blanket or throw

It warms like a radiator but needs no plug,
it folds itself up and it gives you a hug.
Lay it on your lap when the evening grows long –
it goes with a coffee, a book and a song.

Dressing gown

This one has sleeves but it never goes out,
from pillow to porridge it follows you about.

Flat and hard – books

A book gives itself away by its shape the moment you pick it up. So let the rhyme be about what happens inside instead.

Novel

It looks like a brick wrapped up with a bow,
but open it up – there's a land you don't know.

Cookbook

Here's a whole year of dinners, all ready to do –
if you can just find where the cooker is, too.

Crime novel

Someone's already dead by page three –
who did it? You'll just have to see.

Bird book

Now you can stop saying “a little brown thing”
about the bird in the hedge with a song and a wing.

Blank notebook or diary

This is a book where nothing has happened at all –
it's waiting for your thoughts and your deeds, big and small.

Parcels that rattle – games

Board game

It rattles a bit when you give it a shake,
and siblings and cousins go to war for its sake.
Still, everyone wants one more round tonight –
the loser wants revenge, and it won't be polite.

Jigsaw puzzle

A thousand small pieces in one big mess –
that's your Christmas holidays sorted, more or less.
And if one's missing when you're nearly through,
just look under the sofa. It's waiting for you.

Deck of cards

Fifty-two friends and two jokers too –
they fit in a pocket and play what you want them to.

Question cards for dinner

Pull this out when the table goes still
and everyone's eaten their fill.

Chess

Here stand two armies in black and in white,
where the king's a bit lazy and the queen runs the fight.

Edible

The edible parcel is the only one where the rhyme can admit the giver has had a taste. Homemade goes down especially well – knäck toffee, chocolate truffles and gingerbread biscuits can be made in advance and wrapped in a jar.

Chocolate or truffles

Don't save these for some fancier day,
because if they're left out, I'll eat them straight away. I'm weak – what can I say?

Knäck or toffee

I stirred the pan until my arm was sore.
It sticks to your teeth – but you'll want more.

Coffee

This one is black and will wake you up fast –
one cup, then another, and your head's clear at last.

Cheese

It has matured in the dark, in peace and quiet,
and gets better with age, like you – go on, try it.

Home-baked biscuits

I baked lots more, but on the way to you
I had a taste. Just a bite or two.

Envelopes – experiences and time

An envelope is the hardest parcel to guess and the easiest to forget about. Write the date on the card inside, and it'll actually happen. More ideas for time as a gift are in the Advent calendar with 24 adventures.

A day together with no plans

This weighs barely more than a gram, it's true,
but it holds a whole day – with nothing to do.

A night in a tent

This is a night with just cloth for a ceiling,
with stars, fire and sausages – a smoky good feeling.

A ski day with a parent

You held the back of my bike when I was five.
Now I'll hold you on the slope. Then home we'll drive.

That rhyme is written for grown-up children giving something back – more ideas like that are among christmas gifts for dad.

Theatre or concert

Two seats in the dark as the lights go down low –
bring a hanky, we'll laugh and we'll cry through the show.

A child's very own day

Here is a day that's yours alone:
you choose it all, and I won't moan.

Joke gifts

The first Christmas gift rhymes were stuck on joke gifts, so this is where the rhyme feels most at home. The jokes themselves – the ones that actually get used – are among christmas gifts for someone who has everything.

Box in a box in a box

Open and open and open once more –
right in the middle there's something. Has your patience gone out the door?

Earplugs

I don't snore at all, I've said so before – no way.
But with these in your ears you can sleep anyway.

The snorer writes that rhyme for whoever has to sleep next to them. The dig is aimed at the giver, so nobody needs to take offence. More gifts for your partner are among christmas gifts for him.

Big parcel, small thing

The parcel is huge, but don't judge it by size –
the thing at the bottom is small, but a prize.

Glasses cord

Where are your glasses? On your head, my dear.
With this round your neck, they'll always be near.

Back scratcher

The itch is always where no hand can be,
but now you won't rub on the door like a bear on a tree.

Gadgets and hard parcels

Gadgets are easy to rhyme about because they do something. Start from what it does and where it's used. Several of these things also suit someone who'd rather be outdoors – see christmas presents for kids who love being outdoors.

Fire steel or matches

In the old days they'd throw in a log through the door,
this year you get the spark that it's waiting for.

Head torch

It sits on your forehead but isn't too bright –
till you look up, and it rivals the stars in the night.

Thermos

It keeps hot what was hot when you started the climb
and saves it for the summit. Now it's coffee time!

Drill

It whirs and it drills and makes holes in the wall,
but keep it away from your beard, above all.

Chilli seeds to grow

These are so tiny you'll hardly know,
but give them a window and your throat will glow.

Compass

It points to the north however you spin,
so you'll find your way home – with mushrooms or none in the tin.

How a rhyme comes together – an example from scratch

Say the parcel is a kuksa – a wooden cup to hang from your belt – for someone who always drinks their coffee out of the flask lid.

Step 1, the riddle. What does the kuksa do? It's made of wood, it grew in a forest, you drink from it outdoors. The word “cup” isn't allowed, and nor is “kuksa”.

Step 2, the rhyme. “Forest” has hardly any rhymes. “Tree” has more: be, free, see and tea. So the first line ends on tree:

This one is made of wood and it grew on a tree

Step 3, the dig. The flask lid. The second line has to end on be. A first attempt:

and now you won't need to drink out of the flask lid any more – let it be.

The clap test. First line: this ONE is made of WOOD and it GREW on a TREE, four claps. Second line: and NOW you won't NEED to drink OUT of the FLASK lid any MORE – let it BE. The claps pile up, and the little words between them make the line stumble. Cut what isn't needed:

This one is made of wood and it grew on a tree –
now the flask lid can rest. Let it be.

Now the FLASK lid can REST. LET it BE. Four claps in each line, a real rhyme, no cup mentioned – and anyone who's ever had coffee out of a flask lid gets the dig straight away.

Words to rhyme with – and words to avoid

The table “Don't say it – rhyme around it” on this page has alternative descriptions and rhyming words for the most common gifts. A few things to know when you're looking for your own:

• The rhyme lives in the vowel. Two words rhyme when the stressed vowel and everything after it sound the same. House and mouse rhyme. House and ice don't.
• Near-rhymes sound like mistakes. Snow and snore, night and nice, or home and phone are close, but the ear can tell something's off. Change the end word rather than stretching it.
• Don't turn the sentence around for the sake of the rhyme. A line like “on Christmas Eve this gift to you I give” might rhyme, but nobody talks like that. Rewrite the whole line until the word order sounds like the way you speak.
• Save the hard words for the middle. Words like orange, head torch and toothbrush have almost no rhymes. Put them in the middle of the line, or better still, leave them out altogether.
• Don't rhyme on the name. “To Ted, who's getting a bed” says too much and is too easy. Let the name go on the tag, outside the rhyme.

Don't give too much away

The most common mistake is a rhyme that says what's in the parcel in the very first line. Then the guessing is over before it's begun. A few tricks:

• Start at the wrong end. Write about what the thing does for the person receiving it, not about what it is. Socks become “two little friends who never want to part”.
• Put the clue last. The first line can be vague, the second line gives it away. That's where the laugh should come.
• Think about the shape. Everyone can see straight away that a flat, hard parcel is a book. So the rhyme shouldn't say “book”, but something about what happens when it's opened.
• Let the joke parcel lie a little. A big parcel with a small thing inside, or a parcel shaped like something else, can happily have a rhyme that leads you astray.

Rhymes the kids write themselves

School-age children can write their own rhymes, and a parcel with a rhyme the child wrote is often the one that gets read out the most. Method:

1. Find the rhyming words first. Snow and glow, house and mouse, cat and hat. Write them down on a note.
2. Build the lines backwards. What could end on “snow”? “When it's cold outside and there's lots of snow.” What could end on “glow”? “They'll keep your fingers warm and all aglow.”
3. Two lines are enough. Better two lines that rhyme than four that don't.
4. Read aloud and clap. Children can hear for themselves when a line limps, often better than adults.

For the littlest ones, who can't write yet, an adult can write while the child makes it up. Gifts that suit children in the in-between years are among christmas gifts for kids aged 6–9.

Rhymes for someone who has everything – and for grandma

The rhyme matters more the harder the person is to buy for. For someone who already has everything, the rhyme and the joke are the gift, and for grandparents the rhyme can carry a memory, a shared story or a promise of time together. Ideas for gifts the rhyme can go on are in christmas gifts for grandparents.

A few pointers:

• For older people: write bigger, and write clearly. A rhyme that can't be read without glasses becomes a dig all of its own.
• For your partner: here the rhyme can be more personal, but it gets read out in front of everyone. Save the things only the two of you understand for a card inside the parcel.
• For a colleague or a gift swap game: keep the dig general. The rhyme should work even if the wrong person opens the parcel.

Rhyme workshop – when the whole family writes together

A rimstuga – a rhyme workshop – is when several people sit together and help each other with their rhymes. On uppesittarkvällen, the evening before Christmas Eve, Swedish radio and TV panels traditionally hold a rimstuga and write rhymes for listeners. It works just as well at home: everyone brings their parcels, nobody gets to see what's inside, and the others work out a rhyme from the clues.

Here's how you can do it:

• Pick the evening. The day before Christmas Eve or the third Sunday of Advent works well, when most presents are bought but not yet wrapped.
• Put out something warm. A pan of glögg (Swedish mulled wine) or alcohol-free glögg for the kids, gingerbread biscuits and a pile of notes and pens.
• Take turns. Whoever has a parcel says three words about what's in it, without saying what it is. The others suggest end words and first lines.
• Read out the best one. The rhyme that got the most laughs earns an extra gingerbread biscuit.

The rhyme workshop is a good way to get the kids and teenagers involved, who otherwise tend to leave the tag blank.

Why is it called julklapp? The history of the tradition

The Swedish word julklapp – Christmas present – comes from a knock. In the old days, young people in the countryside would creep around on Christmas Eve, knock – klappa – on the door, throw in a gift and vanish before anyone could see who it was. The gift was often a joke: a log, a straw figure or a carved doll. It was important not to be caught in the act.

The gift often came with a note bearing a verse explaining why this particular recipient had been given this particular fine present. The verses could be really mean, a kind of mocking verse, and they're the forerunners of the Christmas gift rhyme. The tradition has existed in Sweden since at least the 18th century.

Around 1800, inspired by the German Christmas, people started giving real Christmas presents to named people – small things like pens and hair ribbons. They always came with a verse, and the verse was part of the gift. During the 19th century, the julklapp became common in middle-class homes. The parcels were sealed with sealing wax and sometimes carried a verse.

The rhymes may not be as common today as they once were, but the dig lives on. The rhyme is still the most fun part of the parcel, and the only part that costs nothing. More about how to celebrate Christmas with kids, from Advent to Epiphany, is in christmas with kids.