How to spend your Christmas as an au pair

It's a key question at this time of year: How do you want to spend your Christmas?

Certainly you're not alone in wondering about this. It's on the minds of many au pairs right now. Some are looking forward to Christmas full of happy anticipation. Some are feeling a little bit worried about maybe feeling homesick and unhappy. Some haven't made any plans at all.

The good news - there are lots of great options, which will certainly make it possible for you to have a wonderful Christmastime!

Christmas 2023

The first step in planning your Christmas as an au pair in 2023 is to talk openly and to plan early with your host family and also with your own family about the upcoming holiday season. Open and sincere communication about your own wishes and everyone else's is an important first step to a great celebration.

Video: How to spend your Christmas as an au pair

Find out in our 5-minute long video how to spend this Christmas as an au pair

Christmas at home

One way to celebrate Christmas is just like always – at home together with your family. For au pairs from Europe who have stayed in Europe, this offers a nice and relatively simple opportunity to be with your family after some time away. A special option might be to make a surprise a visit –tears of joy a guaranteed part of the package. How ever you decide to manage it, your family will certainly be happy and excited to see you again. You'll have lots of stories to tell and photos to show of your experiences.

The only hard part might be leaving after the special days together. But if you think how many great experiences you can expect to have in the coming months, heading back to your host country shouldn't be too hard. And the next visit home is not so far away.

Talk to your current host family if you do wish to visit your family and discuss what this would mean for them if the children do not have school. Maybe it could be better for you to stay with your host country and celebrate Christmas in a different (and also special) way?

Have a special Christmas with your host family

The cheapest and simplest possibility is to celebrate Christmas together with your host family. This option can also be the most exciting and unique, even though you don't need to be spending anything extra on travel or having the stress of arranging a journey.

How often is it that you get the chance to celebrate Christmas in a foreign country with a local family? You'll be experiencing new traditions and customs and can bring your own into the mix. Christmas is a special time of connecting and spending it with your host family will help you to become a real part of your second family. You'll be sure to get to know each other better and probably won't be thinking too much about your family at home or feeling too homesick.

Don't forget: Talk with your host family in advance what will count as free time and what will count as working time during this period. 

Experience something completely new at Christmas

Or maybe you want to do something totally different for your Christmas celebration? You could travel with some au pair friends to a destination in your host country where you've never been before but always wanted to visit!

Think of it as a special adventure – maybe without a Christmas tree, lots of presents or a traditional Christmas dinner. But instead a chance to gather new experiences with new friends at a special and unfamiliar destination. Do you want to go for a swim in the sea, make a meal together or perhaps do nothing at all? The possibilities are wide open for you to decide. Anything goes, from a big New Year's Eve party to renting a cottage in the countryside or by the sea with your friends and having a series marathon, wine tasting or just relaxing together.

Whatever you finally choose – Christmas with friends, with your host family or with your family at home: AuPairWorld sends very best holiday wishes to you for a wonderful Christmastime!