Boxing Day needs one thing to do that is not a walk or a film, and a making kit fills the gap neatly: an hour or an afternoon at the kitchen table, everyone involved at their own level, and something to eat or admire at the end of it. A cheese kit is the one to do with children in the room, a chilli sauce kit suits older teenagers and adults, and a kintsugi kit is the quiet adults-only evening once the house has calmed down.
The adults stay at the helm in all three. Hot pans, strong chillies and strong adhesive are not children's jobs, but there is plenty for younger hands to do around the edges, and being given a real job is most of the appeal.
Why does Boxing Day need a plan at all?
Because it is the flattest day of the year if you do not have one. The build-up has finished, the presents are open, the food is leftovers, and a household that has been pointed at a single date suddenly has no direction. It is also the day when several generations are in one house with nothing scheduled, which is either lovely or long depending on whether there is something to do.
A kit answers it well because it has a shape: a beginning, some steps, and a finish you can eat. It also gets people standing round a table talking sideways rather than sitting in a row facing a screen, which is the real point.
The cheese kit, the one to do with children
Cheese making is the best family activity we sell, because the transformation happens in front of you and it happens fast. The Cheese Making Kit, Cheeses of the World covers ten fresh cheeses including mozzarella, halloumi, paneer, ricotta, mascarpone, chevre and burrata, and most are ready in around an hour.
Start with ricotta or mozzarella. Ricotta is the gentlest: heat the milk, add the acid, and the curds appear almost at once, which produces a very satisfying noise from anyone under ten. Mozzarella is the showpiece, because the hot curd stretches like taffy and the stretching is the bit everyone wants a go at, under supervision since the curd is hot.
The box holds vegetarian rennet, citric acid, cheese salt, a thermometer, moulds and cheesecloth, so the shopping is fresh whole milk, never UHT or lactose free, neither of which will curdle. Buy more milk than you think. Once a family has made one cheese they almost always want to make a second.
The chilli sauce kit, for the teenagers and the competitive
The Chilli Sauce Making Kit turns an afternoon into a proper production line, and it suits the older end of the family: seven sauces from gentle to seriously hot, built on six dried chillies in the chipotle, cayenne, green, jalapeno, facing heaven, habanero and piri piri styles.
The right way to run it on Boxing Day is to pick two recipes, one mild and one serious, and let people taste along the way with the pipettes. A tasting at the end, with the cold cuts and whatever cheese is left, is a better bit of Boxing Day television than anything actually on Boxing Day television.
The gloves in the box are not decorative. Chilli oils cling to skin and sting badly if someone later rubs their eyes, so gloves on, and the chopping and blending stay with the adults. Each recipe needs a few fresh ingredients, such as an onion, a mango or a tin of tomatoes, so glance at the list on Christmas Eve if you want to be ready.
The kintsugi kit, for the evening after the children are in bed
The Kintsugi Kit is an adults-only kit: the epoxy is a strong adhesive, so it is worked in a ventilated room, with the gloves on, and kept well away from children. That makes it the evening activity rather than the afternoon one, and it is a genuinely good way to spend a couple of hours with one other person.
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken ceramics so the seam is picked out in gold rather than hidden, in the wabi-sabi spirit of treating the damage as part of the object's history. The kit includes a two-part epoxy, a spreader and mixing card, gold-effect mica pigment powder, gloves, a booklet and two practice bowls, so nobody has to risk a treasured piece on a first attempt.
It works well as a two-person job: one person holds each join for its thirty to sixty seconds while the other gets the next piece ready. There is no kiln or oven. A repaired piece is decorative rather than crockery, since the adhesive is not food grade, so do not use a mended bowl for food or drink. Tea lights are the happiest second life for one.
How do you set the day up so it actually happens?
- Buy the fresh bits before the shops shut. Milk for the cheese, a couple of fresh ingredients for the chilli sauces. Nothing kills an activity faster than discovering it needs a shop on the one day they are closed.
- Read the booklet the night before. Ten minutes on Christmas Eve means you are leading the afternoon rather than reading aloud from it.
- Give everyone a job. Weighing, stirring, timing, labelling. Children who are given the thermometer take it extremely seriously.
- Buy it early and wrap it. A kit given on Christmas Day and used on Boxing Day is two presents. If it is going to another household, enter their address as the delivery address at checkout and it goes straight to them.
Boxing Day activity FAQs
What can the whole family do together on Boxing Day?
Make something at the kitchen table. Cheese making is the most family friendly, since most of the fresh cheeses take around an hour and the curds form in front of you.
Can children help with a cheese making kit?
Yes, with an adult running the hot pan. Children can weigh, stir, time and help stretch the mozzarella once an adult has judged the temperature.
Is the kintsugi kit suitable for children?
No. It is an adults-only kit because the epoxy is a strong adhesive, and it should be kept away from children, used with the gloves on and in a ventilated room.
What do we need to buy in advance?
Fresh whole milk for the cheese kit, never UHT, and the few fresh ingredients listed at the top of each chilli sauce recipe. The kintsugi kit needs nothing added.
How long does each activity take?
Most fresh cheeses take around an hour, a chilli sauce takes an afternoon, and a kintsugi repair takes an evening plus curing time while everyone is asleep.
Planning next year's Boxing Day already? Have a look at our gift kits and pick something the whole table can join in with.
