How do you celebrate Christmas in your barn? From decorating to hosting special events for your friends, family, and boarders, the holiday season is the perfect time to celebrate with your horses right alongside. Here are just a few ways you can incorporate the holidays into your barn.

Start With Great Decorating

To get your barn in the Christmas spirit, start by decorating it so that it looks great. Christmas garlands, stockings, a Christmas tree, and some lights will instantly make your barn look festive. Want to go all-out? Wrap a wall or wrap some wall hangings in wrapping paper, run lights both inside and outside of your barn, and hang weatherproof ornaments from the trees and bushes around your barn to transform the entire property into a winter wonderland. These decorations will also serve as the perfect backdrop for the following activities.

Hold a Photo Shoot

The holidays are ideal for scheduling a barn photo shoot. Hire a professional photographer, give the horses a spa day (or at least get them as clean as possible), put together some of your best holiday décor as a backdrop, and take some great holiday photos. These can make for great Christmas cards if you host the shoot early enough in the season.

If you’re looking for great holiday gifts for boarders, many photographers can turn the photos from these shoots into keychains, magnets, ornaments, and other small gift items.

Host a Barn Christmas Party

Celebrate the holidays with your boarders and family by throwing a barn Christmas party. This works best if you have a heated viewing room – if not, you may need to move the party to your home if you’re in a cold climate. Consider making the party a pot-luck to save you time on meal prep, and combine it with a gift exchange or Yankee swap.

Host a Holiday Open Barn/Open House

If you’re running a professional boarding or training operation, hosting an open barn or open house event during the holidays can help to drum up new business. Come up with some fun holiday-related activities, like cookie decorating or creating horseshoe wreaths, and advertise the event to the public. Have Santa come and offer to take Christmas photos of visiting kids with Santa and a pony.

Schedule a Professional Visit or Clinic

To give your horses and your boarders’ horses a special Christmas treat, schedule a professional to come visit. A saddle fitter, equine massage therapist, or equine chiropractor can all help to make your horse more comfortable, and most professionals offer discounted rates for groups or day-long appointments. Take a poll of your boarders and see what type of service they’d be most interested in. With the show season having ended, the holidays can be the perfect time to schedule this type of a visit or clinic.

There are many different ways that you can celebrate the holidays around the stable. Will you be putting any of these ideas to use?