Ukrainian Christmas: Traditions, Food and Gift Ideas to Send from the UK

Meest UK offers affordable delivery from Britain to Ukraine. We’ll cover the basics of Ukrainian Christmas traditions: dates, food, and fun gift ideas.

In London, people wake up on December 25, unwrap their presents and take the dog for a walk. In Ukraine, people wake up on that day too and swap small, symbolic Christmas gifts. But the evening before, families gather at a big table with 12 dishes and not a single bite of meat. Many interesting traditions come before the Ukrainian Christmas celebration, and they can turn into great gift ideas. That’s why we at Meest UK decided to tell you about them. And remember, this lovely season is just around the corner, so plan your delivery now!

When Is Ukrainian Christmas Celebrated

Since 2023, December 25 has been the official date of Christmas in Ukraine. That means Christmas Eve falls on December 24. Before that, Ukraine followed the old calendar and celebrated Christmas on January 7. Now both dates are in the calendar, and some families celebrate twice, just in case. The logic is solid: twice the celebrations means more Christmas gifts in Ukraine.

But that’s not all. Ukrainians actually start swapping gifts in early December. Here’s a calendar you can stick on the fridge:

Ukrainian Christmas Traditions and St. Nicholas Day

How do Ukrainians celebrate Christmas? The holiday feels like a TV series: lots of episodes, one after another, no breaks, and each one has its own rules. The traditions go back a very long way, but every family does them a bit differently, and everyone is sure their way is the right one. Here are the Ukrainian traditions for Christmas, in order, because the order really matters:

1. The house gets a good clean. A didukh, which is a sheaf of wheat, goes in the corner. Folk belief says the spirit of the ancestors lives in it. Many people now make small decorative ones too.
2. Next, hay goes on the table under the tablecloth. It reminds people of the manger where Christ was born.
3. Everyone waits for the first star to appear, and only then does dinner start. The kids watch the sky from the window, and the adults pretend they aren’t hungry.
4. At Holy Supper, one extra place is set for anyone who can’t be there this year.
5. The meal begins with kutia. After that, everyone tries all 12 dishes, and none of them has meat.

After dinner, people sing, then go to bed happy and full.

Carolling, Vertep and the Rest of the Holidays

Christmas doesn’t end there. It’s only getting started. The next day, carolling begins. Groups of kids and young people go from house to house, singing and wishing everyone a good year, and people treat them to sweets. They often carry a star on a stick, because the Christmas star in the sky has gone missing somewhere, but this one is definitely here.

In the evening, everyone goes out to see the vertep. It’s a puppet show or a live play about the birth of Christ, with shepherds, kings, and, of course, the devil, because the play would be boring without him. You can see a vertep in theatres, schools, and churches, and it’s the best way for kids to understand the holiday.

People also visit relatives on this day and give small symbolic gifts. Ukrainian Christmas gifts don’t have to be as pricey as birthday presents. They’re about warmth, memories, and caring for each other.

Day of Saint Nicholas in Ukraine

Ukrainians celebrate this holiday on December 6, and kids are probably looking forward to it more than any other. Saint Nicholas, or Sviatyi Mykolai, leaves gifts under the pillow at night. Good kids get sweets and a toy, and anyone who didn’t tidy their room three times might get a little twig, as a joke. In practice, though, everyone gets a gift.

If you’d like to send gifts to your nephews and nieces in Ukraine for Saint Nicholas Day, it’s best to ship the box in the middle of November for December 6. What to put in it for the little ones? A building set, a colouring book with markers, a soft toy, a board game, or a picture book.

Traditional Ukrainian Christmas Food and Festive Dishes

Christmas Eve dinner has 12 dishes, and none of them has meat, because it’s the last day of the Christmas fast. Twelve is for the number of apostles. Every host knows how many dishes she actually made, but it’s better not to count them in front of her. Traditional Ukrainian Christmas food looks something like this:

• Kutia – wheat with poppy seeds, honey and nuts, served first.
• Uzvar – a compote of dried pears, apples and plums.
• Varenyky – dumplings filled with potato, cabbage, mushrooms or cherries.
• Borscht – meat-free borscht, often with little mushroom dumplings.
• Pampushky – garlic buns, served with borscht.
• Holubtsi – cabbage rolls with buckwheat or rice, no meat.
• Fish – baked, fried or stuffed.
• Pies – sweet ones with cherries or nuts, and savoury ones with liver or cabbage.
• Vinaigrette – a salad of beetroot, potato, sauerkraut and beans, dressed with oil.
• Herring – with onion and oil, on a slice of dark bread.
• Pickled mushrooms – served as a starter, because mushrooms are on almost every Christmas Eve table.
• Makivnyk – a sweet poppy seed roll.

You can send tea, biscuits or shortbread to go with the table, but only in factory packaging. Animal-based foods can only go if they’re factory-sealed and no more than 10 kg per parcel, and alcohol and tobacco can’t go at all. To make sure your shipment to Ukraine isn’t stopped and your family gets their treats, check the list of prohibited products.

Best Christmas Gift Ideas and Winter Care Packages for Loved Ones

As soon as the first Christmas trees appear in the shops in Manchester, everyone who has relatives abroad starts thinking about what to send to Ukraine for Christmas. The answer comes down to three rules. Keeping in mind the rules for sending goods internationally, the gift should be new. It also shouldn’t break on the way, because glass baubles, for example, might not survive the trip. And it should be useful, because you don’t want it to end up in a drawer and never come out. 

Our winter care package ideas have three must-haves:

Something warm. Go for thermal underwear and merino wool socks, a hat, scarf and gloves, or a blanket (a throw or a fleece one). Hand warmers are a good idea too.

Something useful. This could be a flask or a thermal mug that keeps drinks hot for hours. Hand cream and lip balm are great too, because frost and heating dry out your skin. Tea and coffee in factory packaging are a good idea as well.

Something that makes them smile. There’s no limit to your imagination here: a board game or a building set so the evening goes by without a screen, a book in Ukrainian, a terrible Christmas jumper with a print that annoys Dad, or even a handwritten card.

The main thing is to put a little warmth and love into every care package for cold weather. We’ll make sure your parcels reach their people just in time for the holiday, as we have plenty of experience in international delivery. 

Send Christmas Gifts and Parcels from the UK to Ukraine with Meest

Got an idea yet of what to put in a care package for winter? You’re just in time, because you can’t move Christmas, but you can send the box on time. Here’s how it works with Meest UK.

In the Meest Portal, you enter the sender and recipient details and describe what’s in the box on the customs form. Then you pay online and stick the barcode on the box. After that, you drop it off at one of more than 20,000 points across Britain, including our partners, or wait for the courier at home. You can track your parcel by its number the whole way, so you don’t have to worry that something’s held up. In Ukraine, the box is delivered to a home address or to a Meest branch.

The main thing is to keep an eye on the timing. Of course, the holiday season in Ukraine runs for quite a while, so a gift is never really late. But we’d still advise not to leave it to the last minute, because holiday days are usually busy. So if you want your parcel to arrive by December 25, send it no later than December 7, 2026.

From Birmingham to Leeds and Glasgow, the Christmas trees are already up in the shop windows, and you haven’t even started thinking about gifts. Now is the time to fix that, especially since you already have the ideas.

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