Nativity Play Night: Bedtime and the Tired Morning After

To get through an evening nativity play, give them an early tea and a quiet hour before the show, then do a short version of the usual bedtime routine when you get home: pyjamas, teeth, one story, lights out. Expect them to take longer to drop off, because they’ll be buzzing. Next morning, wake them at the normal time, not later, and keep the morning simple. Then make the following night an early one. One late night won’t do any harm. It’s a run of them, with lie-ins on top, that throws a school week.

When you’re the only grown-up, you’re also doing the costume, the sibling and the walk home, so the plan has to be simple.

Before the show: front-load the evening

The trouble with an evening performance is that it lands right where tea, bath and bedtime would normally go. So move what you can earlier.

• Tea straight after school. A proper meal at about 4:30pm, not crisps in the car. A hungry child at 8pm can’t settle.
• A quiet hour. After a school day full of rehearsals, they’ll be wired before they even get to the hall. A bath, a film or some colouring beats running round the park.
• Costume on at home, if the school allows it. Fewer things to carry. If they’re dropped off early to change, check the time on the letter twice.
• Pack for the way home. A water bottle, a plain snack (a banana or some crackers), and a coat big enough to go over the costume. If it’s a long way back, pack their pyjamas too.

If the costume is the part keeping you up at night, my Christmas on a budget plan puts the nativity costume in its own small pot of “extras”, along with the Christmas jumper and the class party. Most shepherds are a tea towel and a dressing gown, and nobody in the audience is marking them.

If you’re going on your own with a little sibling

This is the hard bit when you’re solo: one child on stage and another one, maybe a baby or a toddler, sitting on your knee in a hot, dark hall at what’s normally their bedtime.

• Sit at the end of a row, near the back. You can step out with a crying toddler without climbing over anyone, and still see the stage.
• Bring the buggy if you can. A little one who falls asleep in the buggy on the way home can usually be moved to their cot or bed. One who falls asleep on your shoulder halfway through the show is harder.
• Think about whether the little one needs to go at all. If there’s a daytime performance too, the sibling could go to that one. Or, if a grandparent, friend or babysitter can do bedtime at home, write the routine down so it goes smoothly. My babysitter bedtime routine has a simple sleep plan you can copy.

If you share care, check early how many tickets each family gets. Some schools limit them, and November is a better time to sort that than the door.

Home again: the short version of bedtime

You’ll walk in at 8 or later with a child who’s either asleep on their feet or bouncing off the walls. Either way, don’t skip the routine altogether. Just shorten it.

The Sleep Charity’s bedtime routines advice says to “do the same thing at the same time each day”, and that the routine should ideally start “an hour before your child goes to sleep”. On nativity night you haven’t got an hour, but you can still keep the same steps in the same order:

1. Straight into pyjamas. Costume off, face wiped if there was face paint or glitter. Leave the bath for tomorrow.
2. A small drink of water or milk, and the snack if tea was a long time ago. The Sleep Charity suggests a “light supper time snack” can be part of a routine. Keep it plain, not the sweets from the interval.
3. Teeth and the toilet.
4. One short story, or no story and a cuddle instead. Keep the lights low. The Sleep Charity says to “dim the lights in the hour before bed”.
5. Lights out.

Let them tell you about it first

They’ve just been on a stage, and they’ll want to tell you about the donkey falling over. Give them ten minutes on the bed with the lights low. Ask “what was the best bit?”, let them talk, then it’s sleep time.

Don’t worry if they lie awake for a while. Excitement doesn’t switch off with the light, and falling asleep later than usual after a big evening doesn’t mean the routine has stopped working.

My school-night bedtime routine has the full version, plus lights-out times by age, for the rest of the week.

The morning after: normal wake-up, gentle morning

It’s tempting to let them sleep in after a late night. Try not to. A lie-in makes them late for school and pushes that night’s bedtime later too, which is how one late night turns into a tired week.

The Sleep Charity’s advice is to have “a set wake up time each morning” to support your child’s body clock. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, with the charity Sleep Action, give the same advice in their healthy sleep tips: “keep regular bedtimes and wake-up times”. So:

• Wake them at the usual time, curtains open, then breakfast at the usual time.
• Lay everything out the night before: uniform, book bag, PE kit. Do it before you leave for the show. A tired child plus a missing shoe at 8:15am is where mornings go wrong.
• Expect a wobble. A tired child is more likely to cry over the wrong cereal. Lower the bar for one morning.

My school morning routine for solo parents is built for exactly this kind of morning, when there’s nobody to do the shoes while you do the hair.

The night after: an early night to catch up

Make up for a late night with an earlier bedtime the next evening, not a later morning. Skip the extra clubs or playdates if you can, and start the full routine a bit earlier than normal.

How much sleep do they actually need? Betteroo’s guide to sleep for three-to-six-year-olds quotes the American Academy of Sleep Medicine: 10 to 13 hours in 24 hours for ages 3 to 5, and 9 to 12 hours for ages 6 to 12. Nativity-age children, roughly four to seven, sit across both bands, and an evening show can easily cost them an hour or two of that. The guide also shows how to work out bedtime backwards from wake-up time.

December is full of late nights, so space them

The nativity is rarely the only one. The Christmas fair, the school disco, the carol concert and the class party often land in the same fortnight.

• Leave a gap between late nights when you have a choice.
• Hold the wake-up time every morning, even on Saturday. That’s what keeps the late nights from shifting the whole week.
• Say no to one or two things. Missing the Christmas disco is not a parenting failure.

December wrecking a little one's sleep? If the run of school shows and late nights has scrambled a baby or toddler's naps and bedtime, Betteroo builds a gentle plan for their age that you can manage on your own. Take the 2-minute sleep quiz →

FAQ

What should my child eat before an evening nativity play?

A proper tea straight after school, around 4:30pm, so they aren’t performing hungry. Take a plain snack, like a banana or crackers, for the way home in case tea feels like a long time ago by bedtime.

Should I skip the bedtime routine after a late school show?

Shorten it rather than skip it. Pyjamas, a drink, teeth, one short story and lights out, in the usual order. The steps tell their body it’s time to sleep, even when the clock is later than normal.

Can my child have a lie-in after the nativity?

On a school day, it’s better not to. Wake them at the usual time and give them an earlier night that evening instead. A lie-in pushes the next bedtime later, and one late night turns into a tired week.

Why can’t my child sleep after the school play?

They’re excited, and that takes a while to wear off. Let them tell you about the show first, keep the lights low, and expect them to fall asleep later than usual. It should settle the next night.