From Board Games to Broadband: How Tech Has Transformed Christmas Day

For many in Britain, Christmas Day unfolds like a well-worn film reel: morning gifts, roast in the oven, family chaos, and relax in front of the telly. But look a little closer, and this by-the-numbers festive day has been subtly transformed…

This is the story of how Christmas in Britain has evolved, not losing its spirit, just updating the user manual. From wind-up toys to voice assistants, and from handwritten TV listings to streaming on demand, every decade has brought its own gadgets and gizmos to the Christmas party.

Throughout much of the 20th century, Christmas tech meant clockwork trains, tin robots, and dolls animated by simple mechanics. These were marvels of their time, born of springs and gears rather than screens.

By the 1980s, electronics reshaped the excitement. Remote-controlled cars buzzed across carpets, Game Boys devoured batteries, and home computers hinted at a digital future. These gadgets introduced the archetypal child disappearing after breakfast, absorbed in a handheld console.

No single innovation reshaped Christmas Day quite like television. When colour broadcasts arrived in the late 1960s, the Queen’s Speech, Morecambe and Wise, and Xmas film favourites became fixtures of living-room life. Families no longer needed tickets to a pantomime; the spectacle came to them.

By the 1990s and 2000s, Christmas TV was a national event, drawing tens of millions to the sofa. But the revolution didn’t stop there. Streaming services eventually upended the fixed schedule. Now, festive favourites aren’t dictated by broadcasters, they’re curated by families themselves – often with several screens blaring out several shows for each member of the household, from KPop Demon Hunters to classic Christmas Die Hard.

Board games once dominated the post-lunch ritual. Monopoly arguments, Scrabble triumphs, and chaotic charades became part of many a family legend. Nowadays, digital gaming’s expanded rather than replaced that tradition. Multiplayer consoles, online quizzes, and party apps now sit alongside the cardboard classics. Living rooms have increasingly become small arenas for dance battles, interactive quiz games or cooperative quests, while for some there’s even VR headsets to add virtual worlds to real furniture.

Smart technology now supports many festive plans. Lights once switched on at the wall can shimmer through app-controlled schedules. Smart speakers cue up playlists, settle debates, or set timers while busy hands plug away in the kitchen.

Speaking of which, tech has definitely changed how food is prepared on the big day. Once reliant on handwritten notes and anxious mental arithmetic, Christmas lunch prep has been transformed by video tutorials, culinary apps, foodie influencers, connected ovens, and digital thermometers. Even treasured family recipes now live in shared documents, ensuring no one misplaces the method for that perfect roast potato.

Over the last couple of decades, technology’s increasingly changed how we deal with the ultimate Christmas challenge – presents. Online shopping eased the high-street rush, shared digital wish lists replaced guesswork, and streaming subscriptions or downloadable games created an entirely new category of unwrappable gifts. Even advent calendars have entered the digital world with playlists, puzzles, and augmented-reality surprises. The latest iteration’s even seen people increasingly turning to AI, shunning even the search-engine doom-scroll to find that gifting inspiration.

Rather than huddling up at home, families can now watch films simultaneously across continents, join virtual quizzes, or swap reactions through buzzing group chats. Digital rituals – from photo-sharing to festive video filters – have become traditions of their own, and families separated by thousands of miles can now share the festive cheer no matter where in the world they find themselves.

For all the shiny screens and smart devices, ultimately there’ll always be those festive traditions that still remain the same. Handwritten cards, paper crowns, crazy decorations, and well-worn board games all still play their part in the traditional British Christmas. In fact, the more digital Christmas becomes, the more many of us stick rigidly to their classic Christmas day plan – turning off the apps, films and games for the staple monarch’s message.

From wind-up toys to Wi-Fi, from charades to VR headsets, even Christmas Day has quietly changed to fit the tech and trends that power modern life. Yet in homes up and down the country, where once they gathered round the wireless and now message virtually when only two feet apart, the desire to share the day with family and friends remains as strong as ever.