Traditional St. Nicholas Day gifts include oranges or clementines, chocolate coins, candy canes, and small presents left in children’s shoes. Families celebrating on December 6 often set the shoes out the night before.
In 2026, December 6 falls on a Sunday. For a Sunday-morning reveal, set out clean shoes on Saturday night, December 5. Customs vary by family and country, especially in the Netherlands, where the main gift evening is December 5.
What Traditional St. Nicholas Day Gifts Look Like
Traditional gifts for St. Nicholas are small enough to fit inside a child’s shoe and simple enough to set out after bedtime on December 5. The classic mix is a piece of fruit, a few chocolate coins, a candy cane, some nuts, and sometimes one small toy or useful item. Most of those pieces carry a story about the saint. Fruit and nuts also appear in European customs without every item carrying a separate symbolic meaning.
| Shoe item | What it stands for | Source |
| Orange or clementine | A reminder of the gold Nicholas gave in secret | St. Nicholas Center, American customs |
| Gold chocolate coins | The bags of gold in the dowry legend | St. Nicholas Center, traditional treats |
| Candy cane | A bishop’s crozier, one of St. Nicholas’ symbols | St. Nicholas Center, American customs |
| Nuts and apples | Plain winter treats from older European customs | German, Polish, and Czech traditions (see the heritage table below) |
| One small gift | Something useful or fun, kept shoe-sized | Milwaukee family customs (see the American section below) |
For children under four, adapt the fillers. Nationwide Children’s Hospital advises that children younger than four should not get round, firm foods such as nuts and hard candy unless they are cut into small, nonround pieces. The same page lists coins among small objects that cause choking. Skip whole nuts and hard candy for young children. Remove foil wrappers, serve fruit in pieces suited to the child, and keep real coins and small toy parts out of reach. Choose age-rated gifts and supervise eating.
Who Was St. Nicholas?
St. Nicholas was the bishop of Myra, a Greek city in what is now Türkiye, in the 4th century. According to Catholic World Report, his feast day is December 6, traditionally given as the date of his death in 343. Eastern Orthodox Christians who follow the Julian calendar keep his principal feast on December 19.
The best-known legend has him tossing bags of gold through a window at night so a poor father’s three daughters would have dowries, then asking the father to keep it quiet. The same article suggests that story may explain why the gifts arrive at night. Our history of how St. Nicholas became Santa Claus covers the rest of the story, from Sinterklaas to the 1823 poem.
What to Put in Shoes for St. Nicholas Day on a Small Budget
For a modest home celebration, use the shoe as your size limit. A larger present can wait until Christmas if your family exchanges gifts then. That limit keeps St. Nicholas Day a warm-up for Christmas instead of a second Christmas morning.
A shoe that feels complete usually holds three kinds of things:
- Something sweet, such as a clementine, three or four chocolate coins, and a mini candy cane.
- Something small to keep, such as socks, an ornament, or a short picture book. A useful gift does not need to be a new toy.
- A short note.
The note deserves more thought than the candy. In Poland, St. Nicholas traditionally “rebukes or praises, as appropriate” before handing out treats, according to the St. Nicholas Center’s Poland page. A gentler version for an American shoe is a two-line note that names one specific good thing you noticed this fall, like sharing a toy with a younger brother or finishing a hard chapter book. Write about an action the child will recognize. A note about helping a sibling says more than a general message about being good.
With siblings, keep the same number of coins in each shoe and let the notes differ. If your family already uses an Advent calendar, let the shoe take the place of the December 6 treat rather than adding another gift.
St. Nicholas Day Traditions by Family Heritage
St. Nicholas Day traditions differ in timing, gift containers, and treats. These are examples, rather than rules every family in a country follows. Ask relatives which customs they remember before choosing your own.
| Heritage | When | Where treats go | Typical treats |
| German | Evening of Dec. 5 into Dec. 6 | Cleaned and polished shoes or boots by the door | Fruit, nuts, candies, small toys |
| Dutch | Main gift evening on Dec. 5, called pakjesavond; shoe treats may appear earlier in the season | Shoes near a window, door, or hearth; main presents exchanged separately | Chocolate letters, coins, pepernoten, small gifts |
| Belgian | Dec. 5 or the weekend before | Shoes or small baskets by the hearth or door | Chocolate figures and coins, speculoos, tangerines, marzipan, toys |
| Polish | Night before Dec. 6 | Under the pillow or in polished shoes | Holy pictures, apples or oranges, pierniki (honey spice cookies) |
| Czech | Night of Dec. 5 | Mikulas visits with an angel and a devil | Sweets and small presents; apples and nuts in the past |
Sources: St. Nicholas Center pages on Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Poland, plus Radio Prague International for the Czech Republic.
For the Dutch side of the story, including Sinterklaas’s steamboat arrival, see Santa Claus traditions around the world.
Where American Families Still Keep St. Nicholas Day
St. Nicholas Day is familiar to families in parts of the American Midwest, including Cincinnati and Milwaukee. Local accounts describe stockings, boots, and plates as well as shoes.
In Cincinnati, families hang stockings or leave out a boot or plate on St. Nicholas eve, according to a Cincinnati Enquirer account republished by the St. Nicholas Center. Fruit, chocolate, and sweets appear among the morning treats.
A Milwaukee account from OnMilwaukee describes oranges, nuts, chocolates, socks, and small toys. Some families shift toward practical items as children get older. These local examples leave room to follow a relative’s version rather than copy another household exactly.
How to Explain St. Nicholas and Santa Without Mixing Them Up
If you’re adding St. Nicholas Day for the first time, expect a question about why a saint brings treats when Santa comes in three weeks. Decide on your one-sentence answer before Saturday night.
One explanation connects the historical saint with the Christmas character he inspired. A parent might say: “St. Nicholas was a bishop remembered for giving in secret. Santa carries that tradition of giving into Christmas.”
Carol Myers of the St. Nicholas Center describes using that connection to talk with her children about faith and generosity in Talking with Children about Santa Claus. Fr. Michael Rennier’s Aleteia article offers a family approach that treats Santa as imaginative fun linked to the saint.
Choose wording that fits your beliefs. Share it with grandparents and other caregivers so children hear the same account.
For families keeping both traditions, separate them by date and place: shoes for St. Nicholas on December 6, then stockings or presents from Santa at Christmas.
If your child asks whether Santa is real, our guide to answering when your child asks if Santa is real walks through it.
A Simple St. Nicholas Weekend Plan for Dec. 5 to 6, 2026
Because December 6, 2026, lands on a Sunday, the whole tradition fits into one weekend:
- On Saturday afternoon, December 5, clean and polish the shoes together, the way German and Polish families prepare for the saint. If your roots are Dutch or Belgian, set a carrot or a handful of hay beside them for the horse.
- On Saturday night, after bedtime, fill each shoe with the fruit, coins, candy cane, small gift, and note. Take a bite out of the carrot.
- On Sunday morning, December 6, read the notes aloud and tell the story of the three daughters over breakfast.
- If you want a separate Christmas outing, leave Sunday evening free for a drive through the lights. The shoe tradition can also stand on its own.
We run Santa’s Magical Kingdom, the drive-through light show at Jellystone Park in Eureka, off I-44 at Exit 261, and it’s open both nights of St. Nicholas weekend from 5:30 to 10:30 pm.
Sunday admission is $35 per family vehicle, compared with $40 on Saturdays, paid in cash as you exit (an ATM sits inside the General Store). Saturday nights in December have historically drawn the biggest crowds, so a Sunday visit avoids that historically busiest night; it does not guarantee a short wait. Check hours and directions on our light show info page before you go.
Inside Kringle’s General Store, the snack shack sells hot cocoa and Mrs. Claus’ chocolate chip cookies baked fresh each night. Families who keep St. Nicholas and Santa on separate days can save a Santa visit for later in the season and check the current schedule before going. The route passes Candy Cane Village and the Tunnel of Dancing Lights.
Add a Personalized Santa Letter to Your December Traditions
A short shoe note can name one kind thing your child did. A longer Santa letter gives you room to include their interests and a proud moment from the year. Keep it separate from the St. Nicholas shoe if that matches your family’s explanation of the two traditions.
Santa’s Magical Kingdom offers a personalized letter designed to feel like it’s from Santa. The form asks for details such as your child’s name, interests, accomplishments, wishes, and an optional friend or sibling. You can choose a Classic & warm, Playful & funny, or Heartfelt tone.
A parent or guardian completes the order and chooses email or printed-and-mailed delivery. Our letter page states that we never sell or share your child’s information and that you can delete it after the season. Include only details you want in the letter.
Email removes postal transit, but processing time still matters. Confirm turnaround before planning a December 6 reveal; no date-specific arrival deadline is published. Our guide to email letters from Santa explains how to prepare a printed reveal once you receive the message.
Create Your Child’s Personalized Letter from Santa
Frequently Asked Questions About St. Nicholas Day
When is St. Nicholas Day in 2026?
St. Nicholas Day falls on Sunday, December 6, 2026, in the Western church calendar, so families who open shoes on the morning of December 6 set them out on Saturday night, December 5. Dutch families celebrate on the evening of December 5, called pakjesavond. Eastern Orthodox churches that follow the Julian calendar keep his principal feast on December 19, according to Catholic World Report.
Do families use shoes, boots, or stockings for St. Nicholas Day?
All three show up, depending on family roots. German and Polish families traditionally polish shoes or boots, Dutch and Belgian children set shoes by the door or hearth, and Cincinnati families hang stockings or leave a boot or plate on St. Nicholas eve. Using shoes keeps the day visibly separate from Santa’s stockings on Christmas morning.
What do you leave out for St. Nicholas’s horse?
Dutch and Belgian children traditionally leave a carrot or some hay with their shoes for the saint’s horse, and Belgian families sometimes add water and a sugar lump. In Wallonia, the saint often travels with a donkey instead of a horse. A bitten carrot beside the shoe the next morning makes a simple sign that the visit happened.
Why do some St. Nicholas traditions include coal or sticks?
Older European customs paired treats for good children with a warning for naughty ones. German tradition mentions potatoes, coal, or twigs, Czech children might find coal or a potato, and the Cincinnati version included switches. You can keep a piece of coal candy as a joke or skip it entirely, since the legend behind the day is about generous, secret giving.
How big should a St. Nicholas shoe gift be?
Small enough to fit inside the shoe is a useful limit for a modest celebration. For older children, fruit and chocolate can sit beside a small item such as socks or an ornament. Adapt food and toys for younger siblings. Keeping the shoe modest leaves Christmas morning as the bigger moment and makes it easy to give each sibling an equal shoe without a second round of shopping.
Keep St. Nicholas Day Gifts Small and Specific
For a December 6 morning celebration, set the shoes out on Saturday, December 5, 2026. Keep your St. Nicholas Day gifts modest: a clementine, a few age-appropriate treats, one small gift if you want, and a note about something your child did well.
Keep the shoe note connected to St. Nicholas. If a Santa letter belongs in your family’s December plans, choose its reveal date after confirming delivery timing.
