The more we learn about parrots, the more we realize how intelligent and eager to be involved with us that they are when they are integrated into our family. Christmas is largely about family, food, and the celebration of love and giving. Those of us with parrots can enjoy this time of year even more by involving our birds. In this post, I’d like to give you just a few ideas about how you can bring Christmas to your flock. 

Make Them a Themed Toy

You don’t have to spend a lot of money on parrot toys. Many people opt to buy individual, loose parts and put them together themselves. Doing so means you can customize a toy's colors, design, and keep them fresh and interesting. You can make your bird a fun, festive toy by putting parts together to make them something that represents Christmas to you (bonus points for making something extra destroyable). Just make sure whatever parts or pieces you choose are safe and from a trusted source.

Here’s a few fun ideas: 

Cupcake Wrapper Toy - Take some Christmas themed cupcake wrappers, popsicle sticks, sola wood, and shredded paper to make a foraging toy. You can simply fill the wrappers with the shredded paper and put them on a stainless steel toy base or bird-safe rope and then add popsicle sticks and sola wood to make something easy to chew and shred. You can also flatten the wrappers and stack them on top of each other, alternating the direction of the wrappers halfway through to make a ball. It might even last 10 minutes! 

Wooden Christmas Tree - Take some triangle shaped balsa wood, or your bird’s favorite wood to chew, trim the tops, and stack them on top of one another. You can use some bird-safe food coloring to dye them and top them with something fun to shred. Instant bird-sized Christmas tree!

Foraging Box - If you want to make it extra simple, just take some plan pieces of their favorite wood and various other loose toy parts and stick them in a small, shallow cardboard square with no top. Place the toy parts in there with some shredded paper and a few special snacks and you’ve got a foraging box. Excellent for those birds, like budgies, that like to dive into something and forage for treats. You can customize the theme to be Christmas themed and keep them entertained while you get ready to entertain the human flock members. 

Give Them Their Own Holiday Snacks and Food

A major part of Christmas and the holiday season is all the food and goodies that come with our traditions. Parrots love to try new foods or even those that they’re used to in new and exciting ways. When you’re preparing food for your get together, try and keep your feathered family members in mind too! You can help celebrate with your birds by involving them in your meals with healthy, safe food and snacks such as:

Nuts - Take some of those nuts from your holiday tray and give one or two to your bird. This is a great reinforcement for good behavior when they’re doing something desirable like sitting on their play stand while you prepare Christmas dinner or stepping up when you request. Keep in mind, some snack mixes might contain food that can make your bird sick, so stick to the stuff that you know is safe. 

Christmas Chop - If you make your bird chop, which is always a wonderful practice,  you can throw in some safe, special ingredients into their chop to make it festive. It’s an opportunity to give them something fun as a one time treat. For example, you can put a tiny bit of cooked potato or similar on top of the chop. Just keep in mind your bird’s dietary requirements and avoid the sweet and salty stuff. I am from New Mexico, and we always have tortillas on hand. A tiny piece of tortilla as a special treat for the holidays is always appreciated by my flock. If your bird is more prone to behavior issues when they have extra carbs and calories, stick to the healthy stuff. 

Bird Street Bistro - My flock loves their bistro. Some flavors, such as Appleberry - Feast on the Fly and Cinnaspice Delight are especially "Christmasy" flavored. You can add some extra ingredients to their bistro to make it even more fun. 

Get creative! Food is a huge part of a parrot’s enrichment and they will love it if you involve them in your holiday meals. Make sure guests understand not to feed them, however. It’s tempting to do so - especially for kids that love interacting with them.

Get Them a Gift Too

Want to include your flock in your gift giving? Here’s a few things you can do to give your birds a little extra Christmas cheer:

Make them their own stocking and fill it with goodies - Department stores always have tiny stockings on hand. You can take one of those, put your bird’s name on it, and fill it with some special gifts for your little feathered elf. Little toy balls, millet, popsicle sticks, sola flowers, and more can make for a fun gift for your bird to explore while the rest of the family opens their stockings. 

Upgrade their stuff - This is a great time to get new cage accessories and even a new cage if needed. Holiday sales can make a real difference and many stores will have clearance sales after the holidays to get rid of inventory that didn’t sell. 

Splurge on that special toy - Have you ever browsed a site like Etsy or walked through a store and seen a really cool toy that you know your bird would love, only to find out that it costs way more than you thought? If you are able to do so, this might be a good time to splurge a little on a special toy for your bird. I regularly see the neatest toys on Etsy, but my budget doesn’t always allow for them. This time of the year, I usually get my birds a little something special if I’m able. It’s so fun watching them tear that hard earned money apart in 10 minutes. 

Involve them (most important)

Most important of all, and probably most meaningful to your bird, is that you involve them. As long as their safety comes first, involving them in your special traditions and celebrations can be exciting. You don’t have to bring them out with a crowd of people, especially for those birds that don’t enjoy such things. But instead, you can involve them in other ways to make them feel like special and important members of your flock. This matters more than we realize and can really strengthen our bond with them. 

So, what can you do to involve them? This can be as simple and putting them next to you with their own food while you eat yours. Dance with them to some Christmas music while you chop (and share if you’re feeling generous) some veggies.  Place their stand next to you while you snuggle up and watch some Christmas movies. You can even pull out one of their new toys and play with them - showing them different ways to use them. We tend to get very busy during this time of year and our birds notice this change in our behavior. It’s easy to forget that to us, our birds are just one aspect of our lives. But to our birds, we’re the main part of their day. This is especially true if we have single birds. Our presence is everything to them. So, in the true spirit of Christmas, let’s make sure our birds know how loved and important they are to us. Even a few special moments can make all the difference in their world.