Thailand is a mostly Buddhist Country with only a minority percentage of people being Christian and so Christmas is not an officially celebrated holiday here. However as we all know, you don’t have to be strictly religious to celebrate and enjoy Christmas, a lot of us from Europe and the States will have just grown up with it as being a holiday, family occasion with celebrations and gift exchanging, food, drinks and merriment!
If you find yourself on Koh Phangan at Christmas time you will probably find yourself in either two categories; you have come to escape Christmas anyway so you don’t care or you are feeling a little nostalgic, homesick or just really Love Christmas and would like to do something!
This island is great for both types of people, it is very easy to escape, you are already in an opposing climate, there are no Christmas displays or pressures and no one is going on about it like back home.
However if you WOULD like to celebrate Christmas here there are a few places that can help you or you can arrange your very own ‘tropical crimbo’.
There are a few restaurants who make ‘Christmas Dinner’ here on the island so look out on our events list and make sure to get booked as some book up quickly. You can enjoy a hearty roast dinner yet in the tropical nature of Phangan! The Holy Grill in Chaloklum has already announced theirs and they are famous for meat if that’s your thing!
Maybe you want to do something yourself? If you have a kitchen and even a small oven you can make your own to enjoy with friends and family or why not have a BBQ instead? Much more paradise suitable in this weather.
Even without the popular roast dinner you can still enjoy the day. Get a load of you together and plan something nice for the day like visiting the beach. You could get a group together from your hostel and do ‘secret santa’ where you pick a name from a hat to buy a gift for, give yourself a budget, doesn’t have to be big, and then you all get a nice gift to unwrap on Christmas day whilst you’re enjoying some beers or chilling on your beach spot.
The Half Moon Party is on the 25th, Christmas Day! So if you want to party then this is your chance! There will also be lots more parties around Christmas and New Year so there is no way you can bored at least.
As Thailand does not celebrate Christmas the good thing is that everything will be open as usual so you can stock up on whatever you need.
Come and see us at Phanganist Hostel if you’re feeling homesick and we’ll make sure you have some fun!
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