Christmas Hand Bell Songs- A Family Holiday Tradition

Looking for a fun and musical family Christmas tradition to start? Learn to play Christmas songs with hand bells! No musical talent required and easy enough for children! 

A Fun Family Christmas Activity

A few years ago, my friend brought some hand bells and music sheets to our 3rd Advent Talent Night. (Don’t know what advent night is? It’s one of our all time favorite Christmas traditions because it helps us slow down and focus on what’s important! Read how to do your own Advent Night here.

Our memorable Advent Night ended with our entire group singing Christmas songs while playing hand bells. It was spiritual, fun, and definitely brought the Christmas spirit.

And that’s when we became hooked with hand bells! You see, I’m not one with great musical talent. But hand bells, that I can do! And so can you! 

In fact…

Anyone can play the hand bells, unless you are color blind, I suppose.

That memorable advent night sparked a desire in me to invest in my own set of hand bells so that I could carry on this fun Christmas tradition with my own little family. As our children grow older, I love that they will be able to participate in playing Christmas songs well before they develop great musical abilities.

Inexpensive Hand bell Set

When I started looking into hand bell sets, I was surprised to see so many options out there.

You can go with a full spectrum of notes such as one like this:

20-Note Complete Chromatic Handbell Set 

or a slightly-smaller version such as this one:

13-Note Complete Chromatic C-c Handbell Set 

A Simple 8-Note Set Will Do

I knew that for our purposes of playing Hand bells at Christmas time and the occasional preschool group or music time throughout the year with our Classic Hand Bell songs , a simple 8-note set would do just fine.  As in, we weren’t going to become famous Hand Bell choirs any time soon.

So I found this Hand bell set on Amazon and after a few years of use, I’m still very satisfied with our investment:

8 Note Diatonic Metal Hand Bell Set

Why I liked this set:

• The hand bells are metal
• There are no repeat colors used. Some sets have 2 different reds instead of white, and I thought that would be too confusing!
• It’s affordable!

Color-Coded Christmas Hand bell Music

Once I got our Hand Bell set the next step was to create posters with all the Christmas songs we would want to play.

Our first Advent Night, my husband and I were hand coloring circles on large posters literally minutes before our Sing-a-long started. And then we ran out of space and we messed up on colors, so that first night didn’t go as smooth.

I knew there had to be a better Hand bell music option. 

My search began for Christmas Hand Bell music online and couldn’t find any song sheets that were already made, simple to read and follow, or that matched with the colors used on my hand bells. And the few options I did find were too expensive.

So I got to work and created hand bell music sheets just the way we wanted them!

After years of working on these Christmas Hand bell song sheets, I am finally able to share them with you!

If you’re looking for inexpensive hand bell music, you’ll love these! 

What do the hand bell music sheets look like?

Unlike other song sheets out there, these ones include:

• Color-coded notes above each word/syllable.
• The note is also listed in case your hand bell set uses different colors or you want to play along on a different instrument.
• The text is large! And the lyrics are included.
• The printables are formatted for large poster size (24 x 36) or letter size (8.5 x 11), depending on what you need them for.
• And the digital copy is great for on-the-go.

Christmas Hand Bell Fun

Even if you don’t celebrate Advent nights, there are many uses for Hand bells including:

• Family Christmas parties
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints primary music time
• Advent Nights
• Singing at rest homes or hospitals

The 6 Easy Christmas Songs included are: 

1. Silent Night
2. Jingle Bells
3. Joy to the World
4. Oh Come All Ye Faithful
5. We Wish You a Merry Christmas
6. Away in a Manger

If you’re looking for Christmas hand bell music, I’ve got you covered!

Want Your Own Inexpensive Copy?

There are 3 ways to get the inexpensive hand bell music sheets:

1. Directly from the So Festive! Shop here. (the cheaper option!)

2. Purchase on Etsy here. (slightly more $ to cover Etsy fees)

3. In the Bargain Bundle (Christmas songs & Classic Songs)

I hope you enjoy this fun way to bring the spirit of Christmas into your home for the holidays! If there are any additional songs you’d like to see, let me know in the comments below!