Holiday Tradition Smorgasbord – 50 Holiday Traditions to Start With Your Family

I’m growing up! After 8.5 years of marriage and 2 children (with one on the way), this will my family’s FIRST Christmas on our own! Before this year, we either lived in California or traveled there for the holiday to celebrate with our parents and extended relatives. Not this year. I’ll be 30+ weeks pregnant and will have two toddlers running around. Sadly, I don’t think mama can make the trek.

After accepting the fact that I would not be with all of my beloved family members, I started to think about what this would mean for MY family. We have this amazing chance to make our OWN traditions. We’ve always just followed into those of our original nuclear families, but we are at the point where we can do this by ourselves.

So, I made a list of 50 holiday traditions that I’ve either heard or thought of myself. Some will be self-explanatory, and I will elaborate on others with subsequent blog posts.

Enjoy and please share your favorite traditions below!

Let’s start this post off with a sweet toddler/Santa post. This was my daughter and Santa two years ago.

Classic.

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…Bring on the traditions…

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FOR THE KIDS:

1) 12 Days of Books – purchase 12 books for your children, wrap them up, and give one to them each night, starting on December 13th and ending on December 24th

2) Give your children little presents leading up to Christmas (Christanukah!) This is so exciting! I can’t wait to write an entire blog post on this fun idea!

3) Read specific books at specific times (“The 12 Days of Christmas” 12 days before the big day, “Twas the Night Before Christmas” on Christmas Eve, etc.)

4) Put out cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve

5) Write Santa and send it to the North Pole

6) Leave food for Santa’s reindeer on Christmas Eve so you ensure they will stop by your house

7) Schedule a playgroup and make mini gingerbread houses together

8) See Santa, and then see him again, and then yet again!

9) Search your local online calendars (Macaroni Kid, your local newspaper, local blogs, local kid’s stores, etc.) and start filling in your open space with fun activities/fairs/festivals!

10) Grab yourself an Elf on the Shelf

11) Make or buy an advent calendar

12) Make a family ornament with the year on it… you can even make one for each family member

13) Skim Pinterest and find one holiday craft to do a week with your kids.

14) Get each child a new pair of PJs to enjoy on Christmas Eve (or before!)

15) Create an easy construction paper chain link countdown

16) Let each child pick out one ornament per year to purchase as a gift from mom and dad

17) Buy one small evergreen tree per child and let them decorate it with their chosen ornaments

FOR THE FAMILY:

18) Weekend or Day Trip (Santa Train, Christmas Light search, mountains to play in snow, a bed and breakfast, a local amusement park, etc.)

19) Specific foods to make at certain times (cinnamon roll wreath on Christmas morning? Ham on Christmas day? Tri-tip on Christmas Eve?)

20) Pick out a tree together at a local tree farm

21) Decorate the tree and house together

22) See a local, live holiday-themed performance: ‘Nutcracker’, ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’, ‘A Christmas Carol’, etc.

23) Participate in a local holiday choir

24) Visit a nearby hill to sled or play in the snow multiple times!

25) Fill balloons with colored water, let them sit out in the frigid air, and then pop the balloon, leaving large, colorful ice balls! Here’s a tutorial.

26) Listen to holiday music ALL of the time!

27) Take a family picture. This doesn’t have to be taken by a professional. You can certainly just have a talented family member or neighbor snap one for you to document your growth as a family every year.

28) Send out holiday cards – you can make them yourself or buy them. Include a family update letter inside if you have the time! I got my “Love”, “Peace”, and “Joy” cards from heartMelinda- Art by Melinda Walker. This is a tutorial for the ones we made last year. EASY!

29) Have cider or hot chocolate in front of the fire while watching a holiday movie

30) Swing by Starbucks or a Subway and pick up a drink or meal to give to someone less fortunate

31) Go to the mall and enjoy the sights, smells, and hustle and bustle! You might even get some shopping done!

32) Prep holiday food together (including pies!)

33) Open presents one at a time so you can watch one another   … OR …

34) If you have a ton of people and presents, have one family member act as “Santa”, giving out the presents to each proper recipient, and everyone opens at once

35) Watch the same holiday-themed movies every year. Maybe let each family member take a turn at picking out their favorite

36) Make your own wrapping paper. One of my favorite artists, Melinda Walker (heartMelinda- Art by Melinda Walker) and our friends at greenSimplified both have great, economical, and environmental-friendly ideas to share!

FOR THE ADULTS:

37) 12 Days of Christmas for your Spouse

38) Cookie exchange with friends and/or family

39) Sell, sell, sell! You need the money for presents, and they need less expensive products to give to their loved ones! Make this the one time a year that you make yourself take pictures of everything and list it on Craigslist, eBay, or on your neighborhood Facebook garage sale group.

40) Be part of a Secret Santa group and let your kids be involved in the excitement

41) Have a healthy holiday side dish recipe exchange! Everyone comes with a recipe they love for others to sample. You can share your recipes via email or Facebook

42) Declutter your life! I doubt you’ll see this on anyone else’s list of traditions, but it’s on mine, because it will make you feel GREAT! Clean out your closets, clear off the counters, and even get into that junk drawer you’ve been waiting to attack. If you clear those areas out before decorating for the holidays, you’ll feel so refreshed!

43) Pamper yourself! This is often the most stressful time of the year. Don’t let that take over! Get your nails done, your hair freshened up, a massage, a facial… It’s time to feel great about yourself!

FOR OTHERS:

44) Start the “You’ve Been Rudolfed” game in your neighborhood where you secretly leave small gifts on your neighbor’s doorstep with instructions for them to leave gifts for someone else. You can even do this two homes at a time so it travels faster. This is a version of the “You’ve Been Boo’d” game.

45) Make small, inexpensive gifts for friends and family (snowman droppings, sugar scrubs, caramel popcorn, baked goods, etc.)

46) Give to charity. Participate in Samaritan’s Purse’s Operation Christmas Child by shopping with your kids to fill the donation goodie box, join up with Adopt-a-Family, donate time or food to your local food bank, donate toys for Toys For Tots, etc.

47) Have each one of your children pick out 10 toys or books to give away

48) Make a Random Acts of Kindness tree. I will elaborate on this one in a future blog post! (Synopsis: brainstorm random acts of kindness with your kiddos, clip your ideas to a tree (real or homemade out of sticks), pick one off when you have some time to invest, and do it right then!)

49) Volunteer! Take some time to show your kids how fortunate you are by lending your time to help others who need it this season.

50) Schedule a kids Winter Clothing Swap! Have all of your friends bring their kids’ old Winter clothing, including fun holiday outfits that they’ve outgrown. This way, instead of spending hundreds on new jackets, sweaters, boots, and fancy dresses, you might just grab some for free while helping your buddies out, as well.

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Whatever you find yourself doing this season, be intentional. It goes SO fast. If we have a plan going into it, we are less likely to be overwhelmed and to feel like it just passed us by.

Let me know what YOU do in the comments!