Yoselin This blog post is about unforgettable and fun Family Christmas traditions to start this year and make the holidays special.
Whether your child is an infant, a toddler, or a teenager, the following family holiday traditions are age-appropriate for everyone in the family!
Many of these holiday traditions to start are easily adjustable depending on the age of your child! This means, that you can continue them all the way to adulthood!
15 Unforgettable Family Christmas Traditions to Start This Year
1. Christmas-Themed Breakfast
From Santa pancakes to Christmas tree waffles, you can keep the holiday spirit through Christmas-themed breakfasts.
Starting on December 1st, your family Christmas Tradition to start would begin with a surprise breakfast!
Make it fun and don’t be afraid to use cookie cutters, food coloring, and your imagination!
2. Cookie Day
Whether it be sugar cookies or gingerbread man cookies, choose one day out of December to dedicate it to Cookie Day.
Start when your children are toddlers and have them help make, shape with cookie cutters, bake, and decorate the cookies! Once they get older, it’ll be a family holiday tradition they will not forget.
3. Adopt-a-Family
Christmas is a holiday of giving, so what better way than to reach out to a local organization an adopt a family.
Your child, as they get older can help choosing the family to help out, and if available, you can also have them shop for the family.
Family Service offers an online program to become an Adopt-A-Family Sponsor. You can check through google for local organizations near you to help a family this Christmas.
4. Christmas Tree Decorating
Choosing your Christmas tree and/or decorating is one of activity where you can include your child no matter how small they be.
From having your infant’s footprint made into an ornament, to your teenager using their creativity to design and decorate the Christmas tree, this activity is made for all!
Add this activity with drinking hot chocolate and playing Christmas music in the background for the whole Christmas vibe.
5. Family Secret Santa
Sometimes we as parents can get caught in choosing and buying all the presents, but having a family secret Santa where everyone takes part on the gift-giving allows for everyone to be included and have a part in the giving, which is part of the essence of the holiday.
Have your children either gift a handmade item or purchase an item within a certain budget.
6. Gingerbread House Decorating
If you are planning multiple Christmas traditions for kids, then baking a gingerbread house to decorate may be a bit overwhelming. You can opt for a ready-made gingerbread house to decorate with the whole family.
Take it a step further and have everyone decorate their own gingerbread house and make it into a friendly competition for either the most beautiful gingerbread house, or the one with the most Christmas spirit.
7. Christmas Lights
You can find highly decorated houses with Christmas lights around your neighborhood, and if that is not an option, you can go to your nearest city to find areas, like parks or city halls, where they decorate the town/city for sightseeing purposes.
Combine this with slowly driving on these streets, playing Christmas songs, and perhaps hot chocolate, for a cozy Christmas wonderland evening with the family.
8. Christmas Book Basket
Take a trip to your local bookstore and plan out an outing with the family and have each child buy a Christmas book.
As the years go on, your Christmas book collection will grow and as the years go by, you can remember and talk about the years when certain books were bought.
This family holiday tradition also promotes literacy and creates long-lasting memories.
READ MORE: The Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide for 2-4 Year Olds
9. Christmas Eve Sleepover
During Christmas Eve when the kids are excited with anticipation, instead of sending them to bed and perhaps them trying to sneak out of bed, you can plan a Christmas Eve sleepover with the whole family.
Make this an extra fun family Christmas tradition by inviting extended family and spending time with cousins and aunts and uncles.
10. Individual Personalized Christmas Tree
Beginning this fun and unique holiday tradition by going to the store and purchasing a miniature Christmas tree along with the decorations allows your kid’s creativity to really shine.
This way, the Christmas spirit does not stop when they go to their rooms. They have the freedom to decorate it as they wish since it’ll be in their own room.
11. Christmas Basket
Much like an Easter basket, gifting a Christmas basket perhaps on Christmas Eve would be great way to ease the anticipation to Christmas Day.
You can add a Santa plush, a Santa hat, some Christmas pajamas.
12. Advent Calendar
Kickstarting the holiday traditions with your kids on December 1st leading out to Christmas Day with an advent calendar is a great way to create long-lasting memories with your little ones.
In today’s market, there are countless of advent calendars, so there’ll be a perfect one for your little one.
You can even include your furry friend and get them a treat advent calendar!
13. Elf on the Shelf
With the rise in popularity of Elf on the Shelf, we had to include it in this list.
Despite its popularity and how mainstream it has become, many of us did not grow up with Elf on the Shelf.
You can use this opportunity to create new family Christmas traditions to start unforgettable memories.
14. Christmas Movie Night
There are countless of Christmas movies for a movie night!
What’s great about this unique family Christmas tradition is that it’ll grow with your child. As a toddler, you can put movies such as Charlie Brown Christmas or the Grinch, and as they get older you can do a whole Harry Potter marathon!
15. Letter to Santa
Have a night two to three weeks before Christmas to pull out the North Pole mailbox to have the kids write letters to Santa.
Kids can practice writing during this activity and they will also let you know exactly what Christmas gift they have in mind.
USPS Operation Santa also takes kid’s letters to Santa and allows for families to adopt a child and gift them a gift, or your own child can send a letter to Santa through USPS Operation Santa.
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In conclusion, these family Christmas traditions to start are age-appropriate for the whole family.
They are guaranteed to make Christmas more special and absolutely unforgettable.
Many of the holiday traditions listed above are those that your children will be happy to continue on throughout adulthood to enjoy with their own family as the years go on.
You May Also Like:
- The Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide for 2-4 Year Olds
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