Family traditions are common during the holiday season and more important for your family than you may realize. Check out how to start a holiday tradition this year and why your family needs them.
Usually, around the holidays, I hear people talking about family Christmas traditions, or different New Year’s Eve traditions that they do with their friends and family members.
What are holiday traditions…and are they really that important to do?
Family traditions are things you do year after year. They’re shared experiences that help to not only bond members together (and create identity) but also create lasting memories. In addition, traditions offer families a way to reconnect in our fast-paced world.
In fact, studies have shown that people are happier when they focus on experiences rather than on material objects.
And when it comes to the holiday season, well, holiday traditions make the season more memorable, more enjoyable, and provide something that friends and family members look forward to year after year.
I think it’s important to note that holiday traditions don’t need to be large sweeping events or grand gestures. Instead, they can be simple things that you do each year and every family member knows to expect it such as eating that special Christmas morning breakfast, a fun gift exchange, or listening to holiday music while decorating the house.
How to Start a Holiday Tradition
Want to start a holiday tradition with your family? It’s easier than you probably think!
When it comes to family traditions, it’s not about how many you do – it’s about the quality of the traditions. And they can be done on a daily, weekly, monthly, annually, or seasonal basis – or be tied to holidays.
Here are a few tips to help you get started.
Choose Activities
If you want to start creating some family traditions around the holidays, all you have to do is choose a few activities that your family enjoys or that align with your family’s values and repeat them intentionally and consistently.
Pro Tip: as you pick which family traditions you want to do, be sure to consider both the adult perspective and the child’s perspective. In our family, we’ve found that there are things we do that seem silly or mundane to us but the kids love it and talk about it all year long.
Which activities do you already do (or want to do) year after year? Pick some that are kid-friendly so everyone can participate, but it’s also okay to have a few that only you and your partner do together.
I bet you already have a couple and didn’t realize it!
Get the Family Involved
Let every member of the family have input into what experiences they would like to call family traditions. Not only will it help everyone to feel as though they’re a part of the process, but it’ll also help clue you in on what’s really special to your partner or your kiddos.
Start Small
This isn’t a sprint, but rather a marathon (in the best possible way). If you want to start a holiday tradition of making Christmas cookies, begin by making one or two types instead of going big with 10 varieties right out of the gate.
Maybe make sugar cookies and let the kids decorate them. Then over time, if you want to add on a variety or two that’s great. It will likely evolve naturally over time, and that’s totally ok.
Remember, traditions are meant to be enjoyed – they shouldn’t be a chore that you dread each holiday season!
Holiday Tradition Ideas to Inspire You
Not sure what constitutes a family tradition? Here are some ideas to inspire you as you consider how to begin.
Put Up Decorations
Hanging the holiday lights and decorating the Christmas tree is a festive activity that many families (including mine) enjoy doing together. Each year we love pulling out the ornaments and reminiscing about each one.
Maybe your family would enjoy going to the forest and cutting down a fresh Christmas tree or going to the tree farm to find that perfect tree for your house. Or maybe your family likes putting up Christmas lights and oversized decorative candy canes around the outside of your home, either way, decorations are a great holiday tradition for your family to take part in.
Watch a Holiday Movie 
Turn on How the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, or The Polar Express (on Christmas Eve, perhaps?) and cuddle up with each other to watch while sipping hot cocoa. It’s a simple tradition to start, but it’s truly the stuff of which memories are made.
Build a Gingerbread House
Let your creativity soar and enjoy more than a laugh or two as you make and decorate gingerbread houses. You could even turn this one into a fun contest and give a small prize to the winner! You don’t need to spend a lot of money to make them, and you could even have this be a tradition for the night before Christmas.
Cook the Holiday Meals Together
There’s no reason for one person to do all the cooking – it’s a huge job! Many hands make light work, as they say, and cooking together is a very bonding experience.
Drive Around to Look at Holiday Lights
My kids start begging to do this before Thanksgiving even passes. We drive around neighborhoods and look at the displays as we play Christmas music on the radio. It’s so much fun for the whole family – especially when we find a house that has light displays synchronized with music!
Do an Advent Calendar
Each year we have an advent calendar and each child takes turns being the one to do at night before bed. They can keep track of whose turn it is better than I can!
Matching Family Pajamas
One cute idea is to get new matching pjs each year that the kids get to unwrap on Christmas Eve and then everyone spends Christmas morning unwrapping presents (and taking pictures) in their matching pjs.
Give to Others
The holiday season is about giving, right? You can give your time, your talents, or your money. Maybe you donate food to your local food bank, adopt a family and buy and wrap presents for them, craft holiday cards for your friends and family, or simply give your neighbor a DIY ornament or a tin of homemade cookies.
Start a Holiday Tradition for Any Holiday
Family traditions don’t need to just apply to the holiday season of Thanksgiving and Christmas. You can have holiday traditions that your family does for other holidays such as:
- eating heart-shaped pancakes on Valentine’s Day
- wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day
- hunting for Easter eggs on Easter
- sharing stories of gratitude on Thanksgiving
The key to family traditions isn’t really what you do but rather that you do them – together.
If you’re wondering how to start a holiday tradition with your family this holiday season, I hope this post showed you that it’s easier to do than you think and gave you some inspiration to just go do it!
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