Christmas Tradition Ideas for Families
If you’re looking for Christmas tradition ideas for families, look no further!
The traditions listed below are tried-and-true from our family of 5 and some are from my childhood! They’ve held up over the years and given my family much joy, and I’m happy to share them with you. Your child(ren) will love the magic and joy of these Christmas traditions for families.
New Pajamas on Christmas Eve
I love this tradition because the children look so coordinated for Christmas morning pictures. And kids can always use a new pair of PJS, right? Our family traditionally buys new PJs just for the children, but I know some families have parents get in the matchy-matchy spirit, too.
Some families give these PJs earlier than Christmas Eve, such as after Thanksgiving dinner or on the night they decorate the Christmas tree. This means you get more use of out them, but also means you need to make sure they’re clean for Christmas Eve.
Decorating Gingerbread Houses
This tradition started when I was a kid, and my mom still sets up gingerbread decorating for all her grandkids (and her children!). It’s a LOT of fun. Be warned that your children will eat as much candy as they use to decorate!
Pro Tip: Set up the house structures the night before so the icing has time to harden. This way the houses will be rock solid when the children are ready to decorate. (Full disclosure: we’ve hot glued graham crackers together as the house structures — totally not edible, but much better than collapsing houses when we didn’t prep the night before.)
These days you can even buy gingerbread house kits, but I would really recommend adding a lot more variety of candy to those kits. The fun is in the details, and the more candy choices, the more detail!
Homemade Gifts
This is another tradition that dates back to my childhood. As one of four siblings, we always wanted to buy gifts for each other and our parents, but that adds up to 20 extra gifts! Since we were all creative kids, my parents had us pick a pollyanna and MAKE that person a gift.
Some of them were priceless, like when I was 15 and my 5-year old brother made me a vest… from paper towels. Or the time my sisters combined forces and made my parents a board game all about our family - we belly laughed playing that game. Or the time my mom made my brother a volcano for his Playmobile, and it turned out to be a flat pile of foam. It went down in history as “worst present ever.” The point is that even if your family isn’t creative, this tradition can be adorable, fun, silly, and memorable. I can remember a lot of these gifts while all the store-bought ones have been long forgotten. (PS- my father’s “homemade gift” was always cash… we all always hoped he pulled our name, just adding to the fun!). If you adopt only one of the traditions off this list, this should be it!
Advent Calendars
I love advent calendars – I love all kinds of count downs! We actually have several advent calendars each Christmas season. We have the cheapy chocolate ones, we have one the children made for me many Christmases ago, and we have a nativity advent calendar.
The idea of Advent is to prepare your heart for Jesus, and that’s something we talk about. Each day the children get a figurine and a part of the story of Christmas. It’s a small way to incorporate Christ into Christmas.
Baking and Decorating Christmas Cookies
So honestly, I have a love/hate with this one. I always dread it and drag my feet, and my husband insists… and in the early years the cookies always looked disgusting and were so unhygienic. BUT we always have a great time! Even though my floor is covered in icing and sprinkles, this one is still worth it. It’s also fun to see the children’s decorating skills improve each year.
Kindness Elves or Elf on the Shelf
Truthfully, I hate the idea behind Elf on the Shelf – what a tattle tale! And I don’t believe any child should doubt he’s good enough to get presents. I LOVE the idea behind kindness elves. I’ve taken the best of both of these ideas and merged them. Each night our elves are up to shenanigans, but they also leave little notes, instructions or tangibles that encourage the children to be kind.
Pro Tip: If you don’t want to go the Elf on the Shelf route, you can easily use any elf - many stores including the dollar store always have them. You could even use a small stuffed animal with a Christmas hat & scarf. Instead of using the book to introduce your elf and what she’s all about, just write your child a note— from the elf, of course.
I made these elves - they’re totally inspired by the kindness elves.
Giving Tree
If you can give your children any gift, it would be compassion for others. We always take our children to a giving tree (you can find them at church, at schools, at the YMCA, and a lot of other places) and let them read the wishes and each choose one. Seeing that other children are wishing for hats and mittens puts their lives into perspective and reinforces why we give.
When fulfilling these wishes, we get the wished for item (often a necessity) and allow our children to pick out a toy for this child as well. We also include a wrapped small gift for mom (like nail polish, etc.) with a note telling the child this is for you to give to an adult of your choice. It’s such a good feeling to receive, but it’s even better to GIVE, and we want those children to have the giving experience, too.
While some children are wishing for huge lego sets, other are wishing for necessities. Give if you can, friends.