Growing up, part of what gets me excited about Christmas are the family traditions that I get to do with my parents. I always look forward to doing those year after year. And I still do! I think I always will, even though I don’t get to do it with them anymore. Now that I am a mom of 2 adorable kids, it is my turn to make sure that we get these Christmas traditions going and to look for new memorable Christmas traditions that we can do as a family. Today, I rounded up memorable Christmas tradition ideas that you can do with your family. I’ve already done some of these with my family; and the others, I plan to do with them when the kids are a little bit older.
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Put Up The Christmas Decors & Decorate The Christmas Tree
This is something that I truly enjoyed doing with my mom every year. When I was little, I loved the idea that I get to help out in decorating our house. But when I was older, I saw it as an opportunity to bond and have fun with my mom. Plus, I just love all the Christmas feels seeing all the decors inside our house gives me.
Do Christmas Shopping Together
As you probably already know, shopping is something I truly enjoy – whether for the house, for my family, or for myself. Growing up, I’ve always enjoyed shopping with my mom. It’s another one of those activities that we get to bond as well. And I can only imagine how much fun my kids and I are going to have when we get to do this in the future.
Read 1 Christmas Book A Day For 25 Days Leading Up To Christmas
In November last year, I got 25 Christmas books that I wrapped individually. Starting December 1st, each night leading up to Christmas, I let the kids choose 1 gift they would like to open (they took turn every night) before bedtime. Once they had chosen, I would let them open the gift (an activity they really enjoyed) and we would read the Christmas book together.
Last year wasn’t as successful as I hoped it would be because they quickly lost interest in some of the books that I got. I guess it was because some of them were a bit longer for what they can take. But I am absolutely planning on doing this again this year, and the coming years.
Some of the books that we loved reading are Merry Christmas, Daniel Tiger! A Lift-the-Flap Book, Little Blue Truck’s Christmas, God Gave Us Christmas, The Story of Christmas, and The Itsy Bitsy Snowman.
Make DIY Crafts To Give Out To Your Child’s Teachers
Since my kids started daycare, I’ve always made sure that we give all (past and present) of their teachers a gift every Christmas to say thank you for all the love, care, and time that they have showered my kids all throughout the year. The first year it was a personalized tumbler with a message that says “Thank you for helping me grow”. The past 2 years, we’ve baked festive sweets for all their teachers. I really liked the idea of making our own gifts. And now that my kids are a bit older, I will absolutely be asking them to help out when it’s time to make these gifts to make them more special.
Get The Entire Family Coordinating Outfits
Shopping coordinating outfits for my kids has always been a fun task for me. Seriously, isn’t it adorable when siblings are dressed in coordinating outfits? I’ve been doing this since my son celebrated his first Christmas; and I certainly plan on doing it until they’re old enough to say no to it. If you plan on doing this, you can check out my tips on how to do it properly here.
Since I dress my kids in coordinating outfits every year, it’s only fair that my husband and I wear coordinating outfits with them as well. We’ve dressed up in coordinating outfits as a family before in red and black, purple and gray, fuchsia and blue, black and brown, and black and white outfits. This year, we also tried matching Christmas pajamas for the entire family and I honestly loved how it turned out.
Take Your Family Picture
Once we have our coordinating outfits on, we would get our family picture taken in front of our Christmas tree. For the past couple of years, my parents flew all the way from the Philippines to spend the holidays with us (and yes, I got them to wear coordinating outfits as well); but this year, it’s just going to be us.
We’re not really used to hiring a professional photographer to get our family picture taken unless there is a really special occasion (like when the kids got baptized), so we’ve always done it ourselves. If you’re planning to take your own family picture (for the holidays or) any time of the year, I put together a comprehensive guide for you here.
Have Your Child’s Picture Taken With Santa Clause
This is something that I never got to do as a kid. Growing up, there wasn’t an opportunity for families to go to the mall and tell Santa Clause what the kids wanted for Christmas (but I think families in the Philippines can do that now). I would just tell my parents what I want for Christmas and they would “happily relay the message to him”. So of course, I jumped at the first opportunity I got to take my kids to the mall and have their picture taken with Santa Clause. Since then, we’ve been doing that every year. They still don’t tell him what they want for Christmas, but I’m pretty sure they would once they’re old enough to understand who Santa Clause is.
Let The Kids Help Out In The Kitchen
I haven’t tried doing this with the kids yet but it was so much fun helping out my mom prepare all the dishes that we would be enjoying for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day back when I was younger. I certainly plan on doing this with my kids soon. Maybe this year, I’ll try and see how that would turn out.
Have Christmas Eve Dinner As A Family
We always have dinner as a family, every single night. I honestly don’t know why, but it just feels so much more special having dinner as a family on Christmas Eve. Back in the Philippines, we would gather around the dining table and have dinner as a family on midnight, we call it Noche Buena. My mom would always make my favorite dishes for Noche Buena and Christmas Day, and I remember being always very excited about it. But we haven’t done that with the kids yet; we would have family dinner during our normal dinner time. When they’re a little bit older and can certainly stay up past their bedtime, we will absolutely do this Filipino tradition.
Have A Christmas Eve Movie Night
I’ve seen a Night Before Christmas Box through Pinterest when I was browsing for fun Christmas activities for the entire family. How it works is that you will put together a Christmas Eve box where you will put your child’s Christmas pajamas, popcorn, hot chocolate, and a Christmas movie; and then you wrap it. Your child will get to open their Christmas Eve box after dinner. And then the entire family will get to enjoy a nice hot chocolate, popcorn, while watching the Christmas movie in their Christmas pajamas (all from the Christmas Eve box). I certainly plan to start doing it this year.
Open Presents On Christmas Morning
Of course, this was the highlight of all my Christmas mornings when I was a kid. I really loved finding out what “Santa Clause” had given me every Christmas. “Santa Clause” never failed; he would always give me what I wanted. I honestly don’t know how I found out that he wasn’t real, but the mystery of “Santa Clause” was so much fun that I plan to do the whole “Santa Clause” tradition with my kids.
Back in the Philippines, the kids, together with their parents, would go to their relatives and godparents’ house on Christmas day. There, they would catch up, play, and be given gifts (but most of the time, cash). I do remember getting excited when it’s almost my bedtime because I would then have a chance to count how much money I got. LOL! And then I would plan which toy I’m going to get with my Christmas money.
I don’t think we’ll be able to do that here in the U.S.; but hopefully, we can celebrate Christmas in the Philippines soon so the kids can experience that as well.
Spend The Entire Christmas Day With The Family
There’s nothing better than spending an entire day with your family, but more so when it’s Christmas. It really doesn’t matter what you do; you can go out and do something fun somewhere, visit some relatives you haven’t seen in a while, or just stay at home and do nothing. As long as you do these things as a family, then it would be worth looking back on for the years to come.
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What did you think of this post? Have you done these Christmas activities before? What is your favorite Christmas tradition with your family? Let me know in the comments. You know I always love to hear from you.
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Such fun Christmas ideas! Love baking with my family!
Thank you! Baking with the kids is so much fun!
Love these traditions. As a kid we also opened our gifts on Christmas morning,instead of the night before, something I will definitely continue one day when I have children. Thanks for sharing. xo, Emily
http://bailylamb.com
Isn’t it so much fun?
Every Christmas, prior to opening gifts, we read Luke 2 (the story of the birth of Christ); both in English and Spanish. It’s such a cherished tradition.
That is such an awesome tradition!
Such fun traditions to start with your kids!
xx, Danielle | Pineapple & Prosecco
Thank you! I’m glad you think so.
we try to do as many of these as possible each year!! of course the baking and movies are the kids favorites
That is so great!
Love all these fun family activity ideas!!
XOXO
Cathy
Thank you!
Christmas is my favorite season! We always drive around to look at lights, and we do 12 days of Christmas but in a book format (a different book every night leading up to Christmas day). We also do matching jammies because that’s too fun!
xo Jen from http://www.styleinshape.com
Those traditions are so fun!
We decorate the tree and house together as a family and bake Christmas cookies. We also like to drive around and look at the lights in the neighborhood while drinking hot cocoa. I live the idea of reading a book each night until Christmas. You have a lot of great ideas.
Thank you! Those are so much fun!
We have two. I pick out an ornament that represents the year and we go see an action movie after after a late afternoon dinner.
Picking out an ornament that represents the year is such a great idea!
I love all of these ideas! I just got engaged in October, so I’m starting to think of all the traditions I want to start as we grow our family 🙂 xx
http://hollyhabeck.com
How awesome! Congratulations on your engagement!
My mom was never into cooking or homemaking, but she went all out with cookies over the holidays! I have so many great memories of her in the kitchen with piles of different types of cookies. That’s the tradition I want my son to remember now, too!
That is so much fun!
I LOVE this! Christmas traditions are so amazing and such good memories! xo Jana | http://www.janastyleblog.com
I couldn’t agree more!
I don’t have kids yet, but these even look like fun for a good date night! Great ideas!
That is so true!
Love these Christmas ideas, so cozy.. thank you for sharing.
Thank you! I’m glad you loved them!
Omgggggg I LOVE THIS POST SO MUCH!!! Your graphic is killer!!!!!!!!!
Thanks, girl! It means a lot!
I’m loving all of these ideas! They’re all so perfect!
Linda
http://lindatenchitran.com/2017/11/27/happy-belated-thanksgiving/
Thank you, Linda!
We’ve always watched the Christmas specials like Charlie Brown, etc and going to look at all the lit up homes!
Those are so much fun!
I love these ideas! My hubby and I already put up the tree and we’ve been watching Christmas movies! I can’t wait to have kiddos to share these memories with!
Christmas is such a fun season!
This is awesome! Your family is the cutest!
Thank you!
I love this post and all of these great ideas! Happy Holidays!
Thank you! I hope you have a wonderful holiday with your family!
All such fun traditions! Thanks for the great suggestions. Happy Holidays!
Thank you!
Love all the fun ideas. I think we are going to try the book one this year. My little man has recently started helping in the kitchen and it’s so fun.
That’s so much fun!
I love these ideas! I was actually thinking about putting together a holiday bucket list. I always struggle to find the time to do all of the fun things I want to during the season.
Putting together a holiday bucket list is such a great idea!
I will definitely be implementing at least 5 ideas
That’s awesome! Let me know how you like them!
Aw I love this!! Christmas traditions are my favorite!!
Thank you! Mine too!
Love all of these. Baking different types of cookies are usually our faves.
Thank you! That is so fun!
These ideas are so so sweet! I can’t wait to do them with my son!
Thank you! I hope you and your son like these!
These are all such great traditions!! I always love making new traditions with my small little family! Makes me happy!
Making traditions with family is the best! Thank you!
I love all of these. Christmas is truly my favorite time of the year and has been since I was a kid and I can’t wait to have kids to be able to start some of these traditions with.
thepreppyguyguide.blogspot.com
Mine too! Thank you!
Such a lovely post. You are a wonderful mom with lots of great ideas for your kiddos. Have fun making memories!
Thank you!
I love these ideas, I implement many of them!
Thank you, Jasmine!
These are some lovely suggestions. I love the idea of matching pjs 🙂
Thank you, Laura!
there are so many cute ideas here! I love that its all organized in one place!
Thank you, Lindsey!
A great list of recommendations! We love to have a big family dinner on Christmas Eve and open one present a piece.
Thank you, Lauren! Big family dinner is always fun!
I’m a little crazy for the holidays, and always on the lookout for new ways to make them special. Love that this list is all about experiences & not so much about spending.
Thank you, Melanie! It means a lot!
There aren’t any children in our household anymore, but my family still loves to do a lot of these together. So many fun memories made!
That’s so awesome!
Such a great list of Christmas activities and traditions to do together! We love pulling our Christmas books out and reading them together.
Thank you, Justine! Those are so much fun!
Most of the things on your list are so cute and I can’t wait to start some of these Christmas traditions with my own family. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, Cecilia!
Such a great list of fun holiday activities! I love getting my girls matching Christmas dresses and taking them for pictures with Santa! There are quite a few on your list I want to do this year, like drive around to see Christmas lights!
Thank you! I hope you get to do with them with your girls!
These are so fun! Love the coordinating outfit idea! I do it for my girls each year but maybe my hubby and I should join in the fun!!!
Thank you, Elizabeth! You should absolutely join in the fun!
Such great ideas! And the matching jammie idea is so fun! I need to try that with my kiddos.
Thank you, Kelly! You have to try it!
Growing up I loved reading holiday stories, such a fun way to get into the spirit!
Birdie Shoots
That is so fun!
Love all these ideas! Fun traditions during the holidays with my family is always my favorite!!
Mine too! Thank you, Cara!
I love coming up with new traditions and learning about ones I never thought about!!!
Christmas traditions are so fun!
LOVE THIS 😀 Pinned
Thank you, Michelle!
I love dressing up together as a family, I think as my kids get older these traditions are more important.
I couldn’t agree more!
This is a great list! I have 3 boys and we love making new traditions with them!
Thank you, Molly!
We used to read a different Christmas book at night and it was/is one of my favorite traditions!
Thank you, Sara! That is so much fun!
I hope you get to visit somewhere where it snows so you can do those things you miss!
Thank you, Cristina!
Thank you, Anna!
I couldn’t agree more!
That is so true!
I really love these ideas Belle.. Christmas is my favourite time for family time ❤️
Thanks girl! It is my favorite time too!
Thanks for sharing and i love Christmas because This is my favorite time.
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