Looking for some fun family traditions to start in your home? Here is a list of traditions your family will love and remember through the years.
I have always loved family traditions! They are something I looked forward to every year growing up, and they still hold a very special place in my heart. They are the little family rituals that make the mundane day-to-day life exciting and make you feel all nostalgic. Generally, family traditions are associated with holidays celebrated just once a year, but they don’t have to be! You can make traditions as simple and as frequent as a pancake breakfast every Saturday morning.
Not only are family traditions fun, but they are also a way to strengthen the family bond. They unite your family and create a sense of belonging. They create lasting memories for your family to look back on year after year. Some may be special enough to be passed down through the generations.
Below is just a shortlist of family activities that make great traditions. I could go on and on with more ideas, especially Christmas family traditions, but I will save that for another time. I hope to create more posts with traditions for every holiday, but in the meantime here are some of my favorite.
This post is all about fun family traditions.
1. BIRTHDAY COMPLIMENTS. Everyone in the family writes down a special memory or something they admire about the birthday girl or boy. Read them aloud at dinner and the birthday recipient can guess who wrote what about them.
2. Make Valentine’s Day special by having a LOVE DINNER. Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to just be about romantic love, but also about the love you have in your family. Go all out and make it fancy. Add cute decor to the table, make a festive drink, eat everything heart-shaped, and don’t forget the chocolate. What would Valentine’s Day be without chocolate?
3. FUN FRIDAYS can be an exciting weekly tradition to look forward to at the end of a long week. Whether that tradition is going out for margaritas each Friday with your significant other or takeout and movie night with the kids. Cater to what best fits your family!
4. Practice gratitude by making a THANKFUL TREE. Throughout the month of November have your family write what they are thankful for and place it on the tree. On Thanksgiving day read them aloud and reflect on the many blessings you have in your life.
5. Whenever I had a snow day growing up, I looked forward to making SNOW DAY SNOW CONES with my friends. Simply fill a cup with snow and sprinkle any flavor Jell-O packet over top. It’s delicious!
6. During the Christmas season, have everyone get in their pajamas, pile in the car, and go for a CHRISTMAS LIGHTS DRIVE while listening to your favorite Christmas carols. Don’t forget to bring the cookies and hot chocolate!
7. Take EVENING WALKS with your significant other. Maybe it’s every night or just once a week. Not only will this tradition help you get your steps in, but more importantly it will allow you to have that uninterrupted time together to catch up on life and decompress.
8. Have a NOON YEAR’S EVE party! Countdown the New Year at 12 p.m. rather than 12 a.m. with a yummy and/or boozy brunch. This allows those who might not make it to midnight or probably shouldn’t stay up that late to celebrate too. Bonus, it allows the adults to still celebrate later on while the kids are asleep in bed.
9. During the season of Lent, make a BOWL OF GOOD WORKS. Fill the bowl with slips of paper and on each slip write a small activity the kids can do to help them learn the meaning of lent. Some ideas include learning a new prayer, watching a religious movie, writing a letter to a loved one, or helping with a chore around the house.
10. Celebrate the start of Autumn and all things pumpkin with FIRST DAY OF FALL PUMPKIN PANCAKES.
11. Send your college student an ADVENT CARE PACKAGE. Put together a box with little wrapped gifts, one for each day leading up to Christmas that they will not be home. This is a fun way to bring the nostalgia of being home for Christmas to them while away at school.
12. ICE CREAM SUNDAES FOR BREAKFAST on the first and last day of School.
13. Each Christmas give your kids an ANNUAL CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT. When they grow up and have a home of their own home, they will have a collection of Christmas ornaments great enough to fill a tree. Each ornament can be reflective of the year and/or the child, thus creating memories and stories to reminisce on when bringing the ornaments out each year.
14. PANCAKE SATURDAYS. As simple and delicious as it sounds.
15. Last but not least, BAKING. It’s exciting to look forward to that special recipe every year that has been passed down through the generations. Whether it’s a specific thanksgiving pie, an Easter bunny cake, grandma’s sugar cookies, or a Fourth of July trifle, decide what recipes would make great baking traditions for your family. I think this is my favorite family tradition of all.
I hope you learned some new ideas to add to your list of fun family traditions. I’d love to know what some of your family traditions are below!
This post was all about fun family traditions!
David Wright says
Can you show me how you decorated your place this year? What new ideas did you come up with!
By Natalie Christina says
I will definitely be posting some inspiration home decor posts soon. Stay tuned 😉