New or old, family holiday traditions are so special. My husband and I have not only started new traditions with our daughters every Christmas, but have also passed along a few traditions from our childhoods. If you’re looking for new holiday traditions to try this year, check out my list for inspiration.
10 New Holiday Traditions To Try This Year
1. The Christmas Eve Box
My Mom started the Christmas Eve box tradition with me and my sister many years ago. She always surprised us with new Christmas pajamas and a movie to watch (not always Christmas themed). Then on Christmas morning my parents would gift us a new ornament! I combined the three gifts (and added a few) to fill a Christmas Eve box to open every year!
2. Ornament Swap
There are so many different ways to do an ornament swap with family or friends during the holidays. Whether the ornaments are homemade, store bought, hand-me-down, or second hand – swapping ornaments is a great tradition to start this holiday season.
3. Drive around to look at Christmas lights and hand out Holiday Cheer Awards!
A few times during the holiday season, we love to put on our pajamas, pack thermoses of hot chocolate, and load up into the car to look at Christmas lights around town.
BONUS: Want to tell a home you love their Christmas lights (or holiday decorations) the best? Why not hand out Holiday Cheer Awards or handwritten notes to your favorite decorated homes. Snag my free printable here. We do this every holiday season and it is so much fun!
4. Adopt a Family through Charity.
Check out a local nonprofit to see if they are running a program that allows you to give things to a needy family this holiday season. Whether its new clothing, toys, household items, and food or grocery-store certificates – start a tradition of paying it forward each holiday season. Our community participates in The Holiday for Giving and our neighborhood adopts a family through the program.
5. Read a different holiday book every night.
We have a crazy amount of Christmas books, so I wrap 25 books in recycled brown paper before December. Then we open one book to read before bed every night! Don’t have a big collection of holiday books? Head to your local library to borrow a few. Reading this post after December has already begun? Wrap one for each day during the last week before Christmas.
6. Make Holiday Cards for Kids in the Hospital
I just learned about the Cards for Hospitalized Kids organization and we are going to be making cards this weekend! Send a little bit of festive cheer to children in the hospital this holiday season. CFHK distributes the cards to kids in hospitals all around the country! Here’s how to get started!
Another option is to collect or make toy donations to the children’s hospital. My daughter has been a patient at YNHH and visited the toy closet after her procedures. Here is how to make a donation to the toy closet!
7. Take holiday family photos.
This may sound silly, but one of my favorite holiday traditions is taking holiday family photos! It’s so special to see how much we have all changed and grown over the years. We usually hire a professional photographer, but if you want to try taking your own family photos – it’s not so difficult. I already have big plans to make each of my daughters a holiday family picture album when they get married!
Read more: Here is why I love professional family photos so much.
8. Bake Christmas Cookies together.
We bake my husband’s Aunt’s famous Christmas cookies every holiday season together. Sometimes we bake on more than one occasion because the cookies are THAT good. Despite the chaos and messiness, I love our cookie baking tradition so much – as does everyone who gets to receive a bundle of delicious cookies from us!
9. Hide a pickle in the Christmas Tree.
Brandon brought his family’s hidden pickle tradition to our family when we moved into our new home. The girls were finally old enough to understand whoever found the hidden pickle ornament could win a prize. We play every Christmas Eve!
10. Wear matching Christmas pajamas.
I know my children won’t want to match their parents forever. So every holiday season I make sure we are wearing matching family Christmas pajamas as much as possible.
Looking for more new holiday traditions?
- Host a Homemade Ugly Holiday Sweater Contest
- Contact Santa in one of these fun ways.
- Build a fort and introduce your children to one of these Nostalgic Holiday Movies
- Create a good memories jar through the month to read on New Year’s Eve.
- Put together holiday supply packages for the homeless or women’s shelters in your area.
- Make paper snowflakes and decorate a room in the house.
- Research holiday traditions from Around the World.
- Make a gingerbread house – out of a cardboard box!
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