What makes Christmas magical for you? Is it the traditions you remember having as you grew up? As parents, we naturally want our kids to have the BEST Christmas ever! Well, add a little of that Christmas magic and start your own traditions – it’s never too late to start! Last year I shared my favourite Christmas traditions and the meaning behind them. This year, I’m sharing 25 more traditions you could start right now! Go on, spread that Christmas cheer!
- Gather all your Christmas books and wrap them up. Pop them under the tree and open one each day. Our favourite thing to do is read them under the lit up Christmas tree each night!
- Celebrate the 12 days before Christmas with an act of kindness each day. There are heaps of great kindness advent calendars out there, but my favourite is from Growing Kind.
- Have a hot chocolate taste testing with different flavours and toppings. You could also award a prize for the best or craziest hot chocolate concoction!
- Go to look at the Christmas lights and leave thank you notes at your favourites.
- Give a new Christmas ornament to each child each year that represents a special trip or memory from the year.
- On Christmas morning, read a book in between opening each gift to avoid the Christmas present frenzy and slow down the process.
- Create a Christmas playlist each year. Each family member picks out a few favourite songs!
- Create a treasure hunt for the big gift at the end of presents each year.
- Contact your local church or Salvation Army or family refuge and see if you can donate a gift for a family in need in your community.
- Make a special Christmas morning breakfast. Choose an overnight recipe you can prep the night before so you can spend Christmas morning together instead of cooking!
- Make a Christmas Eve Box with new Christmas PJs, new Christmas books, hot chocolate packets, and popcorn.
- Get hot chocolates or other drinks in a drive through and pay for the person behind you in line, then drive around to look at Christmas lights and play bingo with game cards and try to find things like a blow-up Santa, or a Christmas train!
- Go to the movies on Christmas Eve to speed along the kid’s Christmas anticipation.
- Sleep under the Christmas tree on the night before Christmas Eve. (Don’t do Christmas Eve or else you’ll see Santa!)
- Make a bunch of different Christmas cookies and deliver them to neighbours.
- Get a new family game on Christmas Eve and play it together for the evening!
- Dress up fancy and go out to eat dinner at a nice restaurant on Christmas Eve.
- Instead of gift tags, wrap each person’s gifts in their own wrapping paper. It makes it easier for kids who can’t read yet, and it’s fun to see all the different paper!
- Do an indoor snowball or nerf gun fight on Christmas Eve!
- Set up your tent (or build a fort) and have a “camp in” while watching a Christmas movie, and then sleep in the tent for the night!
- Host a gingerbread house decorating party.
- Do an Iron Chef cook-off! Kids are the chefs, and parents are the judges.
- Make Christmas sweets with the family (caramel, fudge, etc).
- Give the kids an ornament that represents something they did or were interested in that year.
- Bake and decorate Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve.
