28 Memory-Making Christmas Traditions to Start This Season

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Growing up my family always had two trees, a real one and a fake one. My mom decorated the real one with classic white lights, heirloom ornaments, and beautiful ribbon. The fake one was our tree, the kid tree, just for my sisters and I. Colored lights were strung with all the mismatched ornaments we would collect or make at school. I can still remember the rickety battery-powered train we used to set up that would circle the base all day, we were fascinated. I must say, I do miss that tree!

If you’re looking for some inspo, check out this post for some of my current favorite holiday decor and this post for my cozy winter decor!

Another tradition we had was hopping in the car on a random evening, a night that either my dad got home early from work or had the day off, and driving around to local neighborhoods to see the Christmas lights. There was even a castle nearby that got really decked out with lights, that was always my favorite!

And then, on Christmas Eve, in addition to leaving our presents, of course, Santa left a special treat – candy canes hung all over the tree and Hershey’s Kisses sprinkled throughout our presents. Waking up on Christmas morning to presents and candy has to be every kid’s dream! 

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The other Christmas tradition I distinctly remember was the car ride to my aunt’s house for Christmas Eve. On the way there my dad would have us look out the window to see if we could see Santa’s “Scouts.” (Of course, these were just planes but we were little and believed they were really Santa’s Scouts at the time, making sure we were being good and watching until we got home and in bed so they could alert Santa.) It was the best ever!

Since I am a mom now I want to instill in our home Christmas traditions like I had growing up. That way Luca will be able to look back and remember all the things we did together and think to himself, “That was the Best!” But hold the phone, I don’t even want to think about him growing up {insert ugly cry face}!

So to help me come up with some more Christmas traditions for our family, Alex and I sat down and talked about what we loved during the holidays when we were growing up. Of course, I told him about the two trees, the touring the neighborhood’s looking at lights, as well as watching for Santa’s Scouts.  We came up with a few that we want to continue from when we were kids, but we felt like we were missing out on a lot of great Christmas traditions we could do as a family! So instantly I thought to ask my awesome tribe on Insta and see what holiday traditions that do and let me tell you my tribe rocks!

Christmas Tradition Ideas Thanks to My Insta Tribe

Christmas PJ’s

A big tradition is gifting PJ’s on Christmas Eve and then sleeping in them so everyone can wake up together and open presents while matching, BUT, I want to wear Christmas PJ’s ALL. THE. TIME. during the holidays (as you can tell from all these pics) so I’m putting it at the top of my list! Check out this post for my favorite holiday PJ’s!

Christmas Book Advent Calendar

A great idea to do with the kiddos! And my friend Lauren had such a cute way to do it (check it out HERE), she wraps the books and puts them under the tree so the kids get excited about each new book!

Cutting Down the Christmas Tree

A great Christmas tradition is going to cut down your Christmas Tree! You know, loading up into the pickup truck to go into the woods. Then trucking through the woods to find the “perfect tree.” After you find it then you would watch Dad saw it with his trusty saw he brings. After it is chopped down everyone grabs a hold of it as you sing carrying it back to the truck!

Sleeping Around the Christmas Tree

Someone from my Insta tribe remembers sleeping around the Christmas tree in sleeping bags watching Christmas movies the first night the tree goes up! I so want to do this with Luca when he gets a little bit bigger!

New Ornament Every Year

Another great Christmas Tradition is giving each child a new ornament every year to add the tree. What a great idea to make it special to something that happened that year for them! As a bonus, this allows your child to have a collection of ornaments to take with them when they go off to college and get married!

Another variation that was mentioned was making an ornament together as a family! Loving this idea for sure!

Drinking and Decorating

As you decorate the tree, drink eggnog and listen to Christmas music! Also, do yourself a favor and turn on the Stevie Wonder Christmas music station, his tunes will for sure get anyone in the mood for the holiday season!

Baking Cookies

Baking Cookies I think makes most people’s Christmas Traditions list! In my family the tradition is all the women getting together and baking Pizzelles and Struffoli from scratch. Hello Italy!! I come from a big Italian family and my grandmother, who used to do this with her seven (yes, seven!) sisters started this tradition and passed it down to her daughters and granddaughters (and now great-granddaughters). She is gone but every year my mom, aunt, sisters and cousins all get together to bake these amazing Italian treats. The cookies are delicious but this tradition is more about family!

Head to NYC

If you are local to NY you know heading into the city is maybe on everyone’s list of traditions! Some things we’ve done with my family are catching a Broadway show and then eating a delicious Italian meal at Carmine’s (drool!), checking out the Rockette’s Christmas Spectacular, stopping at Rolf’s German Restaurant to look at the BEST decorations I’ve ever seen!! And of course, heading over to Rockafeller center to ice skate and see the tree! The city during this time of year creates a sense of holiday wonder for children and adults alike.

Give Back

This time of year always puts me in the giving spirit so this too has become a tradition for us! Some ideas for giving back could be to volunteer with your kids at the local soup kitchen, donating old toys and clothes to those in need, making gift baskets filled with presents that your kid’s can pick out for other children (maybe you could get in touch with the school to see if there’s a family or two who could use the basket and drop it off anonymously.

Random Acts of Kindness

Seeing the happiness on someone’s face after you’ve unexpectedly done something kind for them is one of the best feelings in the world! This is a great tradition to start with your kids as well!

Make Gingerbread Houses

Growing up, we had a neighbor friend that would get everything together for us kids to assemble our gingerbread houses. She always made sure every kid had their favorite candy to decorate with. I really looked forward to getting messy and taking home my masterpiece. There is nothing better than fun candy decor during the holidays.

Watching Christmas Movies

Watching Christmas movies is a great way to get in the mood of Christmas! There are so many great options out there to choose from! My favorites would have to be National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Elf, and anything on the Christmas Hallmark channel! I’m all about the cheesiness!!

For a great list of Christmas movies check out this awesome list!

Christmas Blanket

One of my Insta friends offered her favorite tradition: She has a blanket that was given to her which is called the Christmas blanket. It is a special blanket that only comes out at Christmas. Almost every night in December, the whole family cuddles under it and reads Christmas Stories together! My favorite story growing up was of course ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve!

Visit Santa

When you have littles or are little, a visit to Santa is a must each Christmas!

You’ve Been Elfed/ Secret Santa

What a fun tradition to start in your neighborhood! It is basically secretly dropping off goodies to a friend or neighbor. Then they go and do it to someone else! Kids love to do this because it gives them an excuse to doorbell ditch someone! For a free printable grab it here!

Elf on the Shelf

You either love the elf or hate the elf (I personally do NOT enjoy the Elf haha).  Regardless, Elf on the Shelf is now topping the list of kid’s favorite traditions!

$5.00 Shopping Trip

Another great Christmas tradition is having everyone draw names a few days before Christmas. After the names are drawn, you all go to the store and have a $5.00 spending limit for that person. This special present then gets wrapped and placed under the tree.

Ugly Sweater Party

A few years back, when Alex and I were living in a house with a bunch of friends (yes, it was the best!!) we started the ugly Christmas sweater party tradition. It has been a hit for almost 10 years and although we don’t live in that house anymore, Alex’s brother and his friends do and they have carried on the tradition! Your tradition doesn’t even have to be a party it could simply be dressing up in the ugly sweaters randomly or on Christmas day or Christmas Eve just for fun! The ugly sweaters are always good for a laugh!

Waiting to See What Santa Brought

One great Christmas tradition is waiting for everyone to be awake before seeing what Santa brought. If you have stairs, the top of the stairs is a great place for the kids to gather before coming down – this is what my sisters an I used to do! This also makes for a great photo op! Once all the kids are awake, they can go and wake mom and dad up to see what Santa has brought.

Take the Same Picture Each Year

Every year, have the kids stand or sit in front of the tree and snap a picture. It’s so fun to look back on just how much the kids changed from year to year!

Sing Christmas Carols and listen to Christmas Music all Season Long

Christmas music is a must at our house. I play it every day for Luca and sing along/dance like a crazy lady, the same way my mom used to do at our house!

Christmas Traditions on Christmas Eve

Make Hot Cocoa and Drive Around Looking at lights!

This is one of my fav Christmas traditions! We never did it on Christmas Eve, but we would always go look at the lights! Doing this on Christmas Eve is a great way to keep the little kids busy doing something other than asking if they can open their presents every few minutes! If you are lucky, perhaps your littles will even fall asleep on the way home!

Have a Special Christmas Eve Dinner

Planning and setting up a special dinner with family on Christmas Eve is another tradition we follow! Coming from an Italian family we celebrate Christmas Eve with the feast of the seven fishes. Basically, it’s derived from Italians not eating meat on the day before Christ’s birthday, but instead fish. Included in our feast are Baccala, clams, scungili, shrimp, lobster, mussles and cod but there’s many more that could be a part of it! 

Opening one Present on Christmas Eve

One of my friend’s favorite traditions is opening Christmas Pajamas on Christmas Eve! She says the kids love to run up to their rooms and put them right on. She loves it because you are pretty much guaranteed a clean, cute and cozy look for pictures on Christmas morning! Matching jammies are def the way to go!

Reading a Christmas Book

Reading a Christmas story is a tradition found in most homes throughout the world. We used to read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas when we were little and I hope to start this tradition with Luca this year!

We are so excited for Luca’s first Christmas! Leave a comment below letting me know what Christmas traditions you would add to this list!

And, no matter what you decide to do this Christmas the most important thing is that you are doing it with the people you love! Merry Christmas!