Starting a family is an exciting chapter of your life, one where you’ll make many special memories. But life is short, and it’s important to fill the time we have with making those memories.
Every family lives life differently, and your family traditions will help make things unique and personal to your family. Creating traditions will help bring you all closer, giving you things to look back on, and things to look forward to.
No matter what your family looks like, this is your chance to start building some meaningful family traditions to start with your children. Here are 12 suggestions to help you get started.
Family Traditions to Start with Your Children
1. Make the holidays special
The holidays are a great time to start some family traditions. From Christmas to Diwali, whatever your family chooses to celebrate, enjoy embracing some traditions at the time. For some families, it can be as simple as eating traditional holiday food, others will like to decorate their homes together and embrace all the festivities.
Holidays are a time to celebrate with family and friends, and if you can find ways to bring in some old and new traditions, you’ll make the holidays extra special.
2. Choose a day of the week for quality family time
Spending time together as a family is important, and with busy schedules, this isn’t always easy to stick to. A dedicated day of the week for fun family time can help you all catch up and enjoy some time together. Whether you choose a night of the week for family dinner, or enjoy a Saturday morning breakfast together, try to stick to the same night each week so it becomes a regular part of family life.
This is an easy tradition to start when your kids are young, but may need a little more work or adjustment as your kids get older and start doing things independently.
3. Celebrate sports together
Sports are a great way to bring people together, especially families. It can be a fun tradition to follow and celebrate sports together. Whether you choose a family football team, basketball, ice hockey, or whatever, you can have a lot of fun watching games, wearing matching clothes, and celebrating or commiserating those wins and losses.
Some families even like to celebrate rival teams to add an element of competition to the home! Just try not to let things get too heated… Nobody wants a family feud over the Superbowl!
4. Honor your relatives
Family traditions can be fun, but there can be a more meaningful side to them too, especially when it comes to honoring past family members. It’s important to teach your children about family members who were there before them, as well as pets and anyone else who was a part of the family.
Honoring relatives can be as simple as toasting them on their birthdays or remembering them when you eat their favorite foods. Having somewhere you can go to honor your relatives can also lead to more meaningful traditions. Being able to visit a headstone or memorial for a loved one can help you process your loss, and give you opportunities to teach your children about their past.
You can buy headstones from Memorials.com to help create a wonderful space to visit, lay flowers and other traditions. You could also consider planting memorial trees in your own garden, giving you somewhere to visit a little closer to home to remember your lost relatives and friends.
5. Plan an annual trip
Family trips are a must-have family tradition. From an annual trip to the beach to a summer vacation, there are many different trips you can take to enjoy time together as a family.
An annual trip is something you can keep up, even after your children have fled the nest. It’s a wonderful way to bring you all together to create some memories – even if things aren’t always as magical as they appear in films and on TV!
6. Do something special each summer
It can feel as though winter is an easier time of year to get together. Thanksgiving and Christmas are typically family holidays, bringing everyone home to spend the holidays together. So what happens for the rest of the year?
Doing something special each summer, such as a camping trip, a big family party or a family reunion can be a great excuse to get together. While you may see each other at birthday parties or weddings, this is a great way to have some fun over the summer months and make some new traditions.
Hosting a large family gathering can be a lot of work, so try to make it easier on yourself by planning in advance, or getting as many family members to pitch in as possible with the food, drinks, games and decorations.
7. Create a family bucket list
Creating a family bucket list is an excellent way to get everyone involved in creating family traditions. You can work as a family to draw up a list of things you’d like to do together, and work through each one.
Whether it’s a list of places you’d like to visit as a family, or activities you’d love to try together, there are a lot of things you can add to your family bucket list so that you always have fun and exciting things to look forward to.
8. Enjoy creating family recipes together
Many family traditions are those that begin in the home. Cooking together as a family is a special way to spend time together, helping you create memories in the kitchen, and teaching your kids some valuable skills too.
As part of your family culinary adventures, you can create some family recipes that will always remind you of the comforts of home. From a signature pasta dish to a classic like a lasagna or chili, create a family favorite that can be made and loved again and again.
9. Stick to a nightly routine
Traditions don’t always have to be something big that only happens once a year, they can also be things that happen regularly in the home, such as bedtime. While some might call a nightly routine a ritual, there’s no harm in calling it a tradition!
Bedtime routines are very handy for helping you get the children to sleep at night. It can set them up with some good habits, and make sure they get the right amount of rest. The ideal bedtime routine can include a bath, a cuddle or maybe a story to help them get off to sleep. You can add your own special songs and traditions to make bedtime unique to your family!
The main thing is to keep the routine consistent, sticking to the same activities each night to help your child’s mind and body prepare for sleep.
10. Capture family photographs
It’s easy to take photos for granted – phones and tablets make it so easy to capture photos wherever you are. But even if you like to take photos regularly, make sure you make time to help capture some of the more special family moments that you may miss. From group photos in front of famous landmarks to matching PJs for family movie night, it’s those little moments that will be your favorites to look back on.
It’s also very easy to just leave your photos as digital images, but why not do something a little more traditional and print them off? Creating photo albums is a fun activity to do as a family, and it’s even easier to do them now you can make them online. You can use these albums to help share family stories about the places you’ve been and the people in your lives for your own personal story time.
11. Start some exciting birthday traditions
Birthdays give you plenty of excuses to have fun as a family – everyone has a birthday! Think about the exciting birthday traditions you can start as your family grows. From birthday scavenger hunts to special birthday breakfasts, these are the sorts of traditions your family will enjoy again and again, adding a special touch to the day.
Creating exciting birthday traditions like this can be a lot more memorable than the gifts your kids might receive, coming from a place of love rather than money.
12. Always have fun
And finally, always bring the fun to your family traditions! Creating these traditions is all about enjoying yourselves and making great memories together.
There should be no pressure or stress, and remember that traditions can change and evolve over time. As your kids grow up, they’ll have some incredible memories of their family and all the time and effort you put into making their childhood magical.
Why not start with some simple, small traditions and build things up with different milestones or celebrations? Some things will become a tradition without you even trying as you settle into family life and make the most of each moment together.
