Family traditions are regular activities and customs passed down from generation to generation.
These traditions include holidays, game nights, family dinner nights, or even having a particular dish they cook yearly.
Understandably, not all families have established traditions. However, if your family didn’t have any growing up, it’s always possible to start creating them with your own children.
Starting a family tradition with your children is building strong bonds and creating a sense of identity and belonging for children.
In fact, establishing and maintaining family traditions provides children with a stable and consistent environment, which is crucial for their emotional and psychological development.
Family traditions are used to pass on essential values, beliefs, and cultural practices by helping them better understand their lineage and community.
Family traditions are crucial in shaping children’s sense of self by helping them understand their place in the world.
1. Family Brunches
Brunches are a great way to take a break from the chaos of life and spend some time as a family unit.
Having breakfast around the table is a great way to start the day, spending time with family and discussing different things in each person’s life.
Connecting with your children regularly is an excellent approach, allowing for a stronger connection. All while eating a healthy, well-balanced meal. It’s a win-win.
Brunch traditions can either be weekly, monthly or for the holidays. It differs for each family, as it should best fit your family’s busy schedule.
2. Family Photo Shoots
Taking photos is a great way to capture your family at the moment, year after year.
Photos shoots allow the ability to see how much the family has changed and grown from the previous years. Furthermore, it creates a forever memory of new additions added to the family to a quickly growing child.
Family photos are a precious keepsake to see the family’s progression throughout the years, allowing one to look back and reflect later in life
3. Bonfire and S’mores Night
” alt=”Bonfire and Smores Night is another great idea to start for a household tradition.” width=”1024″ height=”633″ data-src=”https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/smores.jpg” data-srcset=”https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/smores.jpg 1024w, https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/smores-600×371.jpg 600w, https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/smores-300×185.jpg 300w, https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/smores-768×475.jpg 768w, https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/smores-400×247.jpg 400w” data-sizes=”(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px” />Bonfire and S’Mores night is a great way to spend time with family cooking delicious treats and enjoying a fire while viewing nature’s beautiful night sky.
The best part of a bonfire is telling jokes, talking, or even telling spooky campfire horror stories.
It’s a great way to get your children out of the house, away from electronics, and enjoy each other’s company and nature.
4. Save School Photos
It’s crazy how much children change throughout a short amount of time.
From the time they are a few years old until a teenager, they are constantly growing and developing as a kid. School photos are a great way to view the child’s progress throughout their childhood.
Saving the school photos allows your child to see how much they have changed throughout the years and look back at earlier versions of their life.
5. Take a Yearly Trip as a Family
Yearly trips, even a weekend road trip, are a great way to connect as a family and make lifelong memories.
Getting away allows kids to explore new parts of the world and open their eyes to how big the world is. Furthermore, traveling can come as a learning experience.
International travel is excellent as it allows children to learn about other cultures and traditions while opening their minds to a different way of life.
Traveling with your children can create a stronger family bond.
Doing things with your children for the first time on vacation is a way to build trust as a family and deepen the bond.
Activities can include parasailing, boating, fishing, horseback riding, and hiking. The list is endless of the different activities offered.
6. Make and Give Away Homemade Treats
Making homemade treats is a great way to connect with your children and create a family unit within the home.
Furthermore, you can use this tradition to connect your children with extended family. Do this by randomly gifting treats via mail or during the holiday season.
When gifting homemade treats, adding a homemade note with all members’ names is a great way to include everyone in the household.
The best part is not telling friends and family you are sending a care package. It will surprise your friends and family when they receive the homemade treats you have baked for them.
By sending homemade treats to extended family will allow your family to feel connected with your children, only strengthening the bond between your family!
7. Customize Christmas Ornaments
Creating customized Christmas Ornaments is a great way to make putting up the family Christmas Tree a blast every year.
One way to add customized ornaments to your Christmas tree is by ordering from a professional site such as Etsy.
This is for the not so crafty individuals or those who may not have the time to make Christmas ornaments by hand.
Purchasing ornaments that are unique to events that happened within the year. Such as ornaments catered around having a new baby, going on a particular vacation, or an inside joke.
Another great way is to decorate the tree with homemade ornaments.
These are ornaments that the kids design and decorate! Having homemade ornaments allows the family to cherish their decorated ornaments for years to come.
Customized ornaments make decorating the tree every year especially fun, as each ornament will eventually have its own story.
Bringing back memories from the past allows the ability to reconnect.
8. Try Something New
Trying something new is scary at times. However, it allows us to step outside our comfort zone, which helps with personal growth.
Trying something new is especially fun when having someone try new things with you.
Therefore, trying something new with your child is a great way to help them step outside their comfort zone while strengthening your bond.
It is also a great educational experience for both, allowing them to develop new skills and learn new lessons.
Trying something new opens up the child to new experiences, which in turn helps them develop the person they become. They can learn the things they like, don’t like, and the things they love.
Having the child try something new is beneficial to allow them to grow outside of their household, develop new friends and gain experience in new fields.
9. Give to Those in Need
Giving to those in need helps teach the child to give back to the community.
It can be donating old clothes, toys, or baking goods for the homeless shelter. It can be buying items brand new to give to those in need. Giving can consist of a family effort to raise money to give to a needy charity.
Giving back to those in need will help create a bond by working to achieve the same goal. Especially towards a goal the entire family is passionate.
Working towards collecting and actively donating helps enrich children’s life.
It gives the child a sense of belonging and purpose while helping them feel good about themselves for their good deeds, which can result in higher self-esteem.
10. Decorate the Christmas Tree
Decorating the Christmas Tree is a tradition that many families honor in America. It is usually the start of a month-long Christmas Celebration that follows from the day after Thanksgiving until the New Year.
Decorating the Christmas Tree while sipping hot chocolate and playing Christmas carols is a fun way to connect with the family while making lifelong memories.
This tradition doesn’t have to stop in childhood, it can last even as the child grows into adulthood.
11. Dedicated Game Night
” alt=”A weekly Family Game Night is a great way to start a tradition while creating memories for a lifetime.” width=”1024″ height=”633″ data-src=”https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/family-game-night-elizabeth-besich-lifestyle.jpg” data-srcset=”https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/family-game-night-elizabeth-besich-lifestyle.jpg 1024w, https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/family-game-night-elizabeth-besich-lifestyle-600×371.jpg 600w, https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/family-game-night-elizabeth-besich-lifestyle-300×185.jpg 300w, https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/family-game-night-elizabeth-besich-lifestyle-768×475.jpg 768w, https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/family-game-night-elizabeth-besich-lifestyle-400×247.jpg 400w” data-sizes=”(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px” />A dedicated game night is essential as it allows a specific time and date for the family to get together and enjoy each other’s company.
Family night is a fun tradition that can help teach children critical social skills such as being a team player, waiting their turn, following rules, and learning how to handle losing.
12. Volunteer Together
” alt=”Volunteering Together to Create a family unit” width=”1024″ height=”633″ data-src=”https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/volunteer-together.jpg” data-srcset=”https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/volunteer-together.jpg 1024w, https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/volunteer-together-600×371.jpg 600w, https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/volunteer-together-300×185.jpg 300w, https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/volunteer-together-768×475.jpg 768w, https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/volunteer-together-400×247.jpg 400w” data-sizes=”(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px” />Donating items and money to charity is one thing while dedicating your time towards a cause is another.
Volunteering can come from working in the soup kitchen, organizing food at the food pantry, or working for a non-profit.
Donating time is crucial because it allows you to get involved with an organization your family is passionate about and learn more about what they do behind the scenes.
Some charities connect you with the public, allowing you to meet community members. Thus, helping the child feel more connected to the community.
Furthermore, giving one’s time is essential as it helps the child understand different ways of life.
Opening the child’s perspective of life can be from volunteering in a soup kitchen or working at an office of a non-profit.
It will open the child’s mind to other perspectives to better understand the world around them.
13. Create Desserts for the Holiday
” alt=”Baking and decorating a cake is a great idea for a family tradition.” width=”1024″ height=”633″ data-src=”https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/decorate-a-cake.jpg” data-srcset=”https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/decorate-a-cake.jpg 1024w, https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/decorate-a-cake-600×371.jpg 600w, https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/decorate-a-cake-300×185.jpg 300w, https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/decorate-a-cake-768×475.jpg 768w, https://www.amorav.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/decorate-a-cake-400×247.jpg 400w” data-sizes=”(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px” />Creating desserts for the holiday can be baking a cake for a birthday, coming up with special treats for Thanksgiving, or making cheesecakes for Christmas, Hanukkah or Eid.
If wanting to get really creative, then experimenting with foreign recipes is a fun way to introduce children to other cultures while trying something new.
Baking different desserts throughout the years will teach cooking skills.
It also educates the child about measurements and following directions while allowing them to tap into their creative side.
14. Family Book Club
Reading is an essential aspect of life. A family book club is a great way to motivate your kids to read.
A family book club is when you pick a book together as a family, then read and discuss it weekly. It’s a fun way to encourage reading while having fun and stimulating learning.
15. Attend a Festival or Carnival
Festivals and carnivals are a great way to spend the evening doing something different with your kids.
Carnivals offer many activities, such as playing games to win toys, watching fireworks, eating funnel cakes, and trying different rides.
Usually, cities will host a festival or carnival at the same time every year. Therefore, making attending a carnival yearly is a fun way to create a family tradition. [Read also: The Ultimate Guide to Summer Fun]
16. Create a Family Recipe
Creating a family recipe is a great way to try something new in the kitchen or teach your children about a family recipe passed down from generation to generation.
If already a recipe passed down from generation to generation, teaching your child is just as special.
It will allow the child to understand more about their heritage, the stories behind how the recipe came about, and the recipe’s importance to the family.
A family recipe allows the child to feel connected with the previous generations.
Creating your own is just as fun if you do not have a family recipe.
Experimenting with new recipes is a great way to get your child to step outside their comfort zone, try something new, and experiment in the kitchen.
Making the family recipe special by cooking it often and creating your own story about how the recipe came into creation.
17. Take Classes Together
Classes are a fun way to connect with the child.
Taking a class can be something as simple as a baking class at your local cooking school, art classes, piano lessons, or taking a painting or pottery class.
Going to classes can be something you do only once for a few hours or sign up weekly. Taking classes together is a great way to explore the child’s different interests in a safe environment.
18. Have an International Night
Tip: Order ingredients online ahead of time, as some might be hard to find at your local grocery store.
Having an International night is a great way to educate your child about different cultures by cooking foods from other countries.
To add to the overall excitement, learn different facts from the country whose recipe you are cooking.
Learning about other countries helps expand your child’s mind to different types of foods and traditions in the world.
It also helps them expand the different types of foods to try outside of the classic American, Chinese and Mexican fare they are use to in America.
With over 195 different countries in the world, international night can go throughout their entire childhood.
Therefore, allowing the ability to try different recipes for each country.
19. Have a Movie Night
Having a dedicated movie night where the entire family watches a movie together is really special.
Popping popcorn and letting the kids have some of their favorite desserts while picking out a movie to enjoy.
Then cuddling next to each other on the couch while the kids giggle throughout the movie. It makes for a spectacular night.
The best part about Movie Night is that you can have different themes that make it different throughout the year.
Possibly everyone dressing up in matching pj’s, watching movies outside on a projector, or perhaps setting up a tent in the living room for a campout and movie night.
The kids will love trying something different and will make movie night all the more fun.
20. Decorate Cards to Give Out
Christmas is a great time to decorate cards for the entire family!
Decorating cards for family members and friends allows the child to use their creative side to make a card to give to those they love.
Giving decorated cards allows your child to build a connection with friends and family outside of the home.
Especially great for connecting with extended family and allowing your kids to feel associated with your family.
Homemade decorated cards can also be thank you cards given to those who often purchase gifts for the child.
If aunts, uncles, and cousins usually buy Christmas gifts for the child, then what an excellent opportunity for the child to give each adult a homemade thank you card.
In conclusion, family traditions are essential to creating a strong and healthy family unit. They provide children with stability, consistency, and a sense of identity and belonging.
Family traditions can be as simple as having a weekly brunch or as elaborate as taking yearly trips together.
Whatever the tradition, creating a bond with your children and providing them with a stable and consistent environment is crucial for their emotional and psychological development is essential.
So, start building your family traditions today and make lifelong memories with your loved ones!
Full List of 20 Family Traditions to Start with Your Kids
- Family Brunches
- Family Photo Shoots
- Bonfire and S’more Night
- Yearly Trip as a Family
- Make and Give Away Homemade Treats
- Customize Christmas Ornaments
- Save School Photos
- Try Something New
- Give to Those in Need
- Decorate the Christmas Tree
- Game Night
- Volunteer Together
- Create Desserts for the Holiday
- Family Book Club
- Attend a Festival or Carnival
- Create a Family Recipe
- Take Classes Together
- Have an International Night
- Have a Movie Night
- Decorate Cads to Give Out
Thank you for reading our article, 20 Family Traditions to Start with Your Kids. We hope you discover new traditions you can begin with your family, creating cherished memories for many years.
About Author, Sara Elizabeth
Writer, Amora V Lifestyle
Sara is a writer for Amora V. Sara previously worked as a Marketing Manager and has her Master’s from Lindenwood University. Sara studies everything of interest, from psychology, recipes, finances, mental health, and travel, striving to find happiness and to live a good life.
When not learning, Sara loves all things outdoors, food, and hanging around great company. Furthermore, Sara loves spending time with family, whom she is blessed to have in her life.
Note from Author: I hope my articles bring you joy and peace, and that you enjoy them!
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I absolutely love this! So many great ideas! Our family is so important to me and I see adding in so many of these. We love our little ones now and these ideas remind me even as they grow out of being little there is so much to look forward to!
Thank you Lindsey, I too am a mom too. I love to hear that family is important to you. I am excited for you to make memories with your children as they grow older. It’s the best part of being a mom is the thousands of memories we make with them over the course of their life. Thank you so much for taking the time to read the article and comment.