Fun Holiday Traditions for the Entire Family Now reading:

During the Holidays, there’s so much to celebrate with family and friends! Each year, many families continue or start new traditions to share with those they love, creating fun memories throughout the year. We’re sharing some of our favorite traditions that YOU have shared with us - maybe you can even take one of these ideas and create a new tradition with your family!

Opening gifts, in order from youngest to oldest

“When we’re at grandma’s house, we always open gifts youngest to oldest, so the cousin who is the youngest goes first and then so forth all the way up to Grandma! It’s a fun way to include the whole family, and it’s nice because we’re able to see what everyone got instead of everyone tearing open their presents at once.”

Santa mouse

“At grandma’s, we always used to have Santa Mouse on Christmas Eve, since we had Santa with our parents. She would wrap little tiny gifts for us, saying that Santa Mouse left them and we’d take turns picking ours out and opening them.”

Making a gingerbread house

“Each year as a family we sit down on Christmas eve and make a gingerbread house. To spruce it up, we try to do a different type of house each year or a different theme. Sometimes we decorate campers, this year we’re decorating the frozen castle. It’s a fun way to spend time together with my siblings.”

Looking at Christmas lights

“My whole family piles into the van to drive around and look at Christmas lights on the houses in our town. We bring hot cocoa and pump up the Christmas jams. It’s always a good time!”

Santa leaves tinsel on the tree

"Each year Santa leaves tinsel on the tree before he leaves for the North Pole."

Christmas cookie contest

“Each year, we have a Christmas cookie contest. We bake and decorate our hearts out and Grandpa and Grandma are the judges. We change the teams around each year- cousins vs. aunts and uncles, siblings vs. siblings. To keep it interesting the only rule is to use whatever Grandma has in her cupboard.”

Elf on the shelf

“Our kids love Elf on the Shelf! We have four kids - and two know that Santa is just about keeping the Christmas spirit alive. To help keep that holly jolly spirit alive for the younger ones, we leave them in charge of hiding the elf. It’s so cute to watch them help the younger two find the elf.”

Take the train to see Dickens' Village and The Nutcracker

"We take the train into Philly each year to see Dickens' Village at Macy's, as well as the Nutcracker show! So fun to see the Christmas stories come to life."

Make holiday decorations

“When we bought our first home, we made decorations around the house to save on money. Now we do it with the kiddos every year as a fun tradition. It’s so cute to watch them cut out their snowflakes for the windows, and we have ornaments from all the years together. We look forward to it each year.”

Volunteer at our local soup kitchen

“Every year, the kids and I like to spend the weekend before Christmas helping with lunch at the local food kitchen. Sometimes they get grumbly about going, but by the end, they’re all smiles! It’s a great way to keep the spirit of giving alive and teaches them to help those less fortunate.”

Painting ornaments

"Each year, my grandpa paints an ornament for each person in our family. It's been fun to collect them over the years."

Make homemade hot chocolate

“We make homemade hot cocoa every year. Each year we find a new recipe- sometimes we spruce it up and add candy canes or have different flavors- salted vanilla, gingerbread, or mint for example. My favorites have been unicorn hot chocolate and stovetop cinnamon hot chocolate.”

Writing letters to Santa

“Each year we sit down together by the fireplace and write letters to Santa. The kids love it and even decorate their letters with glitter and stickers. Then, after the letters are written, we stuff them in a big envelope- each kid gets to pick out a Christmas stamp to put on it and we put it in our “Letters to Santa” decoration and go to bed. The next morning the kids open up the tin and see that the letters are gone and we tell them that one of the elves must’ve picked it up on their way back to the North Pole. So fun!”

Thanks for sharing your holiday traditions! We loved hearing all about the traditions you've created or kept going with your family- and all the memories you've made along the way! Happy Holidays from us at Colored Organics!