30 Family Christmas Traditions to Start This Year

By Cedar & Ledger

Traditions do not need to be big or expensive. The ones kids remember are often the small things you repeat every year. Pick two or three new ones, not ten, and write them down so they stick.

Free or almost free

• Drive or walk around to look at Christmas lights, with hot cocoa
• Read one Christmas book every night in December
• Have a family movie night with a homemade "ticket"
• Make paper snowflakes for the windows
• Write a letter to your future selves and open it next Christmas
• Take a family photo in the same spot every year
• Go caroling, or sing songs at home with the lights off

In the kitchen

• Bake one special cookie only at Christmas
• Have a pancake or cinnamon roll breakfast on Christmas morning
• Make a gingerbread house, even a simple graham-cracker one
• Cook a dish from a grandparent's recipe
• Have a "snack dinner" on Christmas Eve

Giving

• Each child picks a toy or coat to donate
• Bake treats for neighbors or helpers
• Make a card for someone who lives alone
• Do one kind act each day of Advent
• Write thank-you notes together after Christmas

Christmas Eve and morning

• Open one gift on Christmas Eve, like new pajamas
• Set out a treat for Santa and carrots for the reindeer
• Read the same Christmas story every Christmas Eve
• Line up youngest to oldest on the stairs before opening gifts
• Open stockings first, before breakfast

Keepsake traditions

• Ask each child the same Christmas interview questions every year
• Buy or make one new ornament per person each year
• Trace kids' hands on a tablecloth and add the year
• Keep a family memory journal with a page for each Christmas
• Write the year's best moment on a slip of paper and save it in a jar

Between Christmas and New Year

• Have a family game night
• Go for a winter walk or a sledding day
• Talk about the best moment of the year and a wish for next year

How to make a tradition stick

• Write it down with the year you started it
• Keep it simple enough to do even in a busy year
• Let the kids help choose and name it

Get the printable version

The Christmas Traditions & Family Memory Journal (Letter and A4) has a family traditions list, a kids Christmas interview, memory pages and a year-in-review page, so you can keep this year's memories in one place.

Related template: the christmas memory journal template. Also see: Christmas Movie Night Kit · the christmas bucket list 2026 template

See all Cedar & Ledger templates

Try the free holiday gift budget calculator →