Last night my 17 year old son had a “friend that’s a girl” over for dinner, and after dinner they started looking at his postcard collection and old scrapbooks! Wow…talk about a cheap date!
After his friend had gone home, he said, “I’m glad we saved all that stuff.” His comment made me think about all of our “family traditions,” and how meaningful they can be. If you don’t have any family traditions, it’s never too late to start!
These are a few of our favorite family traditions…
- Postcard Collection…when our children were toddlers, we encouraged relatives to send postcards whenever they were on vacation.
- Home Movie / DVD Night…each year during Christmas break we pull out old family videos. You can’t beat home movies for cheap entertainment!
- String Presents…each Christmas our children “find” their big present by following a string all over the house! It’s always the finale of gift opening!
- Puzzles…yes, another Christmas tradition!
- Family Olympics…we play a different board game every night during Christmas break, and the person with the most wins at the end of the break plans our next family dinner out.
- Lemonade Stand…no summer would be complete without our lemonade stand!
- Spring Break…each year we try to have our Spring break vacation planned by Christmas, and we wrap up “clues” in a box for the children to guess the destination.
- Charms…my daughter’s souvenir from vacation is always a charm, so she now has a bracelet full of memories!
- License Plate Game…no road trip would be complete without it!
- Birthday Dinner…the birthday girl or boy picks the menu!
- Homemade Halloween Costumes…we pride ourselves on winning costume contests!
- Homemade Ice Cream on Memorial Day.
- Cookie Exchange Party at Christmas
- Homemade Christmas Cards
- Easter Eggs…filled with both candy & “tickets” for special activities like pick a restaurant for our next family dinner, choose the next movie rental, plan a special day with mom, plan a special day with dad, etc.
Many of these family traditions were traditions I grew up with, and I hope our children will keep the traditions alive!
As Hank Williams, Jr. said, “It’s a family tradition!”
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It’s great that your family has so many traditions. But nethertheless, I think, each new generation shoul “invent” their own family traditions and do not just keep on doing the same things their parents and grand parents have been doing.