Help me find a new tradition

[THISbitchingwitch]

First christmas living just me and dc (ages 4-17)

Looking for simple low cost traditions i could start both in the run up to and over the christmas period

Love this! Gets me excited for Christmas.

Here’s a few ideas:

• making a gingerbread house
• christmas movie nights! Even better make a sleigh in the front room (moving sofa - adding chairs, toys, decorations) and watch from their
• going to a carol service
• putting on the best Christmas tunes to decorate the tree
• making some decorations
• getting kids involved with a secret Santa where they have to make each other a present.
• Night before reading a Christmas book for younger ones

Im sure it will be great.

We have a family Christmas play list, we all chose what Christmas songs we loved and this Christmas mega mix comes out every year! Dc are now 25 and 18.

Simple things like going for a walk or drive at night to see the local lights. Could get a sneaky drive through or take hot chocolate with you.

North Pole breakfast- any weekend really. as low key or fancy as you like.

xmas movie nights. Cozy and cheap.

a carol service or Xmas Eve service.

an advent candle which you do a Xmas activity during it burning- like read a Xmas story or play a game or write cards etc.

I hope you’ll have a magical time- some of my happiest memories are of the time spent as a single mum to my older two. 🌲

A certain breakfast.
A Christmas day short walk ( as a kid would always be in our local wood )
Make a certain Christmas decoration every year and put the year .
The kristingle church service ( magical for for little ones )
Advent candle .

We have started going for a cosy pub dinner around 5pm on Christmas Eve. Then home to get cosy and watch a movie.

It’s really wholesome and everyone is a big fan.

Thank you for all the ideas! Definitely going to be using some of these

Make your own Hot chocolate station. Put the hot chocolate in the slow cooker and have all the toppings on the side. Whipped cream, marshmallows, sprinkles etc.

Christmas movie nights in pyjamas with popcorn, if you have younger kids they can spend time making pretend cinema tickets etc before hand.

Going on drives when it’s dark to find the best house lights.

Having a special breakfast Xmas morning. Pancakes is a good one as kids can add choc chips, fruit, whipped cream etc and you only have to focus on churning the pancakes out.

look at local Christmas get togethers at churches, community centres etc.

Tiddlywinks Tournament. With a nice smart wooden pot and set you can buy online, not the cheap plastic ones. So simple for all ages to play. Prize and fun engraved trophy for the Ultimate Champion. It became a legendary and much loved part of our Christmases. Even done over Zoom during Covid! You can leave the set out for all to practice over the run up to Christmas, then the actual Tournament starts after lunch on Christmas day!

If there’s a pottery painting place near you, go paint a bauble each. Make sure you add the dcs name (or at least initials) and 2025, so if you do this for the next few years you know who’s is who’s and when they are from.

do a lights switch on? Decorate the house then do a count down and switch on. (If you can get the teen to do music even better, top tier of this is if you have neighbours who might be up for doing a joint “switch on” - if you offer to provide mulled wine /mince pies they might be more up for it.)

Carol service.

Boxing Day bike ride. (With picnic)

Love the ideas already listed. Our tradition is stolen from Iceland, and we exchange books on Christmas Eve. My DD friend family all get together to decorate their tree, with Christmas tunes and a tub of chocolate! Their kids are grown up but still look forward to it. Whatever you decide, make sure it’s relatively low energy and low cost so it will stand the test of time! Have fun ☺️

Local churches will often have a Christmas tree festival so that's a great cheap festive outing. They will have carol services too but I know that's not for everyone

I'd get the older kids to make a Christmas playlist for when you decorate the tree with favourite songs from the year but also some Christmas hits

Around this time of year I ask everyone what's their favourite Christmas food and make sure we incorporate it into the dinner / those days

My.kids really like getting the Christmas bedding out and on.

Christmas Eve in our house was always snuggling up under blankets, lights low, wood burner on, hot chocolates all round and a tub of choccies watching 'A Muppet Christmas Carol'. We did it for literally years, from the kids being young to them being young adults and its the one thing they always loved every year, even as they were growing up.

Our eldest moved out but the 3 of us continued the tradition but last year was the first time it never happened as our youngest now wants to go out with her friends on Christmas Eve. But it was fun while it lasted and I know its a memory of family time that my kids cherish.

We have loads more, but that one was the one we all looked forward to most for some reason. 🎄

We already do a couple of these such as -

Decorating tree with Christmas music
Christmas Pj's for 1st December
Moving & takeaway on Xmas eve
Special Christmas breakfast

But I think i will take from this thread

Making a hot chocolate station
Secret santa
Maybe a Christmas day walk

When it became me and the two children, I started a new tradition where we chose the same new decoration for the tree each year to symbolise it was us three. Both of them remember that tradition fondly

Norad tracks Santa on a screen in the background on Christmas Eve.

I have never been able to persuade mine to go to a carol service or similar but I sneak out and go with a friend to an open air one in our town now the DCs are older and there are usually all ages there. Worth keeping an eye on local FB pages for what’s happening when, we have a church with a Christmas tree festival, hot drinks and mince pies which is nice.

We go to The Range, take photos in the lights and tinsel isles, choose a few decorations each then go to KFC for a Japanese Xmas Dinner. The kids love it, I love it and we look forward to it every year. It's a trip out but not bonkers expensive.

I don’t do it now my kids are older but when they were little they each got new pyjamas, a Christmassy book and one of those hot chocolate stir sticks on Xmas Eve and we’d sit and snuggle up reading and drinking (mine was a mug of warm baileys!)

Cheap & cheerful meal out on Christmas Eve, home to watch Polar Express and then on Christmas morning we all go downstairs together in age order, youngest first.

Drive or walk round the local area looking at houses covered in lights.
visit a garden centre and look at the Christmas decorations.
Christmas film every sat eve in December.
hide a small gift in the Christmas tree
play the same song like white Christmas every year when you take them in the sitting room.