Every year around Easter we would boil a big pot of eggs and set out the Paas dye in those little cups. My brother and I would take turns dipping the eggs to our specifications. Then we’d attach those little stickers. You know. The stickers that would un-stick themselves immediately.
I remember the smell of that ritual. I remember finding these eggs in dewy grass on Easter morning. The dye would come off on our grabby little fingers as we eagerly fit them into our respective baskets.
I’ve been thinking about traditions a lot lately and how I’d like to create these memories for Alexa and her (yet unborn) siblings.
I’ve come up with a list of sorts to help guide our family traditions. Some are rituals that were deeply ingrained in my own childhood. Others are things H and I love to do anyway (the nature walk). And a few are ideas I’ve mentally tucked away after coming across them online.
Traditions to Start With Your Kids
- Go for a nature walk each Saturday morning.
- On their birthday, ask them a series of questions and make a scrapbook out of them to give them on their 18th birthday. (download my version here)
- Dye Easter eggs together.
- Easter basket treasure hunt. Give the kids clues to find their baskets so they can join the egg hunt.
- Have an annual Fourth of July cookout.
- Go camping at least once each summer. Go all out: s’mores, spooky movies by the fire, fireworks (if legal).
- Go on a vacation every summer, even if it’s just a short one.
- Take a photo on the first and last day of school. Points for wearing the same clothes.
- Spend an evening in October cuddling up on the couch and watching scary movies.
- Let them pick out pumpkins at the patch in October. Then decorate/carve them together.
- Create an advent activity calendar each December. Examples: drive around and look at decorations, go caroling, make hot chocolate.
- Let the kids pick out their own ornament each Christmas. Give the ornaments to the kids when they get married.
- Bake cookies and fudge (my mom’s recipe) on Christmas Eve.
- Hold an impromptu Christmas concert in our living room.
- Have a dance party on New Year’s Eve.
- Write down memories throughout the year and read them on New Year’s Eve.
- Eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day for good luck.
What are some of your traditions? Anything I should add to my list?
