Christmas Traditions for Kids (And the Ones You Can Invent)

Christmas / Family Traditions

Christmas traditions for kids tend to start with a question.

Cousin Anna hangs a pickle on the tree. Your kid noticed it, pointed, and asked why. The usual answer is that's how it's always been, and the real story is often better. The pickle itself is usually traced to American shops in the 1880s, and its origin is disputed (WhyChristmas). Many traditions began when one family started something and kept doing it until the next family copied it and called it heritage.

Christmas Traditions That Are Newer Than You Think

The proof that traditions get started sits inside your own December. These three feel ancient to the families who do them, and each is newer than it feels.

2005

The Elf Is About Twenty Years Old

The Elf on the Shelf feels like a centuries-old custom in many homes, but the book came out in 2005.

The idea started as a family tradition: Carol Aebersold's kids grew up with a scout elf named Fisbee who watched and reported to Santa, and Aebersold's daughter Chanda Bell later wrote it down. When the major publishers passed, mother and daughter self-published the book in Georgia, and twenty years on it's a household name (Wikipedia).

1848

The Tree Caught On in the Mid-1800s

The Christmas tree wasn't a widespread American custom until the 1800s.

German immigrants kept the practice, but it stayed unfamiliar to many until an 1848 engraving showed Queen Victoria and Prince Albert around one. An American magazine reprinted it in 1850, and through the 1870s the tree moved from curiosity to a common sight (History.com).

KFC Christmas in Japan and the Gävle Goat

1974

A Bucket of Fried Chicken, Since 1974

In Japan, a Christmas bucket from KFC is one of the country's best-known holiday traditions. It started as a 1974 ad campaign (KFC's own account), and many families now pre-order weeks ahead.

1966

One Swedish City and Its Arson Problem

The Swedish city of Gävle builds a giant straw goat in its square every December. The first one went up in 1966. Since then, individual arsonists have tried to burn it down most years, and the goat keeps coming back, like a very flammable mascot (Smithsonian Magazine).

Age turns out to matter less than repetition. KFC Japan and the Elf on the Shelf are both young, and both already feel like tradition to the families who do them.

Why Family Christmas Traditions Matter for Kids

A tradition is how a family tells its story without assigning homework. Psychologists at Emory University built a quiz called Do You Know? and found that children who know more family stories tend to have stronger self-esteem and cope better with hard times (Emory). Family Christmas traditions put that idea to work, and the Thanksgiving family recipe book runs on the same one. A small repeated December ritual may be one of the easiest ways to hand a kid that sense of belonging.

What Makes a Family Tradition Stick

A tradition tends to stick when it has five things:

• A date, so it's expected.
• One small action, so it's possible.
• The kid's choice, so it's theirs.
• A name only your family uses, so it has an identity.
• Something to keep, a photo or a card or a repaired ornament, so year two has proof year one happened.

How to Start a Family Tradition: Six Christmas Ideas for Kids

To start a family tradition this year, pick the one your family would actually do twice, and let the kid do the work. Six link to a piece we wrote and the gear behind it, and two need nothing but a pen and a plate of cookies.

1. 

   The December photo wall. From December 1, the kid takes one picture a day and tapes it up, so the wall fills with small moments by Christmas Eve. Next year it starts again beside it. The format is in A Christmas Countdown Kids Actually Build, built around the myFirst Kids Instant Camera, and the kid's favorite shot can go into the family picture frame to stay on display.

2. 

   The Santa reply. Every year the kid speaks a letter to Santa out loud, the myFirst Insta magiBox, a mini sticker printer, turns the words into a printed illustrated story, and the reply gets kept with last year's. The scene is in What To Write Christmas Card, paired with a drawing pad for kids for the envelope art.

3. 

   The ornament repair shop. Every December the old ornaments come out and the kid runs the repair desk: well-loved ornaments get fixed, and a myFirst 3d kid Pen builds back the wing an angel lost. The Christmas Ornament Repair Shop, Run By Kids lays out the intake desk, with a before photo from the instant print camera for kids.

4. 

   The kid-made card. Each December the kid makes one card for someone they love: three honest lines and one real photo they took. What to Write in a Christmas Card That Earns a Fridge Spot teaches the formula, using the Instant print camera and a digital drawing board.

5. 

   The art stuffer. One art gift in the stocking each year, chosen by the kid, that they actually keep. We ranks the shortlist across a 3D pen, an instant camera, and the magiBox as art stocking stuffers for kids they'll actually Keep.

6. 

   The Sunday call. Every Sunday the kid calls grandma on the myFirst Fone S4, with grandma joining through myFirst Circle, and the call itself becomes the tradition. Nothing needs to have happened for it to count. Christmas Gifts for Kids to Share With Grandma for Years goes deeper on the grandma call.

7. The ornament of the year. Each December every kid picks one new ornament and writes the year on the back. By the time they move out, they have a box of Decembers to hang on their own tree.

8. 

   The cookie run. Each year the kid picks one neighbor, packs a plate of cookies with a note, and delivers it on the same day. After a few years, a neighbor may start watching for it.

Start One This December

Every tradition in this piece began the same way: someone did a small thing, then did it again. The Elf had Fisbee. The card had Henry Cole's shortcut. The pickle may have had a shop counter. Yours can have a kid, a date, and one small thing to keep.

Pick one idea from the list, put the date on the calendar, and let the kid run it. Do it again next December. A few years from now, your kid may be the one telling a younger cousin that it's always been done this way, and the pickle will have company.