How To Create Your Own Family Traditions—And Why You Should

Family traditions or rituals are experiences or activities that are passed down between generations. These traditions can be as unique and special as the family itself. In addition to being something to look forward to, traditions also establish a foundation for family values and serve as special bonding experiences.

Traditions can provide families with a sense of identity and belonging. They can inspire positive feelings and memories that family members can share. Family traditions also provide a sense of continuity across generations. They are a way of transferring the family's values, history, and culture from one generation to the next. Learn more about the benefits of creating and keeping family rituals, including 33 family tradition ideas to try.

Why Family Traditions Are Important

People create and maintain family traditions because they bring meaning to celebrations and foster special bonds. More importantly, traditions create positive experiences and memories and a sense of security for everyone by nurturing a family's connection and giving them a sense of belonging.

Family traditions also help children understand who they are and what is important to the family to which they belong. Traditions create a connection for children that comes from feeling like they are part of something unique and extraordinary. Family traditions can even contribute to a child's self-esteem and enhance their well-being. After all, children find comfort and security when things are predictable and consistent.

Family Routines vs. Family Traditions

Family traditions differ from everyday family routines, which also occur repeatedly, but lack the symbolic meaning that family rituals hold. While family traditions carry a special significance for all family members involved, family routines are often basic activities that are necessary to keep the family unit functioning. A regular family dinner each weeknight may be part of the family routine, for example, whereas a family dinner at a favorite restaurant for your child's birthday may be a tradition.

Many families have traditions that endure for generations. These special activities or events often generate fond memories that everyone cherishes and attempts to carry on. Some traditions relate to the family's heritage, like going to a cultural festival or cooking a meal from the "old country" on a certain day each year. 

Other rituals may have to do with special events, such as a pearl necklace that is passed down at each wedding. Still others are simply fun activities that family members enjoy repeating.

Non-Holiday Family Traditions

When most people think of family traditions, they naturally think of holiday traditions first, such as those surrounding Kwanzaa, Christmas, Hannukah, or Ramadan. Events surrounding these holidays, like picking out a Christmas tree, lighting the candles on the menorah or kinara, and gathering for dinner with extended family can become regular traditions.

But families can also have non-holiday rituals that are unique to them. Think: Apple picking every fall or letting the birthday child pick the restaurant for their birthday dinner.

Here are a few family traditions ideas that you can adapt for your family or use as inspiration:

• Volunteer each spring in an annual community cleanup.
• Cook hamburgers on the grill on Saturdays during the summer.
• Take a silly family selfie during summer vacation each year.
• Buy food for the local food pantry once a month and deliver it together.
• Have a bonfire to celebrate the last day of school.
• Picnic in a park on the first day of summer.
• Serve in a local soup kitchen together once a month.
• Go apple picking or visit a pumpkin patch each fall.
• Do karaoke, laser tag, bowling, roller skating, or some other fun activity on a set day each month, such as the last Friday.
• Take your kids for ice cream to celebrate every report card.
• Have a particular food on a set day each week, such as brunch on Sunday, breakfast for dinner on Friday, or tacos on Tuesday.
• Build a fire and make hot chocolate on the first day of winter.
• Go on a maple syrup hike each winter.
• Organize a family book club.
• Take part in an annual fitness challenge as a family.
• Go on a family walk or bike ride every Sunday afternoon.
• Watch the sunrise together on the first day of summer and the sunset on the last day of summer break.
• Plan a regular family game night and play cards or board games together.

Family Holiday Traditions

Here are some holiday traditions to choose or adapt for your family.

• Give everyone a new set of pajamas and take a family photo in your matching PJs.
• Give each child a board game or puzzle and play the games or assemble the puzzles as a family.
• Watch a favorite holiday movie each Thanksgiving.
• Cook a meal together as a family on your family's special holiday.
• Make fun and creative Leprechaun traps for St. Paddy's Day.
• Get hot chocolate and watch a community tree-lighting ceremony.
• Tour your community to look at the light displays on homes or businesses.
• Make and decorate holiday-themed cookies.
• Host a family or neighborhood cookie exchange.
• Do holiday crafts together, such as for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Easter, or Valentine's Day. Then use what you make to decorate your home or give as gifts.
• Assemble care packages for family members who are away during the holidays.
• Write heartfelt letters to family members you can't spend time with during the holidays.
• Host a white elephant gift exchange.
• Attend a holiday performance or concert each year, such as the "Nutcracker," the local symphony, or Trans Siberian Orchestra.
• Get a new piece of holiday-related decor, like a Christmas ornament, each year, or make an ornament to commemorate the past year.

How To Keep Family Traditions Going

Establishing and maintaining family traditions is a way for families to bond over shared experiences and a way for them to connect to one another and their shared past. But keeping family traditions going takes some commitment and planning.

While most people look forward to the stability and predictability that comes with repeating the same activities each year, it also can be daunting if the family traditions are highly involved, overly expensive, or require a lot of planning.

Try to keep your family traditions simple. Think about playing games, sharing special recipes, going on a hike, seeing a performance, and so on. These simpler traditions are more likely to be repeated and carried on. Likewise, your traditions don't need to be expensive. There are plenty of ways for families to bond without spending a lot of (or any) money.

Be open to trying things out—and scrapping them if they don't work. You also don't need to repeat an activity over and over just because it's become a tradition. The goal of a family tradition is that everyone has fun and looks forward to repeating it year after year. Feel free to change things up and only keep the traditions your whole family loves.