6 Best Christmas Traditions To Start With Your Baby
As adults, the joy and excitement of Christmas just aren’t the same as when you were a child…until you have a baby! When your family has grown, Christmas becomes a whole new experience.
You and your partner can set up your very own Christmas traditions to start with your baby. Perhaps you will continue some traditions from your childhood or look for completely new ones to experience with your young family.
Whichever direction you take, having a baby is the perfect time to introduce Christmas traditions that you will keep as your child grows.
Here are the 6 best Christmas traditions to start with your baby:
Best Christmas Traditions To Start With Your Baby
Advent Calendar
Your baby isn’t ready for a chocolate advent calendar yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t introduce the concept of advent calendars.
Instead of offering one chocolate a day, why not create a family activity advent calendar?
Cut up 24 pieces of paper into strips. On each strip, write an activity such as reading a Christmas story, making a handprint ornament, or going for a Christmas light walk where you live.
After writing an activity, fold each strip and place them into an advent calendar. You could use a traditional box calendar, or purchase 24 numbered hessian bags, one for each day of advent.
Christmas Tree Ornament
Your baby is only small for such a short amount of time. They soon grow and you forget just how tiny their hands and feet were.
Creating a Christmas tree ornament is a lovely way to celebrate Christmas and create a special keepsake too.
You can make a tree ornament easily using salt dough.
To make salt dough, simply mix one cup of plain flour, half a cup of salt, and half a cup of water. Mix the dry ingredients first before adding water. Mold into a dough and roll flat. Cut out your desired shape ensuring it is big enough to fit your baby’s hand or foot.
You could either create a Christmas-themed shape e.g. a snowman or bauble, or something special e.g. a heart.
Once you have cut your chosen shape, you can place your baby’s hand or foot onto the shape. Make sure to remember to make a hole in the top of your ornament so that you can add string or ribbon to it once it is finished. Then put your salt dough on a baking sheet and place it into the oven to bake for 3 hours on its lowest setting.
After it has become hard and cooled, you can then paint it with your baby using baby-safe paints.
Make Christmas Cards
Everyone loves receiving Christmas cards in the post, but shop-bought are very generic and costly. Making Christmas cards at home can be a lovely Christmas tradition to start with your baby.
There are so many ways you can make a Christmas card such as:
- Painting your baby’s hand in green to print onto a white card. Then add different colored fingerprints as baubles.
- Draw a wavy line with a black sharpie on a white card and add colored fingerprints as lights.
- Paint your baby’s hand in brown and create a handprint upside down on a white card. Add two black fingerprints for the eyes on the palm and a red fingerprint for the nose to create Rudolph.
Your family and friends will appreciate a personal Christmas card much more than a shop-bought one. Plus, you can keep one for yourself and see how much your child’s hand grows every year!
Matching Pajamas
Matching pajamas for the whole family is such a cute tradition and makes a lovely photo to look back on each year.
You can purchase a different set of matching pajamas every year and reflect on how much your baby has grown.
Christmas Jumpers
Each year, my family purchases a new Christmas jumper. One of our family traditions is to take a family photo together in our Christmas jumpers.
This is a lovely Christmas tradition you can start with your baby too. Christmas jumpers come in different designs and create a lovely themed family photo.
You could even turn this family photo into a holiday photo, another tradition many families enjoy together. Your holiday photo can be sent out as a Christmas card to family and friends.
Christmas Stories
Your baby may be too young to make the most of some Christmas traditions, but stories are not one of them.
Christmas stories are excellent as they help to bring the magic of Christmas alive. If you are struggling to look for Christmas stories, a brilliant traditional story, to begin with, is ‘Twas the night before Christmas’.
This story helps create magic and excitement around Santa visiting. Although your baby won’t understand the concept of Santa yet, it is a lovely book to start reading with your child every year.
We include this book in our Christmas Eve box and read it the night before Christmas to help our children imagine Santa coming that night.
Alternatively, if you would like some Christmas stories that are suited to your baby’s age, here are a few good suggestions from Usborne:
These are just a few examples of Christmas traditions to start with your baby. Starting your own Christmas traditions whilst your baby is young is the perfect opportunity to test and try which Christmas traditions work for your family.
From decorating your house to making your very own advent calendar, there is a Christmas tradition for everyone.
Family Christmas traditions make Christmas come to life and feel extra special for all involved. It helps you to spend intentional time together with your baby and have something to look forward to every Christmas.
For more ideas on making the most of Christmas with your family, take a look at the following posts:
