With just a little effort, you can create household traditions that will make life easier and happier for your family. A happy family leads to a happy life.
Household traditions don’t have to be big to make great and lasting memories for your family.
Participating in household traditions is a way for families to bond, create wonderful memories and have things to look forward to doing again and again. All too often, parents think that they must make grand gestures in order to create happy memories and lasting household traditions. This could not be further from the truth. Often what impresses our children and creates lasting memories for our children are things that cost little money. At the same time, there is nothing wrong with having family traditions that cost a lot of money and are extravagant in nature. The best household traditions are custom-made for each family. By way of example, I will share a few household traditions that my family and I enjoy. Check out this list and see what you think of them:
- ice cream at Wendy’s after ballet recitals
- Saturday YouTube day
- Cheese and meat platters for New Years Day
- Compliment Day
Ice Cream at Wendy’s After Ballet Recitals
This tradition started four years ago after my twins’ first ballet recital. On the way home from the Academy of Music, the theater where the recital was held, we passed a Wendy’s restaurant. The twins were hot and hungry and asked for ice cream cones. We ordered our cones and traveled to the train station to ride home. The cones were a nice, sweet treat. After that, the girls wanted ice cream after the recital each year. It became a fun household tradition that everyone enjoyed.
Click here to read about the fun of family game night.
Saturday YouTube Day
One of loudest household traditions involves the internet. More than ten years ago my husband started watching music videos on YouTube each Saturday afternoon. Over time, our family developed a habit of joining him to watch videos on his big screen computers. Normally, Darren starts with old videos from his teenage days long ago. As the day progresses the videos get more modern. It is such a fun way to spend an afternoon. The family watches videos, sings, dances and laughs.
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Cheese and Meat Platters for New Year’s Day
This is another of our household traditions that happened by accident. While looking through catalogs one cold winter day we found a variety of cheese and meat platters. We ordered a nice selection of the trays. That New Year’s Day we were feeling lazy and didn’t feel like cooking dinner. So, at the children’s request, we pulled out the cheese and meat trays and had a fun time munching on the treats, watching movies and enjoying each other’s company. After we did it the first year, we continued the tradition for the next five years.