Hi Everyone... (Thanks in advance for helping me out with this request.)
Okay so in my girl scout troop we are talking about our families and we will be making a family keepsakes. We are going to be sharing some family traditions with each other. I want to remind the girls that traditions don't have to cost a lot of $$ like going on an elaborate vacation every summer. One silly thing we do is make up silly nonsense words for objects such as the phone is called the fizzle in our home and silly nicknames for each other and those nicknames get changed from time to time. I have a few more but I don't want this too get too long since I want you to take a minute or two and share a ritual or two with me (and the rest you who might be interested.)
I googled this topic and got some ideas but I think a lot of good ideas can be shared here on Mamapedia. I want the girls to make a list of things they would like to start doing with their families and perhaps make them a ritual. So can you think of different things other than what is common already such as family game night, family bike rides, reading together, Christmas tree decorating, dying eggs on Easter.......??
They don't have to be traditions you are practicing now, but maybe you, yourself would like to start doing. I'd like to share your ideas with my troop at their next meeting which is tommorow. (First I will have them brainstorm and then I'll share your ideas and some of my own.) FYI- The girls are in third grade.
So what may be a simple activity but it has a lot of meaning to your family? I hope the discussion and activities will help the girls create more family tra ditions that will bring closeness and unity to their families.
Most Friday nights after the younger kids go to bed (7:30'ish) the two older kids come out to the garage and we all have a dance off! LOL ~ it worked out really great for my son who was a real hit on the dance floor at his uncle's wedding last weekend!!
I also make a special request dinner for everyone on their birthday. They get to choose the meal and the dessert.
We read together. Even though my kids are 8 and 6 and can read on their own, we still read together all the time. Right now, my daughter is reading to my son, without me having to prompt them, which is an amazing thing for me to see. We don't have a lot of money, so we go to the library all the time and always get new books and read them together.
Apple picking and enjoying apple cider and the delicious donuts.
Every single night before bed, my hubby asks each of the kids what their favorite part of the day was and then they talk about the event. Totally free nightly tradition in our house.
We watch American Funniest Videos on Friday night with the kids, lol. Our kids are 5 and 4 and they laugh their butts off. We sit and giggle at our kids laughing. LOVE IT!!!
Each Christmas my kids pick out a toy the really REALLY want, and then we donate it to a family who has less.
We visit the pumpkin patch each October - each kid picks one pumpkin and names him or her. Whoevers rots first gets a prize.
We have goofy dance-offs in our living room. Each kid performs and the parents judge who the "winner" is. My son breakdancing is by far the funniest thing I have ever seen.
You get to pick whatever you want for dinner on your birthday ( for everybody)
Sunday is family day lunch is " make your own" we make Mini Pizza's Sub sandwiches, Hamburgers, baked potato bar. Anything the boys can personalize and make the way they like it. Usually while watching some sport.
Before we decorate the christmas tree every year the kids buy a new ornament and all the decorations on the tree are the kids or someone has given them to us it looks like a giant toy box usually.
When I was young my family made "birthday plates." My mom bought some plates that we could paint (all food safe). Every year after, on our birthdays, we ate off of our birthday plate and mom would make us our favorite dinner. When I graduated college, my mom gave my birthday plate to me as a gift. I plan on doing it for my children as well.
My daughter got a karaoke machine as a gift one year, and after that, we had karaoke contests.
Here are some of ours:
we read together nearly every night; 2 stories each then the Bible right before bed
birthday dinner is special person's choice
new picture Christmas ornament every year
We each have t-shirts that say "Team Swink" on the back (our last name obviously) and then the front says something about our title in the family; i.e. mine says Mommy3 (the 3 is little...like cubed), our son's says, "I'm still the big brother." Whenever a family member has an event like a sports game, dance recital, or something like that we all wear our team t-shirts in support of them.
Great question!
We say prayers before bed every night and include extra prayers for things we are especially thankful for, people we know who are in need, or things going on in the world. The kids won't go to bed without mom saying the prayers (even the 13-year-olds) and it's a nice way to talk about things.
The kids can have any kind of cake they want for their birthday. If they can dream it up, I will make it into a cake. We've had a couple of near-fails and some amazing accomplishments over the years and it's a fun tradition for all of us.
We host my parents and siblings for Christmas Eve dinner. It's a pretty casual get together and I didn't even realize that the kids thought of it as a tradition until a couple of them wrote about our annual "party" at school.
We used to howl at the full moon and get ice cream after swimming and for good grades. For our first family New Year party in NC we blew up the gingerbread house with fireworks and for Thanksgiving we watch pumpkins being shot out of catapults and trebuchets. We put whoopie cushions in each other's seats and make up silly songs. My sisters and I all have silly nicknames for each other. My oldest sister and I used to have "window races" where we would see who could roll the car windows up and down the fastest. We also like looking for license plates from different states on long drives. When I was a kid whenever we went on a long drive Dad always put in a tape of classical music. My sister and I used to squirt Dad and my BIL with a spray bottle filled with water and say "squirts for snores".
I love my crazy clan.
the biggie in our family has become the 4th of july. Overall, it's probably pretty pricy, but individually it is not. My dad lives on an 800 acre lot in the mountains, and every year on independance day we have a HUGE bonfire/potluck/fireworks show. Everybody brings something to eat, and some fireworks to contribute to the 'pile'. We spend the day with music and a big bonfire, just hanging out with each other. We might go down and swim in the creek, fish, and generally just hang out. Then we eat. Then come the 'daytime' fireworks for the kids (parachute men, cars, etc.) and the cannon. My dad built a black-powder cannon that we shoot stuff like fenceposts, watermellons, pretty much anything that will fit. Once night starts to fall, my dad and the other guys light off the fireworks. We usually have a decent show there, because he built some special 'launchers' for the shells, so our show is just as impressive as the one the city puts on. (yes, he got a permit. lol.) It started out fairly small... just a picnick with my immediate family, but over the years it has grown. Now we generally have at least 20-30 family members, plus friends, plus neighbors and other locals. (it's a small mountain town.) It's something we look forward to every year.
We also have a christmas tradition of having helium balloons in the living room when we wake up christmas day. Tanks of helium are pretty cheap to rent, and balloons are really cheap, so you can't even see the ceiling through them all. :)
Pancake Sundays...In my husband's family, he grew up with his dad making pancakes on the weekend. He'd add blue food coloring to the batter and call them Smurf-cakes. We continue to have pancakes on the weekend in our house, and although we don't add blue food coloring just yet, I imagine we will as our son gets older. For now, we just make mini baby-cakes for him.
I have never enjoyed going out on Valentine's day, so since our son was about 4 we have spent that day at home as a family. We have a "normal" dinner but then indulge in delicious homemade chocolate fondue for dessert. We also exchange cards. My son is 15 now and he still looks forward to the fondue every year for Valentine's day! (although I'm sure soon he will be spending it with a girl!)
We call fly swatters mapper flappers.
On the kids birthdays we hang a big Happy Birthday banner and they pick whatever they want for dinner and I make it.
Good Luck at the meeting.
J. O
Every year on the fourth of July I take a picture of my two girls in front of a large spread out American flag. Sometimes they wear sunglasses. And sometimes they pose like Charlies angels . I also make them embrace in a coupe of pictures, and then I take a couple of shots of them shaking their fists and or sticking their tongues out at one another. I also take them every spring and take their picture in front of two gorgeous dogwood trees in full bloom at our local park . Not only do I get to see how they grow and change each year , but I am hoping that one day my grandchildren will take their children to the very same spot. And hopefully they will speak of how much my daughters treasured our family ritual and how they are they are standing at the very place where their grandmother stood as a child with her sister and posed for their great-grandmother. I know... Chill bumps huh? I was pretty proud of myself when I first came up with this idea years ago . Still am. Hope this helps. : )
