Share Ideas for Annual Traditions

Footprint in a garden stone. They make a fun addition to the garden path and are practical as well.

We keep the newspaper on my kids birthday's. I think it will be neat for them to see what happened on their special day in the paper.

I have adope photoshop on my computer and I make a slide show every year for my daughter using pictures throughout the year. The first picture is always a picture from her party the previous year and then I go through and pick out all my favorites from the year and end with her birthday picture from the current year. I set it all to music and play it during the party. I usually make one or two people cry during the slideshow (LOL).

K.,

I have grown children and one younger one. Since my boys have been born, I have always written them a birthday letter.
As they grew the letters got longer and became something they looked forward too... I of course let them know my love for them and their importance in our family to us, guidance and encouragment things also. They expect these heartfelt letters from Mom and is something they keep and can reflect on in future years. In return they also do this for me... these are really special to me also...

We have this plastic snowman my son has loved since he was one. It's about 4' high. It's one of those that has a light in it and you plug it in and he lights up. Well, when he became obsessed with it at one, we took the cord out and he carried it everywhere. It's name is Uncle Chip. (Don't ask me why). He even dressed up as Uncle CHip for Halloween when he was 5. Anyway, we take a picture of him with Uncle Chip every year. The first one, the top of his head grazed the bottom of the carrot nose. Last year, they were almost the same size. This year, I think he may even be taller than Uncle Chip.

Also, starting this year, I take their first day of school pictures in front of the fire place each year. My son is only in first grade, but you could already see how much taller he was based on where he came to the mantle.

Our family did something that really pulled the kids together. When ever anyone child did well, won anything,etc....All the kids would get an award of some kind. things like once our oldest daughter had a solo in a band program....then we all went out for ice cream. Some one would have a great report card we would all go to the movies tell everyone this was our reward as family for give that child the suport they needed to do well. This really unified our kids.

Christmas was full of great things from making and delivering bake goods, to having a Caroling party every year. Also we hand made decorations and give them as gifts to our friends.

The birthday child go to pick what they wanted for dinner. Hope this gives you some things to try for your family.
By the way my kids are now grown and are all best friends.

Good luck.

I would always make my boys (now 22, 20 and 17) dinosaur pancakes on their birthdays. My oldest is now a Marine and he celebrated his 21st birthday in boot camp. He specifically asked in a letter home for me to make those dinosaur pancakes when he got home! Guess you never get too old for traditions!!!

K.,

When my oldest was about 3 I too wanted to start traditions that my kids would remember as fun as well as something they looked forward to. So, I thought back to what I had done as a child that was most memorable. Every year before Christmas my grandmother's would make home made sugar cookies. Now don't cringe if that is not your thing. They really aren't as hard as one might think.

Anyhow, my daughter and I started it and it grew to include my nieces and nephews along with my other children along the way. I have some cute pictures of floured faces covered with icing.

Here is a tip that helped make it much easier. Make the dough yourself and place it in the frig to cool as it says to (Betty Crocker has the best recipe in my opinion) but letting it set for an hour really isn't necessary. The dough becomes too firm and then crumbles. Long enough to chill 30-40 minutes makes for a much better dough. I have also found that when the dough becomes crumbly you can put all those pieces back into the mixer and add just a little bit of milk and you are ready to go once again. May need to let it chill though

Hope that helps with a good idea. Be patient! That's the hard part and the mess they make can all be cleaned up. But the memories are priceless.

I've taken a picture of my children sitting in the same living room chair every year on their birthdays. Now, we have a series of pictures that show their growth very clearly.

My ex-husband's family had a really neat Christmas tradition. After the kids opened all of their presents each year, they got out the video camera & "interviewed" each child. They asked them questions like what their favorite present was & that kind of thing...but they also asked them other fun things like if they had a boyfriend/girlfriend, what their favorite color was, etc...things that were fun to look back on & remember. One year we sat down & watched several Christmas' worth of the videos & it was really neat to see how the kids had grown & their likes & dislikes at different times in their lives.
Another Christmas tradition taken from my grandparents was for everyone to sit around the Christmas tree the night before Christmas & one of grandchildren was chosen to read the "Christmas story" from the Bible while we all listened. It was always exciting when you got chosen because we were a big family & there were lots of grandkids to be chosen from. It's also a great reminder of why we celebrate Christmas & that it's not just about the presents.
Hope you find some great traditions to start!

When my children were young, which has been some time now, we started collecting a dated Christmas ornament each year for each child. It could be also a home-made one with a date, which they enjoy looking at when they are older. When my daughter recently married, she suggested that I keep them until she began to have children. She wants to do the same tradition for her children.

Also, Handprints are neat as ornaments, but great for scrapbooks, especially for boys...And also foot prints...this is fun to do at the holidays or birthdays and keep in a book. You would be surprised as your child gets older, how fast their feet grow in one year. Especially around their teen years. It is fun to look back on and surprisingly, they are interested in this (when friends are not around) in their teen years.

Have a Blessed Day!

I saw this somewhere...maybe on this website...where the person started a time capsule on the child's first b-day and then put stuff in it every year for the kid to open on their 18th b-day. My daughter (Kayci -- almost like your name ;-) is almost 1 and I think I am going to do this for her.

every year on christmas eve we make a birthday cake for Jesus. the kids pick out what kind of cake and if we put chocolate chips in it and what kind of icing and decorations we have on it. on christmas eve earlier in the day they get to help mix the cake batter up and we bake it. then in the evening, the party is on! they decorate it to the nines! my three girls and my niece all get into it (ages 5, 6, 7 and 13 now). they each have a portion of the cake to decorate. it is usually piled high with frosting and sprinkles and whatever else they thought of. then on christmas morning, after we check our stockings, we put candles on the cake and actually all stand around and sing happy birthday to Jesus and have chocolate cake for breakfast. we take any leftovers to whatever christmas gathering we are having that afternoon. it's a great way to keep the real reason for the season in their mind and it's a great way to remind others when they are eating the birthday cake. have fun with whatever traditions you choose!

We make Jesus a birthday cake for christmas, the kids look forward to it every year. We also have a celebration plate the kids can use ONLY oln a special day - ie: bday/graduation. They also have a specail cup for when they are sick.

Kids love the traditions and my 3 really look forward to them.

Not necessarily a tradition for your children, but each year on my sons bday I write him a letter. I try to sumarize the year, explain my feelings, what we have been through. When he gets married and has his first child, I will then present those letters to him in a book. I do not believe he would benefit from the letters until he himself becomes a parent. But I believe it is something he will treasure!

I put my son's handprint on our Christmas tree skirt. I missed last year because my daughter was born right before Christmas. But this year, we'll do both sets of handprints. It's fun to see how much they grow each year. now, with two, I'm sure we will run out of room on this tree skirt.

I know a lot of people use a stick and mark off each year or a wall in the house. I seen this article once, it was with a girl, but her mom bought an adult size bathing suit when she was born, took a picture of her in it every year on her birthday. I thought that was very creative. I've never been creative like this, wish I would have now...

Buy an ornement every year that speak to what your son is interested in now--I still have the Winnie the Pooh etc ones for my kids when they were that age--it's fun every year to go over their history.

I write a letter to our children every year and tell them about the past year and seal it in an envelope and i am going to have them open the letters on their 18th birthday with 18 years of "love" letters...

I always sit down the night before my kids birthday and tell them the story of their "birth" day. My oldest just turned 7 and she still loves to hear her story.

I have a friend that has a picture taken of her hand with her daughters hand on hers every year. Kind of neat and different and of course there are pictures of the two of them.

Here is a great one that I read about in a magazine about 8 years ago. I have 3 boys and every year on or the week of their birthday they get their picture taken in the shirt Dad was wearing when they were born. I have these pictures of him at the hospital holding their tiny bodies and now the same shirt they can fit into. Kinda cornie but I think its cute. Nothing we hang up but I keep them all of course. I did Dads shirt because mine were boys but if you have daughters it suggested a favorite dress of Mom's or something passed down, maybe wrapped up in Grandma's quilt/afghan. Throughout the year we do hand prints and if your son ever goes to a moms day out/pre school type thing you will get the hand print ornaments etc.