Family Tradition Ideas ~ Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas (she: Mel)

Hello! I’m Mel from So Festive! and today I’m going to share with you my favorite holiday traditions for the Fall and Winter.

Traditions are a great way to create wonderful family memories and to break up the monotony of everyday life. Traditions will give you and your families something to look forward to. And you know what? They don’t have to be elaborate, expensive, or complicated.

Here are some of my favorite family tradition ideas:

Fall Traditions

-The Phantom: Friendly Neighborhood Ghost

The Phantom, the friendly neighborhood ghost, is one of my all-time favorites. Simply print copies of the handout, attach to a treat, and doorbell ditch it on one of your neighbor’s door. Watch the Phantom spread through the neighborhood all month long! Click here for a free printable and more info.

-Dinner In a Pumpkin + Recipe

You’ve got to make dinner anyway, so why not make it festive? Here is an easy recipe to cook in a pumpkin. How festive is that? It’s sure to become a family favorite!

-Family Halloween Movie Night: Hocus Pocus + Caramel Popcorn

Not all Halloween movies are scary! Cuddle up with your family to watch this classic and while you are at it, make some delicious Caramel Popcorn!

-Thanksgiving Eve Pie Night

This is one of my all-time favorite Thanksgiving traditions. We have a Thanksgiving-Eve pie night with the in-laws. Any excuse to eat pie twice is good enough for me! Click here for how we do it!

-Thankful Tablecloth

There are a lot of hand-print crafts out there, but I wanted something that would last. Each year, our family adds a new hand-print turkeys on our Thankful Tablecloth. We get to be reminded of what we were thankful for and watch everyone grow!

Winter Traditions

-Write and Burn a Letter to Santa on Christmas Eve

This all-time favorite tradition is a must-do on Christmas Eve. It gives everyone one last chance to tell Santa what they want, as well as a great way to recap how everyone has been that year. And then Santa’s magic does all the rest. More info here!

-Twas the Night Before Christmas Gift Exchange

Twas the Night Before Christmas…this easy and fun tradition gets everyone excited for Santa’s visit. Read this classic story as a family, while passing around a $1 gift. Whichever present you have at the end of the story is what you get to keep. Also a great family party game! Read more about it here.

-Christmas Story Countdown

Let’s face it. We probably all have a ton of Christmas books that never get read. This simple tradition ensures you can get through all of them during the Christmas season. Get the how to here.

-Sweet & Simple 12 Days of Christmas

On the 1st day of Christmas, start this simple and easy 12 days of Christmas for someone who needs a little extra Christmas cheer. Every day includes a poem and simple, cheap gift. Get free printable tags here.

-Easy Chocolate Christmas Houses

This tradition is an easy alternative to the common Gingerbread-House-making-tradition. It’s simple enough for any age and doesn’t require hours of baking gingerbread. (As much fun as that would be 🙂 What we use is here, including an easy frosting recipe that actually holds it all together.

Thanks again Mariel for having me! And I hope all of you are inspired to add one new tradition to your holidays this year because I promise, it will make for some great memories. Check out even more tradition ideas SoFestive.com.