Our first Christmas with our first baby was honestly MAGICAL. ✨ My mom was the queen of traditions and always made the holidays feel so special, so a lot of these come straight from my own childhood. Now I get to pass them on to our little one, and some new ones we started ourselves. 🥹
If you’re looking for Christmas traditions to start with baby, here are 13 of our family favorites. Most are simple, a few are a little crafty, and all of them are about slowing down and soaking it in.
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1. Cutting down our Christmas tree
We bundle up and head out to cut down our own tree in the forest. Baby napped in the carrier basically the whole time. It’s one of my favorite ways to kick off the season and we always go the day after Thanksgiving with my entire family!
2. Handprint salt dough ornaments
These are the sweetest keepsake. I made ours from scratch with salt dough and it was so easy. I’ll be honest, I don’t remember the exact recipe I used.🙈 The classic one is 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt and about 1/2 cup water. Mix it, roll it out, cut circles, press in the handprint, poke a hole for the ribbon and bake low and slow until they’re hard.
Want it even easier? These kits come with everything you need:
3. Painting cute decor for the nursery
I painted a little wooden reindeer for his nursery and it’s one of my favorite things we have out at Christmas. Paint-your-own wooden kits make this so easy, and they’re fun to do every year as your kids get older.
4. Handprints on the tree skirt
This one might be my favorite. We painted his handprints on our tree skirt with his name and the year, and we’ll add new ones every Christmas. I can’t wait to look back and see how much his hands have grown. 🥹
We have this linen tree skirt and I just used regular acrylic paint. Tip: have a wet wipe ready before you start. Baby hands move fast!
5. Matching family Christmas jammies
Matching jammies are a must! My favorite place to get them is Forever French. They’re SO soft and their prints are adorable. Caden Lane is another favorite with lots of family matching options.
6. A photoshoot in our matching PJs
Once we’re all matching, we do a little photoshoot in front of the tree. We just set up a tripod and used a timer. Easy peasy!
7. A “Cookies for Santa” plate
Obsessed with our “cookies for Santa” plate. It’s such a fun keepsake. I used this white stoneware plate from Target and acrylic paint.
Tip: regular acrylic paint isn’t food safe, so set the cookies on a napkin and hand wash the plate.
8. Handmade stockings
I made our stockings and they turned out SO cute. Here’s how:
- Start with a plain knit stocking.
- Print each name in a script font on Sulky Sticky Fabri-Solvy (it goes right through your printer) and stick it on the stocking.
- Stitch over the letters with chunky red yarn.
- Rinse the stocking under water and the Fabri-Solvy dissolves, leaving just the yarn name.
9. An ornament exchange with the cousins
Every year the cousins exchange ornaments. We used to do this with our cousins growing up and now as an adult, I have so many ornaments that hold tons of memories from my childhood. Our baby got a “First Christmas” ornament, and it’s so fun to watch everyone’s collection grow. When the kids are grown, they’ll each have a box of ornaments with a story behind every one.
10. A Christmas movie with the whole family on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve means everyone piled on the couch for a Christmas movie. Simple, cozy and my favorite part of the night. Again, another tradition we did growing up!
11. Sleeping “under the tree”
We all sleep under the tree and have a sleepover in the living room on Christmas Eve. It’s a little chaotic, it’s not the best sleep, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. This tradition is going 30 years strong cause it’s the only way it feels like Christmas to me lol.
12. Stockings first (with an orange at the bottom)
We always open stockings first on Christmas morning, and there’s always an orange at the very bottom. I honestly don’t even know where this one came from. But my mom did it, so now I do too.
13. Family cookie decorating
We get the whole family together to decorate cookies. They don’t look perfect and that’s the whole point. Frosting everywhere, sprinkles everywhere, lots of laughing.
Start small
You don’t have to start your traditions all at once. Pick one or two that feel special to you and build from there. The traditions that stick are the ones that feel like your family!
Save this for when the holidays roll around. And I’d love to know, what are your favorite Christmas traditions? Tell me in the comments 👇🏼
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