Does your family always watch Elf on Christmas Eve or play “drop the clothespins in the bottle” on birthdays? No, only mine? Family traditions have always fascinated me. I love how sometimes they are planned to be a tradition, sometimes they are stumbled upon, and sometimes it’s just because the family has been doing it this way for generations. My family has all of the above. Promise you will not judge us (me)? Okay, here we go!
- Candy Cups: Apparently this one has been done for generations on my mom’s side of the family. For every birthday, there is a cupcake/muffin paper holder at every place setting filled with the birthday person’s favorite candy. I love it because it gives you something to snack on while presents are opened and cake is eaten. Plus, who doesn’t have spare cupcake holders in their pantry. Super easy to pull together!
- Picture of the Week (POW): I am fortunate to live in the same area (ahem neighborhood) as my parents, but my siblings live in different states. In an effort to connect on a weekly basis, we each send a picture from that week in a group text on Fridays. This was my brother’s brainchild, and I look forward to seeing the pictures that my parents, siblings, and siblings-in-law send each week. Some of the pictures are definitely conversation starters and may have caused my parents a few grey hairs.
- IHOP – The Easter Brunch: This one makes me laugh because who goes to IHOP after church on Easter? The Newlands/Meareses/Reffitts and apparently a lot of other people since there is ALWAYS a wait. I think this one started because we were simply hungry after church one Easter and my
parentsMom did not feel like making lunch for a bunch of overly-sugared kids. Apparently, it was quite enjoyable (can’t imagine that considering there were 3 kids under the age of 12) because we just kept going back every Easter. We’re not really an IHOP family either, this is the only time we go to IHOP. Totally random and totally perfect.
In addition to the above we also make homemade signs on paint sticks for graduations and sporting events, we make the birthday person go sit in their room while we decorate the kitchen for them, we go for a lap around the mall on Christmas Eve, and we go to Chick-Fil-A on the 27th of each month because we ate there for lunch on the day Logan was born (the 27th). Remember, this is a judgment free zone
I want to hear about your family traditions! Let me know some of the fun, unique, and bizarre things your family does together in the comments.
I love our traditions!
Your favorite candy is gummy worms?! I’ve placed balloons by my kids crib/bed for every birthday while they sleep and now that they’re a bit older, they go through a streamer maze in the hallway when they wake. They always blow out a candle on a donut in the morning.
I was wondering if anybody was going to catch the gummy worms. No, it was a joint birthday celebration for my brother (July 3rd) and Wes and me. Since it was on Joe’s birthday then the candy cups were his favorite candy. Good catch! I love the donut idea! Such a fun way to start the day off. I’m going to start doing that one for sure.
Thanks for sharing this. I hadn’t thought about some of these as traditions. It’s nice to see it from your perspective and to see some of these items in a new light. As you know, when we parent we just try to find moments to make memories. I’m glad we made some memories together!
Love you!
Mom
And there were so many more I could have written about!
I forgot some of these, nice!
In addition to signs on sticks, putting enlarged photos on sticks of those absent when we were taking group photos. ❤️
haha! That’s right! I think we used a spatula one time too…