“Creating Meaningful Holiday Season Traditions with your Family”

Presented by Capital M Moms

This blog post was sponsored by Audible, Visit Orlando and Giant Tiger

As parents, it is often hard for us to convey the true meaning of the holiday season when children are so focused on their gifts. By creating simple holiday traditions in your home, you can refocus your family’s  priorities and teach valuable lessons while still celebrating the fun of gifting.

Tip 1: Give the gift of experiences and family time by gifting “The Twelve Envelopes of 2020”

We always hear that time spent together is the best gift of all. And yet, often when we think of gifts for our children during the holiday, we immediately consider toys and other physical gifts. This year, think outside the toy box and gift your child a year of experiences together.

Here’s what you do:

Get 12 flat cards and envelopes.

Label each envelope with a month of the year

On each card, write something your family will do together that month.  Here are some ideas to get you started:

 

• Family movie night – kids pick the movie!
• Camp out in the backyard
• Visit a new sledding hill
• Ice cream date
• Back to School shopping trip and lunch date

Think about fun seasonal outings and don’t forget to get the most “bang for your buck” and include family vacations your child might not yet know about. If you haven’t planned that fun family vacation yet, consider surprising your kids with a visit to Orlando in 2020. There’s no better vacation than the family fun Orlando has to offer. From Walt Disney World to Universal Studios, there’s something for kids of all ages to enjoy. Imagine your child’s excitement when she opens the March envelope and sees “We’re going to Disney World!” Looking for a deal? Use promo code “GIFT” on Orlandotickets.com for purchases from Nov. 19 – Dec. 8 to save an extra 10 percent on some of Orlando’s most popular attractions, including the world-famous theme parks like Universal Orlando and bogo tickets at The Wheel at ICON Park. 

Tip 2: Find time for charitable family projects.

It doesn’t take a lot of time or money to help others, but the impact on your children is lifelong.

Make it a tradition to give a gift to a charitable organization. Have your family choose your cause together each year and involve your children in the decision making process.

Tip 3: Holiday traditions don’t have to be expensive or complicated.

It’s easy to forget what’s really important during the craziness of the holiday season. We encourage parents to create simple Christmas Eve traditions that allow your family to slow down and re-focus before busy Christmas Day full of overwhelming excitement and extended gatherings with family and friends. Here are a few super fun but super simple ideas!

• As a family, open one gift on Christmas Eve. We love the gift of new pajamas, ready to wear that night. Make it even more fun by getting matching PJ’s for the whole family. Wear them on Christmas Eve and you are guaranteed to have adorable Christmas morning photos! We love these reasonably priced ones from Giant Tiger
• Enjoy your favourite holiday stories while wrapping gifts, baking cookies for Santa, or having a Christmas Eve dinner. I know what you’re thinking – read books and bake at the same time? Sure – it’s easy with Audible. With an Audible.ca account membership (or a free 30-day trial), you can tune in to classic holiday family titles like “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” or “The Night Before Christmas” while lounging around, prepping holiday meals, or finishing last minute wrapping. Listening to audiobooks and spoken-word content is easy and can be done on many
  different devices like your iPhone or Android smart phone, Apple Watch, tablet or hands-free through an Amazon Alexa-enabled device.

Tip 4: Create meaningful ornaments or crafts as a family to be brought out year after year.

There’s something special about taking out your ornaments each year and taking a trip down memory lane to the places and people that gave that ornament meaning in your life.  Crafting ornaments together as a family doesn’t have to be complicated to be meaningful.

• New Year’s Resolution or time capsule ornaments – cut 1 cm high strips of paper. Have each family member write down their resolution for the new year and sign their name. Then, curl the paper like you would a ribbon and tuck it into a clear bulb ornament. You can also write a highlight of the previous year to look back on.
• We love craft kits as a way to save time and ensure your homemade ornaments turn out perfectly and don’t cause more holiday season stress. These bulb ornament kits from Creativity for Kids are easy to use and lots of fun. The strips of paper can tuck ride inside. We also love their handprint  (or paw print) keepsake ornament kit