Our Favourite Christmas Traditions
Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year.
On the Gold Coast it is warm and sunny and the days are longer.
The beach or the pool is where its at and fruit and cold ice blocks are a must!
All over the world families have their own Christmas Traditions. Some are just simple little traditions but every year they are special because they are what creates a beautiful memory of this time of the year.
We have rounded up our favourite traditions to share with you, so you too can enjoy making memories with your friends and family! Feel free to share with us your favourites too!
Christmas Box
Every year on the day you put up your tree, have a Christmas box that the family opens together that contains something similar each year.
We like to put the following in the Christmas Box-
- New Christmas PJs
- A Christmas book to read
- A Christmas Movie to watch together
- A Special ornament for the tree.
Some people prefer to open their Christmas Box on Christmas Eve. We like to enjoy it for as long as possible.
Elf On A Shelf
The Elf on the Shelf is a fun Christmas tradition that has captured the hearts of children.The magical Elf helps Santa with his 'nice' list by taking note of a family’s Christmas adventures and reporting back to Santa at the North Pole nightly. Each morning, the Elf returns to its family and perches in a new spot, waiting for someone to spot them. Children love to wake up and race around the house looking for their Elf each morning. Mums and dads everywhere have fun creating cheeky places for their elf to appear.
Personalised Tree Ornaments
A cute tradition is that each year you either make or have made a special tree ornament to add to the tree. Some places create beautiful personalised ones and they can one day even become a bit of a family heirloom!
Advent Calendar
An Advent calendar is a special calendar used to count the days of Advent in the lead up to Christmas. These days they usually have a pocket or a section that you open each day and it will have a chocolate or a joke or something fun.
Sometimes it can be hard to explain to kids though that you can only open one a day! hahahaha!
Secret Santa
With big families, Secret Santa is such a great tradition. We buy for all the kids but do secret Santa with the adults so the budget doesn't get too out of hand! We set a price so that we all get a gift of the same value and its fair.
Gingerbread House
Gingerbread House decorating can be so much fun!
But be warned - when decorating with kids, it doesn't usually look perfect and they often each most of the decorations before you are finished! But it is a fun process and memory.
Toy Donation
Christmas is all about giving so we encourage our child to pick a special gift at the shops that we then donate to a local charity or the 'Wishing Tree' for a child in need. It is important to teach our children that Christmas is not just all about receiving.
Family Photo
Every year we get a photo in front of our tree and also a photo with Santa at one of the local Shopping Centres. And its not just the kids! The whole family gets in!
Matching PJs
Finding matching PJs used to be such hard work, but now everyone seems to be jumping on the band wagon! Cotton On, Target, Kmart and more all seem to have matching PJs this year. The kids think its hilarious when everyone is matching!
Christmas Lights Tour
We love to look up all the amazing places across the Gold Coast and make a night of it looking at Christmas lights. Kids absolutely love it. There is something so magical about Christmas Lights!