Christmas morning is such a special time. Sure, it might start with the kids waking you up at the crack of dawn by yanking on your sleeve, but then it turns into special magical beautiful chaos. But what can you do to make it more memorable than just ripping into the presents right away? By choosing just a few of these 16 Christmas Morning Traditions for Families to start this year, you can bring fun, tradition, and a bit of extra Christmas magic to your Christmas mornings from here on out.
Starting New Christmas Morning Traditions
While Christmas Day is the true holiday, Christmas Eve (and really all of December) becomes a special time for holiday traditions and cheer.
There are so many fun Christmas traditions to take part in the entire month like these 5 different ways to celebrate the 12 days of Christmas or these traditions for kids that you can do all through December to make it extra special.
But what about Christmas morning?
I know in all honesty, you are probably kinda burnt by Christmas morning, I know I am! After running around all month shopping, wrapping, baking, and decorating… who has energy left for making an early morning memorable?
But with this list, I know you can do it! I’m trying to take the utter exhaustion that us parents feel by the time Christmas rolls around into account when I bring you these special Christmas morning traditions to start with your family this year. The fact is, by that day we are all TIRED!
Some of these things you can even set up in advance and some are just really special without too much effort.
But don’t worry, I’m making this list include a lot of different ideas so no matter your level of energy or amount of time that you have to add in new Christmas morning traditions, you will be able to find something right for your family on this list.
16 New Christmas Morning Traditions for Families to Start This Year
While of course you can choose any of these traditions to start with any family, no matter the ages of your kids, some fit better for younger kids and some for older, some fit better for bigger families and some for small… so I’ll start off with some that fit youngest kids best and work my way up.
Make Salt Dough Mementos
Sometimes you don’t want to wake the whole family up for Christmas presents when the kids first wake you out of bed. Maybe you want to let Dad sleep in or big brother or sister no longer want presents at 5 AM.
So the struggles begins with how to entertain the littlest ones for a bit in the morning… how about a salt dough craft?
Making salt dough is super easy with things you already have in your kitchen. You can make ornaments using cookie cutters, make hand or footprints to display in the house (or even on the tree if you child is REALLY small) or just let them sculpt.
This is great for any age, but if you are specifically looking for some Christmas traditions to start with a new baby… check out these 20 ideas.
Try Some No Mess Christmas Crafts
Another great idea to keep the kids entertained in the morning is having some no-mess Christmas craft ideas already set up! You can just set these out the night before and maybe actually get a chance to enjoy sipping your coffee while it’s actually warm in the morning.
Have a Special Christmas Morning Breakfast
Making special and themed holiday breakfasts is just something I find so sweet and heartwarming. Use these 20+ Christmas Breakfast ideas (that aren’t too tough either) to make something festive and fun on Christmas morning for your kiddos.
Have a Christmas Music Dance Party
Make a music playlist on whatever music app you use (or get old school and bust out a holiday CD) and get the wiggles out on a chilly Christmas morning. This can be done after breakfast, after presents, or even before!
Take Sleepy Morning Christmas Photos
This is pretty easy to do and encourage. Snap those bed-head photos of the kids eagerly gripping their stockings before they tear into them!
To take up more time you can even make it more of a thing… have some props and poses for the kids to use and make a full sleepy-morning photoshoot instead of the dark blurry images a lot of us snap hurriedly on Christmas mornings.
Christmas Stocking Scavenger Hunt
You’re already staying up late wrapping presents and slipping them under the tree, if you have some energy left, why not set up a quick scavenger hunt for the stockings instead of sticking them back on the wall or under the tree?
This sounds daunting and time consuming, but I promise it’s not!
Cut a piece of paper into eighths and scribble down random clues like, “If you were getting cleaned up in the morning, you’d find me right away,” and stick the next note with the hair brushes or “I’m cold and icy and need to come out!” and place the next clue into the freezer. Wherever the last clue leads them is where the stockings should be!
It’s pretty quick to do and makes a fun special tradition that you can easily keep up year after year.
Clue to the Big Gift
OR if making a whole scavenger hunt just sounds too daunting at 2AM or whenever you’re wrapping up filling underneath the tree (and maybe finishing up Santa’s cookies too), how about “Santa” leaving a clue to where the biggest and best gift is hidden?
Get creative and have fun! Or if you don’t do Santa or they are too old, just a clue from you is fine. (And if you’re secretly wanting to stop this whole “Santa brings the gifts” thing you started and maybe now regret… check out how to painlessly end the lie of Santa.)
Make a Hot Cocoa Bar
Set up a mini hot cocoa bar with fun toppings like whipped cream, crushed candy canes, and mini marshmallows. Want to get even fancier? Learn how to set up a perfect hot cocoa bar for kids for a special Christmas morning tradition.
Bake Holiday Treats on Christmas Morning
Have fun with the littles baking something special and super festive on Christmas morning. Something like cinnamon rolls or any of these 70 Christmas baking ideas!
Make No Bake Christmas Treats Together
Love the idea of making a sweet treat together in the morning that you can enjoy all day, but don’t want to trash the kitchen baking? Try out these festive no bake Christmas treats instead. Same idea: yummy sweet desserts and memories making them… WAY less mess.
Annual Christmas Ornament Gift
Every year, get each child a new ornament as a gift. It can be something special that represents them that year, one with a photo of them inside, or anything you want! There are endless ornament options these days and each year when you decorate the tree, they’ll remember the special Christmas that they received each ornament.
Let them open these first and hang them up on the tree.
Christmas Ornament Craft
Another idea that’s really similar is to let your child make a Christmas ornament themselves each Christmas morning. The same thing will happen when decorating the tree each year, the ornaments will bring out special memories of Christmases past.
You can make salt dough ornaments, find ornament making craft kits, or buy those clear Christmas ball ornaments at the Dollar Tree or your local craft store and let them fill it with things that are special to them each year.
Christmas Morning Interviews
Before ripping into the presents, take a few minutes to record a video of you interviewing each of your children. It can be holiday related or simply a recap of who they are and where they are at that year.
Easy questions like, “What’s your favorite color?” “What is your favorite food?” and “Where was your favorite trip this year?” will make a video of memories that you and the kids will love to watch in years to come.
Play Some Christmas Party Games
There are so many Christmas themed games that are fun, festive, and easy to set up. This list of Christmas games and activities is huge and you will find ideas to accommodate any age.
Enforce Reading the Christmas Story First
It is really easy to get wrapped up in the receiving part of Christmas. Especially when you’re a kid and especially on Christmas morning.
But if it’s important to you to remember the giving portion of Christmas and the true meaning of Christmas, make it a tradition to tie that into Christmas morning BEFORE opening the gifts.
Some ways to do this are:
- Reading the Christmas story together before opening stockings
- Watching a movie (a short one on YouTube or a full length movie or special) retelling the nativity story. Here’s a cartoon version on YouTube, Christmas According to Kids is a cute fast retelling, Jesus is Born by Bible Adventures is like Sunday school at home with songs and everything, and The Chosen does a great realistic depiction of the birth of Jesus for older kids.
Do the Final Advent
This is a tradition to do through the entire Christmas season as it takes a month and a portion is done each Sunday leading up to Christmas, but if you are looking at this post a bit in advance (or want to rush these together), you can start now!
Each week you light a candle on your advent wreath, read some of the Christmas story, and read about and celebrate the hope, joy, love, and peace that the coming of Christ represents. Learn how to do a Christmas advent wreath tradition.
Wrapping Up Christmas Morning Traditions to Start with Your Kids
Christmas morning is fun for the kids no matter what because they get to open all their gifts. But on the slip side, it then can become rushed and underwhelming too… even if you totally spoiled them.
By adding in some of these Christmas morning traditions this year you can extend what is sometimes an ultra-fast morning, entertain the kids so the rest of the family can get some sleep, make the morning full of even more holiday magic, and/or tie Jesus into the mornign before “receiving.”
I hope your Christmas morning is more memorable than ever with these new ideas.