Family traditions with an only?

[om4e]

We have a sweet 6mo baby boy, and want to start thinking ahead by planning fun family traditions (although we know he won't really be aware of or involved in them for quite a few years still).

We are interested both in traditions that are holiday-related, at least in the sense that they take place on or around particular holidays (we live in the U.S. and celebrate most American holidays, and my spouse is Romanian so we celebrate many Romanian holidays as well), as well as more random/quirky/ordinary ones (e.g., every Friday night we ___, or every time we go to the movies we do ___ afterward, or after bathtime each night we always ______).

In particular, we are trying to think of traditions that are not focused on eating/preparing food or watching movies/TV shows -- only because we already have plenty of traditions already planned that involve these activities.

With these criteria in mind, what fun traditions do you all have with your onlies (of any age)? Whether they're super random, simple, strange, or none of these, I'd love to hear them!

(Also, feel free to give suggestions or ideas for traditions, even if you don't have the traditions yourselves!)

 

[alissah]

@om4e On the weekends we usually find a fun new park to visit. It doesn’t have to be a new park every weekend but we got to a park every weekend. We’ve already been to so many cool parks this year. This could be a child’s park (play ground) or a normal park like just walking around and taking in the nature. It’s so great to disconnect from everything and focus on the tiny moments.

 

[nikkii909]

@alissah I love this

 

[alissah]

@nikkii909 Honestly we love it to! We found this amazing park with a sled hill and walking paths in a forest area. There were giant tree houses along the way that you could go up. We also lost a shoe in one of our excursions.

 

[leahratliff]

@alissah Not a OAD thing but could still work: This reminds me how my mom would take my brother and I put hiking/into the wilderness on Memorial Day weekend and we’d find as many flowers as we could, and work together to identify them!

 

[grandma2]

@om4e The first thing I thought of is one of our Christmas traditions. Every year, we get one of those personalized ornaments that come in a bunch of designs… usually at kiosks in the mall? We get the year and Mom/Dad/our child’s name on them. She has fun picking out the design and we haven’t had any repeats yet.

 

[lightofredemption]

@grandma2 My wife and i have been doing this since year 1; we try to get an ornament that represents the year that was in one form or another

 

[arl127]

@om4e Super random and simple:

I like rocks. Just random, interesting shaped rocks. When ours was little I would pick up a rock if it caught my interest. He started doing this as a toddler on walks with me.

It became a thing when we went anywhere, but particularly when we traveled. He would find a “special” rock. I would write the date and place on back with a sharpie.

He’s an adult now, and we still occasionally look through our rocks and re-live our memories of trips we’ve taken.

It’s simple. It’s free. He was always excited to get to find the perfect rock, even as he got older.

He’s 27 now. He hasn’t lived at home since he moved out for college at 18. He still brings me a rock when he travels. We still label it and add it to the collection. It’s become a lifetime thing we share.

Edited to add:

Yes, that’s a lot of rocks. We used the less special ones as gifts for grandparents or family. Made picture frames or candles or vases. Put them in the flower garden as a border. Put them in the fountain.

We saved the labeled ones from vacations in decorative bowls and put them on shelves, cabinet tops, and other out of the way places.

 

[petrasophie]

@arl127 Related, somewhat:

We just got back from a vacation in the White Mountains. It was a nature-focused trip, and I knew that my five year old would be looking at a lot of rocks. So I checked out a book titled “If You Find a Rock” and read it to my daughter. It sort of lyrically describes different types of rocks (functionally, not scientifically, like skipping rocks, climbing rocks, etc.). One rock mentioned is a wishing rock, which is a smooth, gray stone with a white, unbroken stripe encircling it.

I ordered a small bag of these rocks on Etsy, and I kept one in my pocket when we went on our outdoor adventures. A couple of times, when the moment was right, I secretly dropped one for my daughter to find. She was so thrilled to uncover them. The way her face lit up! Man.

I plan on letting her “find” more wishing rocks on more trips over the next few years. I hope she always feels like the luckiest kid on Earth.

 

[basantilli]

@om4e My spouse takes vacation the first week of August every year and dedicates that week to our kid. It’s Daddy/Kid Adventure Week. They do all things and have amazing bonding time just the two of them.

 

[motherlyoceon]

@om4e I'm going to start a Christmas eve tradition of opening 1 gift that will have a movie, snacks, and Christmas jammies. I read that somewhere last year and really like it so I wanna start it. Also Christmas lights on the weekends in December. There are many drive through ones in my area, Midwest, which makes it nice when it's really cold and your littles are still really little.

 

[nicoleeadams]

@motherlyoceon Christmas lights on a beautiful night with snow all around is the best!

 

[emosoundlogic]

@om4e At bedtime hubs and I both usually read at least one book each. We try to go to the park every weekend and grab dinner along the way. Eat at the park and then play. When it gets cool we go to one of the many conservation areas around us to walk, poke at bugs, and have a picnic. We also spend a lot of summer nights looking at stars and catching lightning bugs. This winter we made our entire driveway a luge by covering it with water until it was frozen solid, then spent the night sledding down it.

 

[miekka]

@om4e Our daughter is 2.5 (3 in November). I got dr Seuss Happy birthday to you before she was born. We read it on her birthday, and every birthday since first thing when she wakes up. This a out “big” tradition.

Other than that we have made a tradition this summer of farmers market Sundays. (She’s gonna be devastated when it closes). And once a summer we go back to my family home, which is now a vacation rental, for a week to let her experience the joys of my hometown and nature.

None of these are really holiday related. Just a few things we have chosen to focus on with her. I’m sure as she gets older we will get more traditions and the ones we have will evolve.

 

[ccampbell]

@om4e We go apple picking at the same orchard every year. It even has a mural that we take pictures of her by and see her growth from year to year.

We also do a different Polar Express train every year.

On weekends we like to do a hike and then a local cafe wherever we are, afterwards. This is one of our favorite traditions.

 

[nicoleeadams]

@ccampbell We usually do apples but ALWAYS do blueberries! Fruit picking is very fun! If you do berries, make sure to wear either old clothes or clothes the same color as the berry juice.

 

[ccampbell]

@nicoleeadams Yes! They have berries where we go, as well. Fun but definitely messy! Although, the candy apple may daughter gets may be messier.

 

[edavisunc]

@om4e On Saturday mornings we walked to a local cafe near a park so that once our kiddo is old enough we can have a Saturday morning park-time with a coffee and a special treat pastry. On Sunday morning we go to the farmers market during the warm weather months. We are going to try to prioritize events and activities over toys as much as possible so for birthdays we're probably going to let him pick any museum he wants to go to or any special place, and start with the children's museum until he has opinions of his own. Christmas time we're probably going to go to our local arboretum to see the Christmas lights show, and adopt a family to buy presents for. Halloween will go to pumpkin patches and apple picking, and trick-or-treating with our other local friends with kids. A lot of our current traditions revolve around food like making tamales at Christmas and mole at Thanksgiving and blueberry pancakes on the weekends.

 

[nicoleeadams]

@edavisunc The local cafe sounds SO LOVELY! We don't live near one, but we got to do it one day on vacation, and I would absolutely adore being able to do it regularly.

Similar to PP, we always go to the zoo at least twice a year and once, splurge on something special (a tram ride or feeding giraffes or something) and try to work on other local spots when possible or as COVID allows.

 

[peakwealth]

@om4e We do “family walks” any morning that we are both available, especially on weekends. Usually it involves going to get coffee, but we basically just load up the stroller, get the dog and walk. Nothing fancy, but I always look forward to then when we’re both free.