Christmas is a time of joy and excitement for so many people. For others, it’s a time to be endured, grudgingly, from the moment we spy the themed candy in the supermarkets in October and grit our teeth against the Jingle Bells of the world; to the dying last bars of Auld Lang Syne fading against the midnight sky on New year’s Eve. OK – I might be exaggerating a bit here – Christmas isn’t that bad…
In fact, it got a whole lot better after one particular year when I decided to do things a little differently. You see, I wasn’t exactly a Grinch per se, but after much urging from my wife to make ‘more of an effort’ I decided to take things into my own hands and to make Christmas fun.
And what I did to make Christmas fun I am about to share with you, dear reader, in the hopes that it makes for a much merrier Christmas for you and your family. Yes, I’m going to share with you twelve quirky Christmas traditions that you should adopt to shake things up a bit and give your Christmas a whole lot more cheer.
Make your own ornaments
You can go out to K-Mart or some decorations and homewares store to get your ornaments – or you can make your own like a boss! Making your own ornaments is a fun and inexpensive way for you to get together as a family and enjoy the bonus of handmade Christmas ornaments to boot. You could even up the ante and give homemade presents!
Get a photo booth for your Christmas party
There’s nothing quite like posing in front of a photo booth to make you feel like a celebration is taking place! When you’re throwing a Christmas party, you want to make sure that you make it special for your friends and family – and one way to do this is to hire a photo booth. This is a tradition that you’ll definitely want to repeat every year.
Make someone the ‘Christmas Elf’
Make a small child (or big child) the Christmas Elf and get them to hand out presents to people on Christmas morning.
Put on a Christmas concert
Nothing says celebrations quite like everyone rocking out to a concert! Set a performance task for everyone who is able, and for everyone else they can be the audience.
Drive around to look at the Christmas lights in a car decorated with tinsel
So it’s one thing to go and look at the lights over the silly season but it’s another thing entirely to enjoy looking at the lights in a car that has been festooned with tinsel! Get the whole family on board and use tape or Blu-Tac to stick tinsel onto the car.
Volunteer with people in need
Make the holidays truly special by reaching out to those in need and making your festive season a one of giving. This is a quirky tradition because not a lot of people do this, even though everyone should!
Make T-Shirts for the family
Get the whole family together and make your own Christmas T-Shirts with some family sayings or Christmas cheer slogans on them. Everyone will love the crafty element and will enjoy putting their own stamp on things.
Host a winter-themed Christmas
Australia is home to hot beach summers, so fly in the face of tradition and hold a winter-themed Christmas to enjoy.
Bake cookies and have everyone decorate them
There’s something fun about cookies – it’s probably the fact that they’re so damn delicious. Make the fun last longer by holding cookie decorating sessions in the kitchen. Kids and adults alike will enjoy decorating their cookies (before eating them by the handful).
Hold a potluck barbecue
Don’t spend all the time in the kitchen stressing this Christmas – get everyone else to help you out by holding a potluck BBQ instead of the traditional Christmas feast. That way you get to share the fun times with your family and friends, and you can take the pressure off yourself cooking!
Run secret Santa
An oldie but a goodie! Get kids and adults to buy a gift under a certain limit and watch their faces light up as presents are unwrapped.
Do Christmas carols with pop songs
If your kids are old enough to go caroling but don’t like the idea of singing O Holy Night, why not mix it up with some pop versions of Christmas songs? Get an iPod and speakers with the backing karaoke tracks and hit the streets!
