5 Outdoor Family Traditions You Can Start This Year

Every December leading up to Christmas, when I was a kid, my siblings and I would pop popcorn in our kitchen with our mother and talk about our favorite memories from the year. Using a needle and thread, we’d string that popcorn with cranberries into beautiful rows of garland that we would walk into the woods by our home. After choosing our favorite evergreen bush, we’d work the garland into its branches to bring Christmas magic to the birds, wildlife, and any passing by. We’d warm our hands around hot cocoa, watch the birds swoop in, and marvel at how incredible it felt to do such a simple thing.

Now at 37, and as a mother of four myself, I’m responsible for re-creating that magic in our back woods. This special childhood memory sparked curiosity in me: what other simple, outdoor holiday traditions out there are worth starting?

Here are five that get me excited, and the benefits they bring.

1. Create an Ornament From Nature

Start the tradition of making nature-based ornaments each year. Pour some hot cocoa into thermoses, take a winter walk into the woods, and go on a scavenger hunt to find things like pinecones, sticks, and bits of trees and plants. Make sure the things you choose will be able to hold throughout the years. Once collected, used some sort of sealant like clay, or glue the items onto a piece of cut-out or natural wood. Use twigs to make a snowflake, or a pinecone to make a reindeer.

According to I’m The Chef Too, a STEM-based cooking company for kids, there are several benefits of ornament making for kids, including fine motor skills and dexterity, problem solving skills, and the confidence that comes from creating something with your own hands. And maybe the best benefit of all: The act of crafting together is a shared experience, a moment of connection in a busy world.

2. Take a Sunset (or Sunrise) Christmas Eve Walk

Now that my kids are older, they look forward to a nice winter walk in the evening. It’s a chance to chat mom’s ear off, reflect on life, and geek out about the holidays. Every Christmas Eve, we drive to my parents’ house, the ones who started the “choose a tree forest walk” tradition, for a Christmas pajama exchange and special family dinner. This year, we’ll add a walk around the block to our list. We’ll throw some cocoa bombs into thermoses, enjoy each other’s company (hopefully in our cozy new pajamas), and check out all the light displays along the path. And if we’re really feelin’ it, we may throw some Christmas cookie plates together to hand out to the neighbors.

There are mental and health benefits to taking family walks, too, according to Behaved Brain Wellness Center, a family counseling center in New Jersey. Walking together boosts overall health, regulates mood, reduces stress, and creates real connection and belonging.

3. Build a Winter Time Capsule

This one piqued the interest of my nerdy 6-year-old son, who wants to build a winter time capsule this year with his siblings, so we’re going for it. This tradition takes a bit more foresight and planning.

You’ll need:

• A weatherproof, non-biodegradable container
• Meaningful items from the past past year
• A written letter to your future self, a year from now, or more

Steps:

1. Choose a safe hiding spot for your container. We will hide ours under a tree in our garden in our backyard.
2. Grab your chosen container and fill it with your chosen items. Our container will have to be pretty large because six of us will be adding letters and items to it. Something like this will do.
3. Thoughtfully collect a few items to add to your container (photos, memorabilia), along with a letter to yourself stamped for open next year, stating what you’d like to leave in 2025 and what you’re hoping for 2026.
4. Hide your container in the attic, a closet, or outside. If burying, just make sure it’s marked clearly and protected from the elements.
5. Select an opening date. Our family will open our capsule each year, but you can extent it to five years, or more, whatever you feel most drawn to.

4. Enjoy a Backyard Winter Movie Night

A movie night out back is easier than ever thanks to the rise in popularity around movie projectors; all you need is the side of your house or garage to join in on the fun. I purchased a projector for my kids for Christmas, and I’ll have them open it on Christmas Eve when we’re at my parents’ so we can curl up in the back of papa’s pickup truck after our family dinner, or on the back deck.

Have a blow-up mattress? Pop it into a truck bed and power it by the vehicle or a nearby garage or shed. String some lights around the rim of your truck, grab some blankets and pillows, your favorite snacks and cocoa, and bundle up for an unforgettable night. Have outdoor furniture? You can use the projector on a patio or deck, too.

The toughest part is getting everyone to decide on a film.

5. Tackle a Snow Day Challenge

I grew up in Alaska where my dad was a survival instructor who taught us things like snow shelter building. We took ice sculpting classes for fun. On a day leading up to Christmas, invite your family into a “snow day challenge.” Ideally, you would have already chosen a “snow skill” to learn that year, like fire-starting, snow shelter building, snowshoeing, animal tracking—the list goes on. Take a class, or learn through an expert before your snow day arrives, so you’re ready to venture out when it does.

Some great places to start:

• The Art of Fire Starting with instructor and television host Creek Stewart through Outdoor Core.
• How to Build a Wilderness Survival Debris Hut Shelter with instructor Frank Grindrod through Outdoor Core.
• Search for an active snowshoeing class in your area through Mountaineers.
• Use Nature Tracking to find animal tracking classes in your state.

Have any outdoor holiday traditions you adore? We’d love for you to leave a comment so we can read about them. Happy Holidays!