Holiday Traditions!

​This time of year is filled with so many fun things! The parties, festive food, and traditions are a big part of what makes the holidays so special! During the months of November and December we’ve been posting tradition ideas over on the Utah Money Moms Facebook page. We want your traditions to feel fun and exciting and not stressful and expensive! Some of our amazing contributors and followers posted their favorite traditions that may spark some good ideas for you too! So instead of scrolling through the last two months’ worth of posts on Facebook, all the ideas are listed here for you to look at. Take a look and let us know if you implement any of the fun ideas!

Thanksgiving Traditions

• One no cost Thanksgiving tradition I enjoy is going on a post dinner walk with everyone. Not only does it help us justify some of the many calories we consumed but it also encourages conversation between all of us. My nephews often bring a football and we take turns tossing it around. Many of my best Thanksgiving memories are of these walks. -Elizabeth Vance, Salt Lake County. 
• Something I look forward to every November is Friendsgiving. Rather than having one person cook everything (like a traditional Thanksgiving meal) Friendsgiving is all about sharing the load. Everyone brings their favorite dish for a potluck style dinner, which can be a great way to keep both the cost and stress levels low! We absolutely love using this time to catch up with friends, so this is one tradition my husband and I are okay with spending a little money on. -Emma Parkhurst, Davis County.
• One of my favorite family traditions is making and eating pie for Thanksgiving and for days after. One year my family had 24 different flavors of pie! It's never just pumpkin pie for us! While pies can be expensive to buy, there are many that are much cheaper to make, and if you don't feel like you have any baking skills, think again! There are many cream-based pies that are easy to make from scratch! The days after Thanksgiving I love sneaking in an extra piece of pie before bed, or even for breakfast! My favorites: from scratch coconut cream pie (with coconut milk), almond joy pie, french silk, and a fresh "pumpkin" pie made from cooked butternut squash. -Melanie Jewkes, Salt Lake County.
• I’ve put food out on my curb, as part of a local food drive every November for years. I donate from my food storage so it doesn’t cost me anything in the moment. This year I took the food directly to the food bank. It was different. There was a different feeling than just leaving the food out on my porch to be picked up. This would be a great, no-cost tradition to do with kids this time of year. -Ralene Redford, Utah Money Moms follower
• After hammering down all the Thanksgiving fixings and the numberless slices of pie, my family likes to take things outside for our Annual Turkey Shoot. Now, this isn't like the traditional pilgrim turkey shoot. This is full blown competitive skeet shooting which includes all ages and has no rules, other than strict firearm safety that has been embedded in us as young children. Ammunition and clay pigeons aren't super cheap, but we always set aside a portion of our holiday budget to fit this into our traditions. Everyone also contributes which helps lower the expense on the individual.  This traditional "splurge" is worth the memories and, of course, the bragging rights! - Callie Ward, Garfield County
• One of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions as a child was having 3-5 pieces of dried corn set on our plate and before we ate dinner, everyone went around and listed something we were grateful for, one for each kernel of corn. -Elizabeth Davies, Kane County Utah Money Moms Contributor

 
Christmas/Holiday Traditions
 

• Let’s talk holiday gift giving traditions. At our house, we celebrate Christmas. Our Christmas gift giving strategy is something you WANT, something you NEED, something you WEAR, something you READ....and of course Christmas Eve PJ’s! At first I wasn’t sure I would love it, but it really helps me stick to my budget, avoid carrying a credit card balance, and remember the reason for the season. -Amanda Christensen, Utah Money Moms Creator
• One holiday tradition I love spending money on is to make holiday goodies like fudge and peanut brittle. -Melanie Jewkes, Salt Lake County Utah Money Moms Contributor
• Our family calls it the Christmas Box.  It’s a wooden box I got from a craft store years ago and painted it to look a little worn and old.  I numbered envelopes for 25 days and put a slip inside each with the name of a Christmas book, scripture, video, song or activity for that night. The kids take turns opening it each day and get to reveal the contents to everyone.  The majority of what I use I already have on hand so it’s not an extra expense.  A nativity figurine with a coordinating scripture.  Christmas carols on Alexa.  Nativity video from YouTube. Polar express night.  Christmas books. Drive to see Christmas lights.  On Christmas day we use a little music box and sing happy birthday to Jesus. The kids absolutely love this tradition and feel “honored” to have their turn to open the box.  The box is always out, but I slip the new envelope in each night before we open it.  If there is a night that we’re out or don’t have time, we just skip that night and carry on the next night.  -Whitney Mueller, Utah Money Moms Follower
• One no-cost Christmas tradition my kids and I both enjoy is coloring our advent reading calendar. Each day we color a part of the picture and do something special while we get in our 20 minutes of reading. This is a great way to get kids excited about reading and to spend quality time with them during the busy holiday season. The calendar we are using this year is from the blog everydayreading. Many of the suggested daily activities can be done with things you already have around your house or that you can get for free from the library.  https://everyday-reading.com/kids-advent-calendar/ -KristiLyn Wilkinson, a Utah Money Moms follower
• I don't love Christmas [the holidays],  there I said it! I'm a self proclaimed Grinch...All the toys, and the noise, noise, noise! Add in that I'm cheap, our Christmas [holiday] is usually under budget, but time together is well spent with a big emphasis on family and the non materialistic things of the holiday season. One thing that I have adapted with my Bah Humbug attitude, is to gift a memory ornament. This lasts so much longer than the short lived 5:00 am excitement and reflects on the year. For example, my daughter is huge into basketball this year so I'll try and find an ornament that has to do with basketball.  This timeless gift isn't a budget breaker, usually costing less than $10. Every year my children's collection builds and they always have fun reminiscing when the decorations come out. And when it is time for them to start their own tree, they will have a great starter kit ready to go! - Callie Ward, Garfield County Utah Money Moms Contributor
• One of our favorite low/no cost Christmas traditions is unwrapping a Christmas book each night and reading it around the Christmas tree together as a family. We reuse the same books each year - some are our own that we've found clearance after Christmas or at the thrift store and collected over the years and some books we rent from the library. We wrap each book and place them in a basket with Christmas pajamas (sometimes used, sometimes hand me downs) the day after Thanksgiving. Each night we gather around the glowing lights and share some of our favorite childhood holiday stories with our children. It's so simple, yet so magical and calms us all down before bed during a sometimes hectic, sugar-filled season. One thing I really like about this tradition is it can be prepped far before Christmas. In fact, one year I wrapped them as I put them away after the holidays. It was a great way to use wrapping paper remnants and saved me some time during the next holiday season. This is also an easy holiday tradition to share with others. Both of our children are adopted and each year for Christmas we send their birth parents a Christmas books so they can build their library and share in the tradition with us. - Wendy Gittins, a Utah Money Moms follower.
• A few nights leading up to Christmas Day we watch a classic movie like Home Alone, Elf, or Muppets Christmas Carol. We pop popcorn and eat the goodies the neighbors have brought. Some of my best holiday memories are centered around this inexpensive tradition! - Melanie Jewkes, Salt Lake County Utah Money Moms Contributor
• A low cost tradition my family has is Christmas caroling. We invite other neighbors and friends to join us on a hay wagon ride to go sing to the elderly and the sick. After caroling we all come back to our house where we have hot chocolate and treats. It’s a great, fun and free way to kick off the holiday season. - McKenzie Walsh, a Utah Money Moms Follower
• During December, my husband and I love to find a time when it's snowing to turn all the house lights off, turn on Christmas lights, and listen to our favorite Christmas music. We love this no cost tradition because watching the snow fall is beautiful and it gives us an excuse to slow down during the busy season and enjoy each others company! - Elizabeth Vance, Salt Lake County
• I go with my mom to see the window displays at Grand America. They usually have a challenge, story, riddle, or a hidden item to find in the displays. There’s a huge gingerbread house we love to see. We also love to visit the lights in downtown Salt Lake. - Melanie Jewkes, Salt Lake County
• Nothing puts me in a better frame of mind for the season than attending a holiday sing-a-long. Growing up, I went with my family every December to a free Messiah Sing-in. The orchestra was wonderful and the soloists were beautiful. I loved singing the Hallelujah chorus with so many voices! Since leaving home, I have traveled back to attend that event often. - Amanda Christensen, Utah Money Moms Creator
• One of my favorite no or low cost Christmas traditions as a child was decorating gingerbread men cookies as a family. Now that we are all older, we have continued this tradition but added a twist - rather than only decorating gingerbread men, we use every single cookie cutter and make it a challenge to decorate each cookie winter or Christmas themed! For instance, last year we successfully used a duck cookie cutter and decorated it as an elf! - Emma Parkhurst, Davis County
• One of our favorite low/no cost family traditions is the "12 dates of Christmas". There are so many fun things going on around the holidays, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and spend loads of money. At the start of the year we decide on 12 things we absolutely want to do during the holidays. Some take time and money (seeing a holiday movie in the theatre), some are quick and cheap (grab a $5 pizza and some apple slices and eat dinner in the car while we look at Christmas lights around town or decorate sugar cookies), but most are free (walk around the town holiday light display or put a puzzle together by the tree while we listen to Christmas music). Usually my husband and I plan one or two of the dates just for us (a holiday concert or watch a Christmas movie together with popcorn after kids are in bed). Making a list and having most items flexible to do anytime throughout the season helps us focus on togetherness and not go overboard spending money. -Wendy Gittins, a Utah Money Moms follower.
• I grew up with a father, grandfather and brothers who loved to decorate the outside with Christmas lights. Thankfully, my husband loves it, too! We have built up our collection of lights slowly, as they can be costly. First, we were given some sets from family. Then we shopped after-Christmas clearance sales over many years to find the right money-saving LED sets we wanted. I even budget in my revolving/special expenses fund to spend money on lights after Christmas. Sometimes we get a great deal on Black Friday, too. Another great way to save on lights is to get a light timer (I won't tell you how many nights I accidentally forgot to turn off the lights and spent more money on electricity than necessary...). - Melanie Jewkes, Salt Lake County
• Each Christmas my parents get every kid in their family a children’s Christmas book and we read it together as a family on Christmas Eve. I love sitting around the tree together and reading our new book. The purpose of this is so that with our own children we can have a Christmas book to read with them every day in December. I love this tradition and it doesn’t cost my parents very much. - Elizabeth Vance, Salt Lake County
• My favorite tradition is a way to use leftovers and save money! On Christmas night, we always have a ham. I think this is a fairly common tradition, but, my tradition is the morning after Christmas, I make breakfast with the leftover ham. Can you guess what the breakfast is? That's right, green eggs and ham! Right now, since I don't have kids of my own, I get to be the cool aunt who makes this breakfast for my nieces and nephews. I'll usually read them the famous book as well. It's something fun and simple that helps with the leftovers and keeps kids smiling on the day after Christmas! - Tasha Killian, Juab County

 
New Year’s Traditions
 

• For New Year’s Eve we like to make our dinner a meal of snacks. Things like 7 layer dip, popcorn, and all our leftover Christmas treats. This may or may not cost slightly more than our regular meals, depending on what we choose to have. But it is a tradition that doesn’t cost us much more than we’d normally spend and we get to enjoy something outside of the ordinary to ring in the new year! - Elizabeth Vance, Salt Lake County
• A low cost New Years tradition is making home made doughnuts. We each play an important part in making them. Mom makes and cuts out the dough while Dad fries and the kids glaze them and sometimes add sprinkles. Afterward we gather to watch the NYC ball drop. -McKenzie Walsh, a Utah Money Moms Follower
• I grew up in a family that LOVED to play games. A favorite New Year’s Eve tradition is gathering around to play games, sip a Diet Coke with lime, and eat finger food. Everyone picks a game. We play one round of each game and keep track of the winner of each round. At the end of 5 different rounds of 5 different games, the grand prize winner got bragging rights for the rest of the year! -Amanda Christensen, Utah Money Moms Creator

 
Birthday Tradition
 

• Let’s shift tradition gears just a little bit and talk birthday traditions because...today is my birthday!! At my house we celebrate Beve (birthday eve), Birthday, and Bafter (day after). We spread the love over these three days to make people feel special just a bit longer than 24 hours. We spread the birthday gift budget over these three days so we don’t blow the budget celebrating a little longer.  -Amanda Horrocks Christensen, Utah Money Moms Creator