How to Keep the Holiday Spirit Alive for Older Kids
When your kids are young, they love getting dressed up for the holidays, decorating the tree, and being involved in all of the festivities. However, as they grow older, your children will want to hang out with their friends or do their own things during the holidays. Your children grow up fast, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t keep their holiday spirit alive. Here’s what you can do.
Make the Holidays Fun
If your family normally dresses up for nice dinner parties for the holidays, consider doing something else this year instead. Teens don’t want to go to holiday parties with their parents’ friends, so instead you should have a family gathering at your own home and allow everyone to wear what they want. You can even get Tipsy Elves Christmas shirts to make the occasion lighthearted and fun for everyone.
Get Them Involved in the Meaning of the Holidays
Everyone enjoys being the reason that someone else smiles. If you have younger kids in the house, let your older kid plan activities that they can do together so that your young one isn’t bored and your older one has a job to complete. Other ways you can get them involved in the holidays are:
Fundraisers: Start a Pledge fundraiser with your family and give your older child the task of collecting money. You can host your fundraiser online or sell items that you don’t need and give the money to charity. No matter what you choose to do, make sure your older children have an important role that can help them give meaning to the holidays.
Volunteering: Volunteering is another way your older child can give back when they have some free time and are on school break for the holidays. There are tons of volunteering opportunities to find during the holiday season, starting with Thanksgiving. For example, your child can volunteer his or her time at the local soup kitchen after your family holiday meal.
Photoshoots: If you do a family photoshoot every year, let your older children decide on the theme and decorate a backdrop or find the best location for the family photo. By allowing them to be artistic, you can keep them away from their video games and more interested in spending time with the family during the holidays.
Make Traditions
Family traditions are something everyone can get excited about, no matter how old they are. The good news about making traditions is that it’s easy and basically as simple as making a new routine, only instead of doing it every day, you do it once a year.
Instead of trying to keep the same traditions that you had when your children were younger, try introducing them to new traditions that will interest them as they grow up, such as shopping on Black Friday or making cookies and decorating them with a SweetAmbs cookie decorating kit.
Keep Old Traditions
While you might want to give up on traditions that you did when your children were young, you should still aim to keep at least one of your old traditions. Choose something that you know your children will enjoy and won’t take up too much of their time. Options include:
- Picking out a Christmas tree
- Giving the neighbors chocolate gifts
- Putting the star on the tree as a family
- Decorating the house
- Writing letters to Santa
Let Older Kids Contribute
Whether you’re writing letters to family members across seas, making a holiday shopping list, or planning gift ideas, try to get your children involved. By letting them contribute, they can feel like they were a part of the planning process and become motivated to make the holidays special.
Keeping the holiday spirit alive in older kids doesn’t have to be difficult. By finding the holiday activities they like doing, you can get them involved in the planning and execution of the holiday festivities.