Ideas for everyday celebration

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chilli

Member
Premiere Member
Dec 27, 2007
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18
Austria - Europe
As already written here, I am a little bit down at the moment because christmas season is over now. To reduce the waiting time until next christmas season I plan to bring more celebrations in our daily life. Not only birthdays, easter, halloween and other family festivities but also smaller things in our daily life which brings us out of daily routine a little bit.
So I would like to collect ideas here how we all get a little bit of magic and glamour in our everyday life. These ideas should be easy to integrate in our daily life, not too big and not too expensive.

Here are mine for 2012:

- Introduce family-celebrations: eg once a month on Sunday we have special breakfast with something we usually don't have in the morning (eg pancakes or waffles) or a monthly pizza evening where each of us creates its own, special pizza, etc
- Culinary world trip: from time to time we cook lunch/dinner from another country and decorate table in colours of the respective flag. We could also then talk about this country while we eat (eg older childen can collect facts and tell them, etc)
- Plan spring/summer family activities: One-Day-Trips; picnics etc
- eat dinner together as a family as often as possible
- Have an "evening without discussing negative themes" on a regular basis - eg once a week, where we only talk about positive things in our life.

Another things, when DD is older:
- DVD/Video evening: we watch a family friendly movie while we have dinner. For dinner we have finger food and other things which can be eaten easily while watching TV

I can't wait for your ideas!

Chilli
 

teachermomof2

Santa's Elves
Premiere Member
Oct 27, 2007
14,638
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PA
We do several of the things you mentioned...

Sundays are Italian Day to remember our heritage and keep traditions alive.

Friday night is Pizza and Wing night and we always eat dinner in the living room together instead of at the table.

We have family movie nights and game nights too.

We do have dinner together at the table every night regardless of what is going on, even if it's at a restaurant due to hockey or other obligations.

Sometimes dd and I have "girls days" and the guys have "boys days". We also do family trips...usually for the day. Summer is awesome for us since most of us are home together and we spend a lot of time together. Camping is always special even if we do it regularly. We try to mix it up so it doesn't become boring for the kids.

Oh~and I make New Year's Eve festive, Valentine's Day, Easter, even St. Pat's Day...with themed dinners and such.

I hope that helps.
 

caitsmum

Retire Member
Nov 6, 2008
141
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Bedfordshire England
Could you utilise the "Celebrate Me" day idea? Instead of just having your own "Me" day, what about marking the birth date of all the family, if not every month, then on their half birthdays?

I did this a couple of years ago (well, in the months I remembered!) - we didn't do anything dramatic, just allowed the person who's "Special day" it was to choose what we had for tea and what we watched on the TV. My youngest girls (then aged 2 going on 3 and 5) loved this, because usually they had very little say in menu planning etc!
Also, because they had "Special day" at nursery/school where the "special day person" had particular responsibilities, they understood their role and played it to the full.......the 2yr old telling Daddy to "hurry up and eat your tea before it gets cold!" (it was a jam sandwich she had made herself!) was pricelss and a sight I'll remember for a long time! Lol!

Oh - and don't forget Reindeer Day etc!

AM
 

halimer

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Aug 30, 2008
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Long Island, NY
We always had pizza/Chinese on Saturday night with a movie. That seems to have left an impression on DS. We also always ate dinner together even when DH was a way and it was just him and me.

I also celebrate ALL holidays - St. Pats, Fat Tuesday, Cinco de Mayo, etc. with the proper foods.

Birthdays and half birthdays - dog birthdays....
 

chilli

Member
Premiere Member
Dec 27, 2007
780
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18
Austria - Europe
We always had pizza/Chinese on Saturday night with a movie. That seems to have left an impression on DS. We also always ate dinner together even when DH was a way and it was just him and me.

I also celebrate ALL holidays - St. Pats, Fat Tuesday, Cinco de Mayo, etc. with the proper foods.

Birthdays and half birthdays - dog birthdays....

To celebrate all holidays as St. Pats, Cinco de Mayo, etc sound great - thanks for that! I will keep this in mind and do something here in 2012

Chilli
 

Saquilla

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May 15, 2010
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Perth, Australia
I have just recently started to have a regular Friday movie night. I really enjoyed watching movies at home with my family when I was a child, and would love to pass the experience to my girls. I also figure it's a great way to start the weekend!

We also have a celebration of sorts every season. Spring = family weekend away. Summer = Christmas. Autumn = Easter. Winter = Fairy Day.

This year I am going to make the effort to have a special family outing each month. Something touristy that wouldn't normally be done. The extended family can be invited too and we can make a day out of it.

Down the track, I would like to have special Sunday breakfasts too. Once our garden is finished we can have picnic breakfasts. That would be cool. Unfortunately, it will also depend on the scheduling of kid's activities etc, but even once a month would be nice :)
 

Saquilla

Retire Member
May 15, 2010
598
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Perth, Australia
Oh, that's not to say those are the only events we celebrate - they are just the major ones :)

We also celebrate other days which don't need so much organising - like St Patrick's Day, Mothers Day etc. July is pretty much the only month where nothing is happening (except for Christmas in July here of course!)
 

Colleen in PA

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Aug 20, 2008
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we celebrate/decorate for most holidays, too. DS6 caught the holiday bug from me, and although Halloween is the favorite for both my boys (with Christmas very close behind), he loves to decorate and make special treats and crafts for all holidays.

Don't forget the Olympics this year - you can have lots of fun with that. For those with young children, I highly recommend Disney's Family Fun magazine - they always have great ideas for every holiday/season.
 

housewife2

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Aug 3, 2008
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va
i want to plan on having game nite once amonth to have the kids over . we can eat and play a game. we talked about it last year but going to do it this year. maybe switch around and go to each others house. i think it will be fun. we do have bdays in feb march and 2 in april but thats different.just want to have fun for no special reason.
 

Saquilla

Retire Member
May 15, 2010
598
0
16
Perth, Australia
i want to plan on having game nite once amonth to have the kids over . we can eat and play a game. we talked about it last year but going to do it this year. maybe switch around and go to each others house. i think it will be fun. we do have bdays in feb march and 2 in april but thats different.just want to have fun for no special reason.


I LOVE family game nights! We rarely do them though... I might try to arrange this once a month or so. Even every 6 - 8 weeks would be great!