Creating Memories

One thing I do for my kids is I buy a Christmas ornament every year based on what they were into that year. One year was Thomas and one was Spongebob. I put their names and year on the bottom with a marker then I put them away. We don't use them. I have them stored so that when they move out they will have ornaments for their trees with all their childhood memories.
:)
We also make one every year. Those tend to be really funny. Nicolescrafts.com has some great ideas around the holidays.

so this isn't a very creative idea but in this day it is a lost tradition....ALWAYS i mean ALWAYS have dinner together. growing up if i wanted to do something with a friend it either had to be before dinner, after dinner, or the friend ate diner with us. there was no excuse for missing dinner ...and we talked during dinner! we took turns sharing our good and bad.... we didn't dwel too long on either but told our favorite part of the day and the worst part of our day.

We do half birthdays - no presents, but the child gets to pick whatever they want for dinner and a fun activity for everyone in the family to do (we have twins so they each get their own half birthday even though they share the real b-day). We also do silly food.

Our daughter is now far away in college, but we had a blast with her..
Our neighbors would meet in different yards or driveways with our kids and let the kids play for hours while we parents had cold beverages and enjoyed sharing parenting, work and each other.

We would darken the living room and set it up to look like a theater, make popcorn and watch movies...

All year we saved egg shells so at Easter we could make cascarones (confetti eggs) Our wonderful neighborhood would hold a giant Easter egg hunt and cookout Easter evening.

Always went to certain festivals and activities here in Austin to feel a part of the community. Ex...Always attended the Kite Flying contest with good friends.
Always attended the Parade held the Saturday after Thanksgiving called "Chuy's Children Day Parade Children giving to Children" and then lunch at the same restaurant with neighbors.
Always participated in the Neighborhood 4th of July Parade and picnic. ALWAYS famous for doing April Fools Day pranks..even for teachers and Principals..
Almost every Sunday morning went somewhere for a huge breakfast.
When we eat out we played word games and drawing games.. We kept pads of paper and pencils in a bag in the car. The wait staff at many of the restaurants would also play along.
Play word games in the car. Listen to books on tape in the car.
Read books to each other before bed time.
Even now we try to go out to dinner on Friday nights.

We always do friday night pizza night, followed by some family games.

On weekends when the weather was nice my parents used to take our family to different parks for picnics, hiking, etc... It's such a fun memory, I hope to repeat it with my own children.

Definitely game night! Let the kids take turns picking the game.

when my kids were younger (before teen years and dating lol) we had friday night game/movie night. we started with a very kid friendly dinner. kids got to take turns picking the menu. then we played board games and watched triple feature friday on disney channel. (we didn't watch all 3 movies lol just one before bed) the kids loved it and looked forward to it all week. we still do a version of it now when any of the kids are home. although they are all in college or out and married except one we still laugh about the games we played. In fact recently pulled out 13 dead end drive for the grandchildren.

another memory thing we do connected with the holiday time of year is we put the christmas tree up on thanksgiving night. we do the black friday shopping and then meet up for breakfast at a local restaurant and then go home for naps. then we meet up on friday night to decorate the tree. on saturday or sunday night we make gingerbread houses. 2 people to a house. we set the camcorder up in a corner to video tape. the visual part is not great lol as people are up moving around a lot but boy the audio later is wonderful. amazing the conversations you catch.

on easter the kids hide eggs. we have 4 kids. the oldest hides eggs for next one down. and so on. a parent hides eggs for oldest kid. there is always 1 egg with money per kid. it was only a buck when the kids were young. but they are all older now and in college or married. the egg holds a little more lol.

Hi H. - Seriously - ASK SOME OTHER CHILDREN! The things my children remember are NEVER the things I thought they would remember. It really is the little things that mean so much.

My children are 10, 11 & 13 now and 1 thing we have always done, as did I as a child - we get to pick 1 Christmas gift to open on Christmas Eve night. Now that is an annual thing obviously. My oldest always remembers when she was in 2nd grade she had to do a project on the layers of the earth. So we decided to make it edible. I used a Trifle Bowl (kind of like a huge straight sided stemmed wine class). Anyway we used Jello, pudding, broken cookies, gummy worms, sprinkles etc to make the appropriate layers and she put labels on the outside. She loved it and was the only 1 in her class to do it like that.

Don't over think it - you will come up with something.
M. F

We have silly food meals/snacks. Like cutting up hotdogs to look like octopus or hard boiled eggs to look like little chicks. You can find lots of ideas online or in magazines (Family Fun for example).

We also have dance party night. We plug the ipod in and we dance and sing! My daughter is 4 and she LOVES it.

I say pick traditions, and keep with them. It could be holidays, birthdays, weekends, whatever. Traditions are important.

Doing service seems to create different feelings, which create deep memories. Soup kitchens and homeless shelters are good. My kids are too young still, but I take our youth group, and they think they're going to hate it, but then ask when we can go again. Cleaning trash at a beach, part, or not busy street is another good thing.

The main thing to do is to document with snap shots! My memories of being a kid are mostly the ones my mom took pictures of. It helps jog the memory. I'm a photographer, but I don't know where Sorrento is. I'm in the Tampa Bay area. www.fishyfacephotography.com

Also, we go to a saturday morning market when we have a free Sat morning and it's perfect weather out.

How about backwards day? Start in the morning eating dessert, and have pancakes for dinner. My son used to LOVE that! Walk backwards, wear your shirt backwards, the sillier the better.

I think I might have gotten this idea from Jon and Kate Plus 8, but on the last day of school, I take my son out to eat ice cream for dinner. We also watch the movie Meatballs, which has the classic opening song "Are you ready for the summer?"

The family game night/pizza night suggestions are good.

I also remember my mom making hot dog men--usually when my parents were having a date night and we had a babysitter. You make a cut up the end of the hotdog to make legs and then slice into the sides to make arms. Boil the hot dog and decorate with ketchup and mustand eyes, nose, buttons, etc.

Watching old family movies was also special time for my family. We would sit in the dark hallway and use the projection camera. You could have photo album or video night.

What lucky boys to have a Mom like you! Creating family memories is a fantastic tool that bonds families with traditions that can last for generations.

First, you may want to consider favorite traditions from your own chidhood that you would like to continue.

Many people like to plan traditions around holidays. We've got a holiday almost every month of the calendar. At Christmas, some families have a tradition of adopting a charity to help. It can be the same one every year or something new. At Halloween, we have an annual pumpkin carving event.

Whatever you choose, involving the kids is vital to create their emotional buy in.

I love your idea of meatless mondays. My family does "no moan mondays". We are not allowed to complain about anything!! Verbalizing is okay, but absolutely no whining! Hmmm.... no whining wednesdays comes to mind!

Thanks for your great question. Can't wait to reads all the other answers!

kj
on the ball parent coach