Holiday Traditions That Make Food Allergy Kids Feel Special
Many family holiday traditions involve food. You know, building and decorating gingerbread houses, opening chocolate candy from the advent calendar, putting milk and cookies out for Santa. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but the food focus can be REALLY hard when you’ve got food allergies in the house. So what happens if we don’t want to focus on food-based family holiday traditions?
Well, I’ve got you covered! I’ve scoured the internet for some fun, meaningful food allergy-friendly family holiday traditions & activity ideas and included a few of our own traditions as well. Enjoy!
Family Holiday Traditions To Start This Year
1. Gift Wrapping Party.
You can do this as a family holiday tradition or with friends. Find several colours & styles of gift wrap, bows, and ribbons so little minds can be as creative as possible. If the kids are still too young to wrap, get them to draw and create cards to go on each of the gifts. If you decide to invite friends to the party, have them bring interesting wrap and ribbons to share instead of food. You can go as simple or extravagant as you want with this, but I suggest you keep it simple and serve one or two easy, safe snacks and one signature, safe drink.
2. Christmas Lights.
Christmas lights are magical for any age (especially the littles). In our family, this has become a slightly “botched” tradition. It seems that (almost) every year we’ve tried to look at Christmas lights, we’ve been derailed.
Honestly, now it’s become a funny story and a memory we share every year: “Remember when we tried to see the Holiday Train but when we tried to avoid traffic we got so lost that we missed it?” Or most recently, "Remember when we went to look at Christmas lights but we went the day before they got turned on?" We bond just from the funny stories we have, as much as the actual act of looking at the lights.
3. Try Random Acts of Kindness As A Meaningful Family Holiday Tradition.
You just can’t go wrong with this one. Not only will you be creating memories, but you’ll also be teaching your child to give and help others. It can be as simple as wrapping a gift and giving it to someone in need or even “secretly” shoveling someone’s walk or driveway.
You can be spontaneous and watch for something you can do together, or you can be more intentional and actually plan out an act of kindness for a neighbor or friend in need. Planning it out can be super fun since it adds that sense of “mystery” and fun.
4. Holiday Ornament Making and Giving.
This can be done a few ways:
If you’re a crafty type, you might want to choose an ornament that the family makes together every year. OR,
Buy an ornament for each child that relates to them personally (like a hobby or something important in their lives, or a trip you took that year). After a few years, you’ll have a tree filled with memories and heirlooms. OR,
Have each child draw a picture or write a little about themselves on a small piece of paper (it doesn’t matter if it's just scribbled). Insert each paper into a jar or clear Christmas ornament ball (make sure the opening is wide enough to get the paper out again). Each year, look at the previous year’s creation. After a few years, the tree will be filled with precious memories!
5. Kindness Advent Calendar.
There are many kindness advent calendars available now that don’t involve food. You can even make this as simple as writing a note to your child every day in December and leave it in the same place every day where they’ll find it. This is a great way to spread holiday cheer and teach your kids about loving one another and others too.
6. Twelve Days of Christmas Books.
Wrap 12 classic holiday books. Starting 12 days before Christmas, unwrap a book each night and read it with your child/kids. These don’t have to be new. You can re-wrap the same ones every year.
I wish I would have started this with our family earlier; but even though we don’t do 12 nights, we do have one or two favorites we read every year. There’s one book in particular which brings back memories in our family because I cry EVERY time we read it (can I help it if I'm soft-hearted?). My family just watches for the tear(s) to roll down my cheek or the cracks in my voice!
7. Get Matching Family PJs.
Don’t forget to take a funny pic together every year by the Christmas tree! The creativity of the picture is where you get the “activity” part of this tradition. Although we don’t do pjs, we do a version of this every Christmas Eve in our "Sunday best" beside the tree before church.
8. Family Holiday Camp Out Near The Christmas Tree
You know all those gorgeous lights on the Christmas tree? Why not sleep in the glow of them one night with the kids? How much fun would it be to grab those sleeping bags (and blow up mattresses) and spend the night talking and telling Christmas stories? Your family will talk about this tradition and the memories for months to come and years after.
9. Prediction Jar
Everyone who can write will make a prediction about what might happen in the next year. If the kids can’t write, just ask them and write it for them. Put all the predictions in a clear Christmas tree ornament, or a decorated jar. Next year you can go over the predictions and see if any came true or have a laugh, then do it over again. Keep the predictions in a special place so you can see them years later!
Conclusion
You can start family holiday traditions that make your food-allergy kid feel extra special! Non-food traditions are awesome for family bonding and take the stress out of finding allergy-friendly foods and alternatives. These 9 fun and easy family holiday traditions will make Christmas extra special for any food allergy kiddo and family.
How about you? What family holiday traditions will you start? Share in the comments below!
You may also like these posts:
The Best Gifts for Food Allergy Kids
How To Manage Family During The Holidays When Your Child Has Food Allergies
How To Plan Your Allergy-Friendly Holiday Menu With These Time-Saving Tips
Feed Your Food Allergy Kids Fast Without Stress
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