New Traditions to Start with Your Grandchildren
Looking for ways to create lasting memories with your grandchildren? These simple annual traditions help build strong family bonds without requiring elaborate planning or expense.
Do you want to start a special tradition with your grandchildren? Family traditions and simple rituals tie us to one another in a powerful way. The things we repeat year after year, visit after visit, create core memories for our grandchildren. These collective memories stick with our grandchildren far longer than things we buy them. They are usually even more potent than memories of elaborate, once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
What makes traditions so powerful? They provide predictability and stability, which child development experts say is essential for emotional well-being. The best part of these rituals is that they are simple and inexpensive. Most of them can be done whether you are a long-distance grandparent or one who lives next door.
We’ve shared ideas for holiday traditions before. Here are some ideas for annual traditions at other times of year, starting with some special birthday traditions for grandchildren.
Birthday traditions to start with your grandchildren
Birthday interview: Each year on or near your grandchild’s birthday, conduct an interview with them. This is not just a way to get to know them. It also makes them feel special to be the focus of your attention. The interview can be in a letter, phone call or video chat. Try to record it if you can, and preserve the answers for them.
Here are some suggested questions:
How old are you?
What is the thing you remember most from the last year?
What can you do now that you are X that you couldn’t do before?
What’s your favorite thing to eat? To drink?
Who is your best friend?
What’s your favorite place to go?
What’s your favorite thing to play?
What would you do if you were in charge of the world?
What do you look forward to doing when you are older?
What do you wish were different about your life?
The questions you ask will naturally evolve as your grandchild grows. With younger children, keep questions simple and concrete, focusing on their current favorites and daily experiences. As they grow older, you can explore their thoughts, dreams, and reflections on the past year. Many grandparents find that by the teenage years, these annual conversations have become treasured opportunities for deeper connection and understanding.
Time Capsule: Every year, place a few items that remind you of your year together in a box. This can be as simple as a few photos—even screenshots of video chats count! Here are some other ideas to include.
Something they’ve loved playing with at your house
A menu or placemat from their favorite place to eat
A recording of their favorite song
A newspaper or magazine from the week of their birthday
Something they’ve drawn or written
A list of their current favorite things
A recording or copy of their birthday interview
Give your grandchild the accumulated time capsule on their 18th birthday or the eve of their high school graduation. They will love revisiting their past. They will also love knowing how much you were paying attention all those years. They might even ask you to keep up the tradition as they enter adulthood!
Family birthday photo collage: For their birthday every year, send them photos of their relatives at their age. Reach out to the other grandparents to collect as many as you can. Seeing that their parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents were once all five years old helps them understand their place in the family story. It’s fun to compare family resemblances, and figure out where they got their hair color or their cleft chin. As they get older, it’s also helpful to see that their mom or dad looked just as awkward in middle school.
Delicious traditions to share with your grandchildren
Traditions involving food create some of our strongest memories, but they require a little planning—and coordination with parents! The key is to choose something special but sustainable—a signature dish or meal ritual that becomes "yours" without overwhelming anyone's schedule or dietary needs.
Take them to “your” diner: Do your grandchildren live near you, or visit every summer? Start taking them to a special breakfast spot once a year. Celebrate the longest day of the year, their half-birthday, or just pick a date on the calendar and call it “Grandpa and Grandkid Day”. If you go to the same place year after year, it will become your special place—and another strong bond between you.
Cook something special: Don’t have a favorite diner, or prefer to eat at home? You can create strong memories in your own kitchen. Make waffles on the first morning of their visit, or your famous spaghetti the night before they leave. Cook together as they get older, and share your family recipes with them.
Thanks to technology, long-distance grandparents can also create special food traditions. Schedule yearly virtual cooking sessions where you prepare the same recipe together over video chat. You can share your family recipes, stories and techniques passed down through generations. Make it easier on parents by sending ingredient packages ahead of time.
The key with simple food rituals is repetition and rarity. If you make pancakes every single day of their visit, they aren’t part of a special occasion anymore.
Celebrate traditions with your grandchildren on “The Eves”
While holidays and birthdays are natural times for traditions, consider making the day before special events your time to reach out to your grandchild. These quieter moments can offer a chance for deeper connection than the busy celebration days themselves.
What sort of events? The start of a new school year, the day before their birthday, the night before Valentine’s Day. If you send a special message every year on those days, your message won’t get lost in the excitement of the actual celebration.
Preserving your traditions with grandchildren
As you build these traditions, keep a simple journal or photo record of your activities. It's worth preserving these small moments that might otherwise slip away. A few quick notes or photos can become treasured memories later on. Digital albums shared with family members help everyone stay connected and involved in your special traditions.
Remember that the most powerful traditions are often the simplest ones. It doesn’t need to be something that takes a lot of preparation or expense. Your tradition might be an annual kite flying day, a hike and picnic, or a trip to the tidepools. What matters most is creating regular opportunities for connection and showing your grandchildren they are valued and loved.
One of the best parts about creating an annual tradition to share with your grandchildren is that you only need to come up with the idea once. Year after year, that same activity or gesture will continue to be something you both look forward to. What’s more, the bond between you will grow deeper every time you repeat it.
Want more ideas for building strong connections with your grandchildren? Get Connection Sparks, with over 400 ways to create meaningful moments together.