19 Unique Holiday Traditions to Start in Your 20s

Explore fun holiday traditions to start in your 20s and continue for years to come! Sharing ideas for individuals, couples, and friends and families.

Holiday traditions are important because they create meaningful memories, foster nostalgia, and are something to look forward to each year.

20-somethings are often at all different stages in their lives; maybe they just graduated college, live in a new city, are getting married, or already have a child or two! No matter the case, your 20s are a great time to start new Christmas traditions – for yourself, or with others.

While there are some classic traditions sprinkled in to this list, there are also some unique ideas aside from doing a movie marathon or doing a gingerbread house competition. This extensive guide has ideas for everyone that will make your holiday season extra festive and magical.

---

19 UNIQUE HOLIDAY TRADITIONS

• INDIVIDUAL
• FOR COUPLES
• WITH FRIENDS OR FAMILY

INDIVIDUAL

Why not start some traditions for yourself? You don’t need anyone else to have a memorable, festive season. In your 20s, you may experience more time alone or live far away from friends and family. Here are some fun holiday tradition ideas that you can start as a 20-something and continue as you grow, move, settle down, start a family, or whatever it may be.

1. MAKE THEMED GIFT BASKETS: Some people make cookie boxes every holiday season, but get your creative juices flowing and think up a new gift basket theme each year to give to friends and family! These baskets can include everything from baked goods and home goods to accessories and personal care products – and you can make them as simple or extravagant as you want! This is a fun tradition to start in your 20s if gift giving is your love language; each year, people will start looking forward to your gift baskets 😉 Here are some theme ideas to get you inspired:
   • White Christmas (white cookies, cranberry white chocolate chip bars, a white candle, white socks, white hand soap, etc.)
   • Scent/Flavor (cinnamon, gingerbread, peppermint – use a flavor to inspire baked goods and other products that fit the vibe)
   • Self Care (tea bags, mug, face masks, body lotion, fuzzy socks, etc.)
   • Movie (pick a movie, such as Elf, Polar Express, or Home Alone, and brainstorm gifts related to that movie)
   • Cocktail (cocktail shaker, cocktail cookbook, ingredients for a cocktail, etc.)
   • Christmas Tree (anything christmas tree shaped or related – desserts, ornaments, cookie cutters, decor, candy, etc.)

2. HAVE A BAKING DAY/WEEK: I don’t know about you, but Christmas baking is my all-time favorite. There are so many spices and flavors that bring the holiday season to life! Have an annual baking day (or week!) where you make all your favorites, as well as try new recipes. Whether you like cookies, bars, cakes, pies, or pastries, there are always new sweet treats to bake. Blast some Christmas music, get your cookie cutters, baking sheets, 9x13s, and pie dishes out, and get to work. And if you’re feeling generous, share them with friends and family! Check out Sally’s Baking Addiction for recipes and inspo – she’s my favorite! This is a tradition you can continue for years to come with your partner, family, or by yourself.

3. GET A NEW ORNAMENT: Start collecting ornaments now! Even if you like to pick a new theme for your Christmas tree each year, getting an ornament every holiday season can be meaningful. Whether you buy one from a place you traveled, get one from the same store each year, or find a unique one at your local craft fair, each ornament will hold a special memory. If you start this tradition in your 20s, you’ll have all the more ornaments and special memories to look back on.

---

---

---

---

RELATED: 2023 Gift Guide: 130+ Fantastic Gift Ideas for Women in Their 20s

4. DO A HOLIDAY WORKOUT CLASS/PHYSICAL ACTIVITY: Working out is probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Christmas and the holidays… but hear me out. Be creative with what working out and physical activity means to you! If you enjoy workout classes like yoga, cycling, pilates, barre, or even dance, perhaps your local studio has Christmas-themed classes. Or, you can simply wear Christmas-themed attire! You can also look up workout plans online and videos on YouTube that are holiday-inspired. If classes or high-intensity workouts aren’t your thing, go on a Christmas eve walk, go on a hike, go surfing, play pickleball, or go golfing in your most Christmas-y attire. There are so many fun ways to stay active during the holiday season!

---

---

---

---

---

5. GET A SCENT FOR THE SEASON: Everyone knows the holiday season is filled with the most sweet, comforting, and nostalgic scents. For this Christmas tradition idea, pick out a scent or theme for the season. Some ideas include vanilla, ginger, chai, maple, cinnamon, or cranberry. Then, get your products of choice to bring this scent to life! You can get everything from candles and diffusers to perfumes and body care products. And remember, there are so many different brands and fragrance combinations that fit your scent theme.

---

---

---

---

---

---

6. DO/CREATE AN ADVENT CALENDAR: Counting down the days to Christmas with a fun treat every day is the perfect way to get in a festive spirit. You can find everything from a chocolate advent calendar to a Lego advent calendar to a beauty advent calendar – there’s something for everyone. Or, if you’re feeling crafty and ambitious, create your own for your friend/partner/family member. For fun ideas, check out this post: 40 DIY Advent Calendars to Make Christmas Even More Special.

RELATED: The Ultimate Holiday Bucket List for a Festive and Memorable Season

7. CHRISTMAS DOCUMENTATION: The holidays are the most magical and merry time of the year, and also a great time to reflect on the year, your life, and what’s to come. Consider documenting your holiday season, whether it’s a specific day, a week, or the month of December. You can vlog, write in a journal, do a blog post, or collage/scrapbook – be creative! The main goal is to celebrate the season and practice gratitude. This is definitely something you can pass on to your kids, as well. It’s a fun tradition to document memories, and every year you can look back on previous Christmases to see how you were feeling, who you were with, and all the special moments that you experienced.

---

FOR COUPLES

For the 20-somethings in a relationship, start new traditions together! Whether you’re a new couple or are beginning to settle down, starting a holiday tradition is the perfect way to embrace the festive season and is something to look forward to each year as your relationship grows. Of course, these ideas can be adjusted to be done with friends and family, but they are perfect for couples!

1. SELFIE IN THE SAME PLACE/DOING THE SAME ACTIVITY/SAME THEME: Take a selfie each year in the same place, doing the same activity, or with the same theme. For instance, maybe you and your partner have a favorite spot at your local park. Each holiday season, go to that same spot and take a selfie. Or, maybe you and your partner enjoy making gingerbread houses – take a picture/selfie with your gingerbread house each year. Or, you can come up with a posed photo to recreate each year or have an item/article of clothing to always include in the picture. Have fun with this easy tradition idea; it’s a fun way for you and your partner to look back and see how much you’ve grown over the years.

2. CHRISTMAS PIZZA NIGHT: Who doesn’t love pizza and Christmas? Combine the two and have an annual Christmas pizza night. Buy or make dough, get all your favorite toppings, and shape the dough into Christmas-y shapes like Christmas trees or candy canes. This is a super cute date idea to look forward to each year and the perfect Christmas tradition to start with your partner. Plus, you can certainly continue this tradition with kids or other family members!

---

---

3. “FAVORITE MEMORIES” PRESENTATIONS: Dedicate a night for presenting your favorite memories of the year to each other. Use PowerPoint, Canva, or any other platform of your liking. Spend time compiling memories, photos, stories, and videos to put together on your slideshow. Then, get snacks, turn on some background music, cozy up, and take turns presenting to each other! This is a great holiday tradition to reflect on your year together and to have slideshows to look back on from years ago.

4. CREATE HOLIDAY DATE CALENDAR: Date possibilities are endless during the holidays! Put a holiday date bucket list or calendar together to plan out all the fun things you want to do. Especially since the Christmas season can be quite hectic, it doesn’t hurt to plan out dates to ensure you make time for each other and celebrate this wonderful time of year. You can find tons of templates on Etsy or Canva and edit it to your liking. Here’s an example:

RELATED: 8 Fantastic Holiday Date Ideas to Spark Magic This Season

5. CHRISTMAS EVE TRADITION: Start a new Christmas Eve tradition with your partner! This is more of a generic idea, but it’s something you two will look forward to each year. Some common traditions are opening a present or baking cookies for Santa, but you can really be creative with this! Whether big or small, this is something you and your partner can start in your 20s and continue for years to come. Here are some fun and quirky ideas:
   • Takeout food from somewhere for dinner or a late night snack
   • Start and complete a puzzle
   • Make and eat a holiday treat at midnight (cookies, s’mores, cake, bars, etc.)
   • Wake up to watch the sunrise
   • Eat a frozen meal (frozen pizza, Trader Joe’s frozen meals, Costco frozen meals, etc.)
   • Hide a gift in your place for your partner to find Christmas morning
   • Take a late-night walk with hot cocoa in hand
   • Watch an animated movie

6. NEW MATCHING ARTICLE OF CLOTHING: If you’re a couple that like to match, get a new matching article of clothing every year during the holidays. Pajamas are a classic, but you can also do socks, hats, sweatshirts, or even shoes. You’ll have a physical piece of clothing that will remind you of that specific Christmas season.

---

---

---

WITH FRIENDS OR FAMILY

Here are some great new traditions to start with friends or family this holiday season. Maybe you’re single, you and your partner have a fun gang, you live near family, you have a close bunch of girlfriends, or recently formed a new friend group. Whatever the case, these holiday tradition ideas will be perfect to start in your 20s with loved ones and continue with each other for years to come.

1. FRIENDS CHRISTMAS CARD: This is a super fun Christmas tradition idea! Get together with your friend group – whether that means your girls, you and your partner’s collective friends, or your co-workers – and make a Christmas card! Set up a photoshoot, print them using Canva or Shutterfly, and send them out to friends and family. Family Christmas cards are cool, but how fun would a friends Christmas card be?! You can even come up with a theme each year. I promise, your cards will be the talk of the town during Christmastime.

2. PREDICTIONS FOR NEW YEAR: The holiday season means the end of the year and the beginning of a new one! For this holiday tradition idea, get pens and scrap pieces of paper and have your group write predictions for the new year. These can be about each other, celebrities, politics, other friends, or the world in general, and relate to anything from relationships and career to music and film. Have a dinner, play some music, get your mental crystal ball working, and store these predictions in a labeled mason jar. Then, the next year around the holidays, you can read the predictions to see if any came true, and write new ones for the upcoming year.

3. CHRISTMAS CRAFT DAY: If your group is a crafty bunch, take turns hosting a Christmas craft day each year! There are tons of (non-tacky) crafts you can make that you will actually use. From painting glassware and pottery to watercoloring Christmas cards and embroidering clothing, you and your group will have a blast. This blog has many ideas that you can Christmas-ify: 50 Crafts for Adults That Won’t End Up in the Trash in Two Months.

4. SHOPPING DAY + MEAL(S): What’s better than a shopping day? Get you and your girlfriends together to get your holiday shopping in. And make it a DAY. By this I mean, make it more than just a quick trip to the mall. Have your lists all ready, grab a Starbucks drink or stop at a coffee shop before you begin, go to a mall or two, and round out the day with a happy hour or dinner. And of course, it doesn’t hurt to treat yourselves, as well 😉

RELATED: Holiday Shopping Survival Guide: 11 Smart Tips to Keep You Organized and Stress-Free

5. CHRISTMAS LIST/THEMED PRESENTATION NIGHT: For a fun Christmas tradition for a friend group in their 20s, have a Christmas list/themed PowerPoint night with your friends. Put together your Christmas wishlists and present them to each other! If your group does gift exchanges or Secret Santa, this could help with gifting ideas. But even more so, everyone can get wishlist ideas from each other! This is a fun way to share good finds, fashion inspo, unique pieces, and items others may not have thought of. Or, if Christmas lists are not your group’s thing, think of a different theme for your presentations. Make fun drinks, snack on festive foods, and share! This is a fun tradition to bring your group together during the holiday season.

RELATED: 7 Secret Santa Theme Ideas That Will Elevate Your Gift Exchange

6. HOLIDAY GAME NIGHT: There are countless Christmas-themed games out there – from puzzles and board games to party games like Jeopardy and charades, a holiday game night is a super fun and festive gathering idea. This is the perfect holiday tradition for your 20-something group. Each year, you can find new and unique games to add to the mix. Play your Christmas tunes in the back and let the games begin! Here are some fun ideas from Amazon:

---

---

---

---

---

LET THE TRADITIONS BEGIN

As a 20-something, now is the perfect time to begin some new holiday traditions. Whether it’s for yourself, for you and your partner, or with your family or friends, there are countless fun and unique ideas to try. You’ll create festive memories for years to come!