Not every baby dresses as Santa for Christmas, but you can mark their first Christmas as something special in various ways…
Does your family do something special or different when there is a new baby experiencing Christmas for the first time?
It has become commonplace for retailers to offer stockings and baubles with ‘baby’s first Christmas’ on them, but there are many other ways to make the first Christmas special for the new parents and everyone’s memories.
Maybe start a family tradition of Christmas photos (thanks for the idea Bronwyn) or the youngest person gets the first gift. Or perhaps rethink the venue and format of your Christmas celebrations to be more baby and child friendly. Get everyone to sign a Christmas card or scrapbook page (like a 21st key or wedding guest book) or record a video message.
So, what does your family do for first Christmases? Or is another Christmas experience considered more important in your family?
We do have a tradition we follow for the first Christmas. We only have two children, but each child has his own Christmas ornament from Hallmark with the year of birth on it. We tried to get them both a really nice one.
That sounds nice, Anna. Do you hang them on the tree each year or have them put away until they are old enough for their own trees?
I like the idea of a scrapbook.This could be used as a keepsake for when the baby is older. What is fun to watch is that most babies love to play with the wrapping paper, better than seeing what they received as a gift.
It is fun to watch their delight in wrapping paper and ribbons! We’ve often joked that we could wrap an empty box and little kids would be just as happy!
One thing that is really great and easy to do for a first Christmas is to buy a plain white ornament and place the child’s hand or footprint on it using non toxic paint. Then we write the year and the child’s name with a glitter pen. These last for years and truly do create a magnificent memory.
That’s a nice idea, Tulosai. Simple, clean and personalised
Baby’s first christmas is a very special occasion and I think it should be recorded. This way when grown up , the first time wrapping presents and learning christmas traditions will be remembered.
How do you record it, Breakfree? I took heaps of photos and some video for each of my babies at their first Christmas.
I feel like my baby is going to be getting two first Christmases. We are expecting our first little one in November. I do not really think he/she will be old enough to really remember or get a ton out of Christmas being only a month old. That is not going to stop us from going all out. But, I think that next year’s Christmas will mean a lot more to the child and to us. I am a little bummed about their birthday and Christmas being so close together. Guess I am going to be doing a lot of toy shopping October – December, eh? 😀
Congratulations on that little bundle, streakanime 🙂 You will have a shopping spree but Novemeber isn’t too bad (I have friends in December including the 25th and 31st and they’re tough!) especially for a young child who finds even a week a l-o-n-g time 🙂
The very first Christmas realy is about the parents as even an almost 1 year old doesn’t appreciate a lot of the celebrations (wrapping paper is cool though 🙂 ) The Christmas when they’re 2 is the most exciting one I’ve found – they have a better idea of what’s coming and the anitcipation is lovely. That’s sort of their first Christmas…
Ah! That does make sense. I am going to need to find someone to teach me how to wrap presents better, haha. Mine look like something a little kid would have wrapped. 😀 At least in a few years I can just tell people the little one helped me do it, haha.
And thank you for the congratulations. 😀
Trust me, neat or not, young kids couldn’t care less about how the present looks – it will attreact their attention either way and they will itch to open it even if it is screwed up in old brown paper, lol!
I loved my sons first Christmas. The only downside is we were at my in-laws so we could not do anything special, plus he was only a month old. However, I have to admit this was one of the most special times I had with him and one time I will always remember when he would curl up on my chest and just go to sleep.
Oh, I love that baby stage of them cuddling into you to sleep – Christmas or not it is the most beautiful sensation 🙂 Remembering that is special enough I think, Wayne.
At my grandparents house we unwrap gifts from the youngest to the oldest. It’s very exciting to see the joy on the little kids faces when they unwrap their gifts. Last year was actually my son’s second Christmas (he was only 3 months old for his first), he got some cute little characters that he loved. He was jumping up and down and squealing in delight. There is nothing more precious than the eyes of a child on Christmas.
I hope the eldest in your family is patient, StacyLynn 🙂 I like the idea of everyone taking the time to see each other open their presents though – it enahnces the pleasure of seeing others receiving plus makes the experience last longer!
I’m glad your son enjoyed his first real Christmas so much – it is amazing to watch them literally jump up and down with excitement! We forget how restrained we have become until you see the natural reactions of toddlers!
Any day now I am expecting my first grandchild and a second in Dec. I’m looking for ideas for a special tradition to do for a new grand baby and new parents. Something besides a ornament or stocking.
Congratulations pocs!
I love the idea of making a photo album for the child and putting in a photo for each Christmas. Could just be of the child but I think a family group shot as well is really nice – the child can then see how eveyrone else has changed over time, too, not just him/her. And it makes a reminder to take those group shots 🙂 Making the pages pretty adds to the beauty of the album – and how amazing will it be when they turn 18 to have that album?
I did have a similar album I did for the girls, the first Christmas they were away from home, but I’m thinking why wait til then, start it with the first Christmas. Thanks for the tip!
You’re welcome pocs – I see some beautiful Christmas albums being presented to your grandchildren when they’re older…
My family has a fun but silly tradition for the new babies. We will buy them little elf outfits and place them in a huge stocking and take their pictures in front of the tree. It’s a lot of fun and the pictures of the years have been fun to do and funner to go back and look at.
SO you keep building on the fun or silly aspect of it, I gather, Lisa? Sounds like fun!
I much prefer doing fun things that just posing kids in a photo studio somewhere r buying an ornament to tore in a cupboard.
Hi! I was thinking of how to make my baby’s first Christmas special when i stumbled upon this article on your blog. Such great ideas coming from your readers and also the one on the link savetimeonline. I really want to make it wonderful for my son who will be 9 month-old in December. More power to your blog!
Thanks emerillus.
There are some great ideas you can use or somehow blend to find your own special celebration with your son. At 9 months he will probably love all the colour, glitter and action this year – enjoy!