If the holidays were not busy enough already, adding a new baby to the mix can be both exciting and exhausting. There are a few tips to keep in mind as Christmas approaches to try and keep things fun and enjoyable for everyone, rather than stressful and disastrous. From new traditions, to visiting Santa and making some crafts, baby’s first Christmas only happens once, so make it as special as possible. (Written by Cynthia Breen, momstown KW editor.)
This exciting time can mean the start of new traditions and new exciting experiences, but if not handled and planned correctly it can mean disaster.
I can recall the first Christmas with our little guy, the excitement of sharing this special holiday with our special gift really did keep me up at night and certainly made Christmas exciting again. Unfortunately for a new mom it also meant a bit of stress on how to balance out the crazy of the holidays with appreciating every moment we could. We found it helpful to make our own family traditions or continue existing ones that made it both special for our little one, but also helped us in planning the holidays, as well as following some basic tips in our planning.
Here are a few things that we found helpful with our first baby, and ones that we know we will be keeping in mind as we prepare for the first Christmas with our new baby this year.
- Start a new tradition – For us it was giving Christmas pajamas, a tradition for a lot of families that serves multiple purposes. The night before Christmas have your little one open this one special gift, which can take the edge off from having to look at presents for a month, but also helps for making great family photos in the morning when they are starting to open their gifts. Whatever tradition you chose, make it something that is special for your family, and something that you can keep up every year. In our discussion at our recent Fisher-Price Baby's First Holiday event, we had a lot of conversations about what new traditions to start and which ones we were carrying forward from our own child
- Visit Santa – It can seem daunting to get the kids dressed up and out the door to head to a busy mall as the season approaches, but trust me that it will be worth it. Even with little ones who are starting to play strange, these photos will be the ones you remember the most. Follow these tips on how to survive your visit.
- Crafts! – I can’t stress this enough, their little hands will only be so little for such a small amount of time. Not only do crafts make great money-saving gifts for loved ones, but they will cherish these more than anything you can buy in the store. Here are some great ideas for crafts for any age, including some really special ones for baby’s first Christmas. This Hand Print Ornament is definitely one of our favourites every year!
- Age appropriate gifts – There is nothing more frustrating for both you and your little one than gifts that they can’t enjoy for one reason or another. I can remember for our son’s first Christmas, when he was all of 8 months old, someone bought him 1000 piece lego set. Try reasoning with a little one on why they can’t play with a toy that can make them choke after they have spent all the time opening the present. There are plenty of options available for every age, so make sure that people try to follow the guidelines for age appropriate toys. There are helpful gift guides available to make it even easier. We were lucky enough to have the Fisher-Price Santa send us all these great toys for our Baby Basics program to sample and even take them home!
The babies did not want to share either but can you blame them? We captured it all here.The Fisher-Price® Laugh & Learn® Smart Stages™ Chair was definitely a favourite and is on the list of every baby in momstown this year!
- Set the bar low – This might seems tough to do when all the plans are coming together and you have to travel and pack everything up, but try to not over schedule yourselves. This will be a stressful time for everyone, and your little one might not love the idea of sitting in the car for hours, being held by family they don’t see very often and in general being set off their routine. Even though their first Christmas is a special time, it is something new to them and might not be the perfect memory you hoped. Don’t expect every moment to be picture perfect, it will be chaos, but fun in exactly the way it should be.
Most of all enjoy your first Christmas with your new family member. It will be a special time that you remember more than they ever will, but with some careful planning it can be pleasurable for all.
What family traditions have you started with your little one?
Written by Cynthia Breen, momstown KW editor.
