Creating Christmas Traditions with Friends: Practical Tips and Ideas

Traditions are often associated with family gatherings: each year, relatives come together to share twelve special grapes at midnight and make wishes. However, traditions with close friends are just as important.

Why Create Friendship Traditions

Life flies by quickly, and each Christmas marks a fresh start. Traditions in this flow act as supportive pillars: they help us focus on what truly matters and remind us of the value of moments shared with loved ones. Additionally, they: 

• Prolong the history of your friendship— When friends uphold their traditions every year — whether it's baking cookies, participating in a community event, or dining at the same restaurant every December 25th — they reinforce their bonds.
• Offer a sense of predictability and control— Having familiar rituals creates a sense of stability. The more stability in our lives, the less we worry. This is especially important in a world that is constantly changing.
• Enhance the sense of belonging to — Shared traditions, even the simplest ones, bring people together into teams. Life is more fun and safe when you have a "tribe." Moreover, many people return to their hometowns for Christmas, where they aren't often present. Common rituals are what help restore the feeling of home and connection to the past.
• Become part of the shared emotional story of the group — Over time, recurring actions become a shared story. This narrative bonds people together — especially when recalling pleasant moments as a group. Without memories shared with someone, the connection is unstable and fragile. When people have shared book memories, they perceive their friendship as deeper and more valuable. 

How to Create Traditions with Friends

When it feels like all the cool traditions have already been taken, remember that the most heartfelt rituals often emerge accidentally—not from a list of ideas online but from jokes, circumstances, habits, or your group of friends' inside jokes. The key is to notice them and repeat them genuinely, simply because everyone wants to. 

Here are five extended tips on creating unique traditions for your circle of friends. 

• Start small. Holiday traditions can range from budget-friendly to quite extravagant. If flying to a snowy destination every year isn't feasible for everyone, set that idea aside and establish a custom that's low-cost but fosters positive associations. 
• Identify what's already a habit. Every group of friends has its recurring rituals. Perhaps you've already celebrated Christmas in the same venue for the past three years, or you simultaneously come up with ideas for a holiday movie. Maybe, as a habit, you replicate certain poses in photos from year to year. That's already a tradition, albeit an informal one without a name. Give it simple meaning, discuss it, and decide to do it every Christmas.
• Base it on a common interest. If your group is connected through sports, creativity, or watching old shows, turn this into a ritual. "Lord of the Rings" fans could host a marathon of director's cuts, while board game enthusiasts could play three rounds of their favorite game. Even if you’re just binge-watching holiday specials of a beloved series, do it mindfully and annually.
• Create a humorous tradition. Humor is one of the most essential bonding elements in a friendship. If you didn't enjoy each other's jokes, your connection likely wouldn't last. Capture the moment when everyone laughed hard over a phrase, situation, or absurd detail. Play it out humorously as if it's an essential part of the gathering. What matters is regularity, involving everyone, and preserving the spirit of your shared joke.
• Seize the moments. Sometimes, something unplanned but very warm or fun happens during a celebration: a conversation going on till dawn, a spontaneous snowfall walk, or caroling with passersby. If you’ve ever asked, "Why not make this a new tradition?" then that's the one. 

A Few Christmas Tradition Ideas for Friends

If you're not sure which tradition to create, you definitely need to meet up again, observe each other, and study our list of friendship customs and rituals for inspiration before your gathering. 

Secret Santa

This classic Christmas tradition has brought together countless groups of friends. It's perfect not only for Christmas but for any gift-giving occasion. Each participant randomly draws a name and becomes a Secret Santa for someone. Everyone exchange secret gifts in person or remotely, and in the exchange day, players guess their Santas.

Your could add the unique twist to your Secret Santa. For instance, everyone could exchange handmade gifts or confuse friends with misleading hints throughout the game.  

Try our MySanta app

You can create wishlists, add exclusions, and communicate with your gifree secretly. Moreover, there is an option to track gifts and ensure that everyone buys a present on time.

Start

Person of the Year

If your friendship is strong and long-standing, choosing a "Person of the Year" each year won't be challenging. Such a title is a great way to acknowledge someone who has been through significant changes, overcame a tough period, or was particularly supportive.

The winner should never repeat, ensuring everyone gets their moment of recognition and praise in a future Christmas. This is a great tradition because it makes gatherings more meaningful — no one will want to miss the awards ceremony that's even more thrilling than the Oscars. 

See You in a Year

Each person writes a note to their future self on a sticky note and promises aloud to return to the same place a year later to recall what was written. The notes can be shuffled, stored in a box, and randomly drawn at the next gathering. This way, everyone finds out what their friend planned or hoped for, share a laugh, support each other, and then writes new messages for the next party.

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Annual Movie Outing

When trying this for the first time, you'll feel like rebels or a group defying the rules. Forget about bowls of salad, tablecloths, and champagne — just embrace the dark theater, big screen, and snacks from the bar. It doesn't matter what movie you choose. What matters is the atmosphere: fireworks outside, homes full of guests, and you’re in a cinema, enjoying special holiday movies.

Gifts from the Past

Exchange gifts that can be opened only a year later and repeat this each holiday. These "delayed" surprises become genuine messages from the past: they reflect what your friend reminded you of, what you wanted to say without words, and their interests at the time. It's a unique and heartfelt ritual that evokes genuine emotions each year. The longer you wait for a gift, the more treasured and moving it becomes.

Screen-Free Day

Let your group and the Christmas gathering place become not just a tradition but a special space where you relax both body and mind. Agree that on this night or for 24 hours, you'll put your phones away. Even during the festivities, hands naturally reach for the screen — to take pictures, reply to messages, scroll through social media to see how others are celebrating. But disconnecting from constant notifications, even for one night, allows you to live the moments more deeply and vividly. Over time, once it becomes a tradition, these gatherings will transform from mere parties to opportunities to switch off, recharge, and truly rest.

Holiday Wreaths

If you've been searching for a Christmas tradition that's cozy, creative, and bonding — try spending an evening making holiday wreaths with friends. Wreaths are beautiful, surprisingly simple to make, eco-friendly, and a great reason to gather, not just for food or TV but for creativity and conversation.

Instead of heading to a bar or wandering the streets, stay in with pine branches, mulled wine, and favorite tunes. It's genuine festive meditation. The finished wreaths can be hung on doors, gifted to parents, or snapped for a yearly collage, letting your social circles know that your crew came together again for this holiday project. 

If you're unsure where to start, use a YouTube tutorial.

Holiday Dinner Marathon

Visit each other's homes. Let each dinner party differ from the others, just like in a certain TV show. Its own menu, games, features, and decorations. Over as many days as friends in your group, you’ll gain experiences that compare to an entire year’s worth of living — you're unlikely to have visited so many homes in the months leading up to this special holiday season. 

Church Visit

Visiting a church on Christmas Eve isn't strange or outdated, even if you don't see yourself as religious. It's a chance to spend time in a serene atmosphere: ancient architecture, flickering candlelight, choral singing, peace and order all around. You’ll surely not encounter noise, bustle, or life and politics debates, and no television show will drown out your thoughts. 

For some, it's an opportunity to pause, reflect on the past year, make a wish — not amidst the noise and fireworks, but in silence. It helps to refresh and step into the new year with a clear mind. 

If your group decides to visit a church just once a year on Christmas Eve — not for the ritual but for the quiet and shared mood — it could become a deeply unexpected tradition. Stand side-by-side, lost in your own thoughts, yet together, before heading off to celebrate in your usual way. 

Countdown to Christmas

The countdown to Christmas is a unique tradition that brings people together to welcome the start of something anticipated. You can center the ritual around the final 12 chimes of a clocktower or begin earlier, depending on what you plan to do during this countdown. 

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Traditions don’t have to be serious rituals. They can be simple, funny, even silly, but most importantly, personal and geared towards bringing your group closer together. Share our ideas with your friends — maybe this article landed in your lap just in time?