10 First Snow Traditions

I loathe snow. There I said it. I was never that kid that saw the snow and wanted to run out and play in it. Maybe it was because it was cold, or maybe it was because my great grandparents were afraid to fall so we always stayed inside. But it just wasn’t for me.

This year however, my daughter is two. And I became determined to love the snow. For weeks we have been talking about all the wondrous things we can do as a family when it snows. So I decided to build a list of traditions for the first snow of the year. While Colorado waited until the 17th of November to snow, we were determined to make it special.

1.       Make Chili for dinner:

Homemade chili warms our bodies from the inside out. The perfect comfort food for a first snow.

2.       Bake some cookies:

Ever since I was little I loved baking cookies. You can make your favorite recipe from scratch or even just buy some dough and bake them. The smell of cookies will fill your nose and make your home super cozy.

3.       Go outside and spin around in the snow, make a snow angel:

The wonderment of children is always evident when it snows. How they just want to play and run around it. Why not join them and have a little fun yourself?

4.       Curl up with some hot cocoa and watch a movie under a blanket as a family:

Sure, we do this quite a bit, but it is always more snuggley when the weather is cold.

5.       Play a board game together:

Any board game will do, but coming together to have some indoor fun is always welcome around here.

6.       Build a snowman:

Even if there is only a little snow, no one said it had to break a record.

7.       Make or draw paper snowflakes:

We love to craft, so making some snowflakes was a given! Plus now we can hang them up through the New Year!

8.       Read a winter book:

It doesn’t have to be a winter story, just get together and read some stories. We bought a new book for the occasion and hid it until it snowed. An added bonus for staying warm inside.

9.       Write a now story together:

You don’t have to be an author or a fantastic artist, just sitting down together and coming up with a short story of the day and getting it in a book will make memories forever. All you need a few pages of printer paper or construction paper and some crayons. The kids can draw on the pages and you can collect them every year.

10.   Have a mini photo session in the snow:

Now yes, I am a photographer so every event calls for a photo session; but you don’t have to be a professional to make these memories last. Capture their joy in the snow: running, playing, throwing the snow, and even catching snowflakes on their tongues. They grow up too fast to forget this magic.

So there is my list of traditions for the first snow of the year. I would love to hear some of the fun things your family does when it snows!