Build New Traditions in Your New Home

Buying a new house is one of the biggest commitments you’ll make in your life. It’s a sign of establishing roots, laying down a foundation for years to come.

Everyone has a different reason for taking that important step in their lives. But when you decide on purchasing a single-family home, it’s usually with family in mind. Maybe you’re newly married and want to start a family in the next few years. Maybe you want a larger home to better accommodate your established family. Or maybe you’re ready for the empty nest years; a place where you can start new memories while bringing the family back home from time to time.

Whatever your reason, family traditions play an important role in your final selection. We select a home for the experiences and happiness it can offer to our lives.

And when we move in, we’ll be bringing with us all of the wisdom that makes us who we are, while having the intention of creating new traditions in the process.

Traditions matter a lot. Traditions are behaviors that you engage in again and again, ritually at the same time or in the same manner. They can be big or small.

They provide us with a source of identity. They provide us with the history of who we are.

They create family cohesiveness. A family with rituals will always have stronger connections.

They provide comfort and security. It’s what gives us a feeling of “going home”.

They reinforce family values. You have heard the adage “A family that plays together stays together” haven’t you?

They give us our stories. That’s what memories are for. They build a life.

How To Create Traditions

Give it a purpose. We tend to build new traditions around routines. We choose to do the same things again and again, every year. We also use it as a way to bond between generations. It’s a way to look back and remember how you’ve changed. Maybe you take a photograph on the first day of school in front of the same tree every year.  That simple ritual can give meaning to both the family and the home in more ways than one.

Make it personal. A tradition should bring everyone together and allow him or her to share. Family game night is a perfect way to bring everyone together, laughing and playing along the way. Just be sure everyone gets a chance to select their favorite games. Make up silly rules that only your family uses. Incorporate other items into the evening that bring you closer together: wearing pajamas and crazy socks can do the trick.

Bring back your childhood. New families can sometimes find it difficult to bring together two cultures, two ideas. Don’t get rid of the fun things you remember as a child, use it to build a new tradition instead.

Christmas is often filled with traditions, and it can make blending ideas together for a new family a challenge. If one of you opened gifts on Christmas Eve while the other saved everything for Christmas day, how can you blend it and make something new and meaningful?

Change with the times. Families change over time. A family with toddlers will have different opportunities than a family with teenagers. And as much as we love what we had as a family years ago, the new ideas we can create today are sometimes just as much fun. New traditions shouldn’t be stressful. Instead, they should come naturally.

Building Your Home For New Traditions

In many cases, traditions are what led you to build your own home in the first place. If your family loves the holidays, maybe your perfect family room is one with a large window that can showcase your tree. Or, maybe you enjoy cooking together and want as much counter space as you can get. Maybe your perfect Saturday afternoon would be camping out on a large front porch, reading a book together and sipping lemonade.

You can feel it when you walk inside. It’s more than seeing a great layout or finding the number of rooms you need.

Instead, it’s about the personality of the home.

With an existing home, what you see is what you get. But with new construction, you can add the details that best suit your lifestyle.

When you establish new traditions, beyond what comes with the holidays or on birthdays, you’ll typically find they develop in one of three ways.

Daily traditions – these are the small things you do every day that builds family values. It comes from sharing routines, communicating, and living together in a close environment. It could be as simple as posting notes to the refrigerator. Or snuggling by the fireplace with a big bowl of popcorn, sharing your activities from the day.

Weekly traditions – these are the activities you incorporate into your busy weeks. Homemade pizza night on Tuesdays. Game nights on Sundays.

Life traditions – these are rituals that bond you as a family. These are the photographs you take on the first day of school. These are the decorations you use to create ambiance in your home.

Need a few ideas?

How about a family time capsule. Find the perfect box to store everything in. Make sure it’s waterproof and can last 10+ years. Then have every member of your home fill it with things they love. It may be a favorite memento, notes, news stories – anything that’s personal to each. Then seal it up and date it for some point in the future. This is a perfect activity for when you first move into your new home.

Or maybe a happiness jar. Place a jar in the middle of your table, along with small sheets of paper beside it. At dinner time, share the best thing about your day. Write it down and put it in the happiness jar. One look at it will give your family a warm feeling of commitment, gratefulness, and happiness.

Or how about family meetings. That was what attracted you to the large open concept and the fireplace in the corner, right? Make sure your comfy couch can hold everyone in your family. Scatter blankets and pillows all around. Then get cozy and talk about how your family can be better as a whole and goals you want to achieve. Don’t play mom and dad; instead, give everyone equal status. Discuss what worked well, what didn’t, and how you want to change. It’ll make your living space the best room in the house.

Can your home do all of that? Or is it time to turn your traditions into a New Tradition Home? We build with families in mind. We know how important your family is – families are important to us too. That’s why you’ll find all of the best details that go into every home we build.

We’re not just building for a client; we’re building for a family. Your family. And they mean the world to us, too.