27 Families Shared Their Super Sweet, One-Of-A-Kind Traditions, And I'm A Puddle Of Tears RN
I think everyone feels like their family is the weirdest (most special?).
But weirdness is beautiful, IMO. So, eager to hear from the BuzzFeed Community about their families' wholly unique traditions, I asked. I was NOT disappointed, and I must share. Enjoy!
1."My mom lives in a very rural area and doesn't have cable or internet and only gets four channels on TV. Every year at Thanksgiving, after we eat, we all get together in the living room and watch the dog show. We critique the owners' outfits and root for our favorite dogs. We have done this for over 20 years now."
—Anonymous
2."Every Halloween, we eat Chinese takeout while watching a Halloween horror movie. I think it started with my mom having four kids and being too tired to cook, but as adults, whether we're able to come home or not, we all do it on Halloween night."
3."We have three cats, and each one shares a birthday with one of their humans. We buy a little toy for them and give them 'birthday snackies.'"
"NB: The pizza here was not his snacky."
4."I don’t know how either of these traditions were started because they’ve been around longer than I have, but every Christmas, we sing happy birthday to Jesus and have a birthday cake (even though most of us aren’t religious), and every time we sing happy birthday to someone, everyone sings as horribly as they possible can the entire time without fail. Most of the time, it ends with almost everyone laughing too hard to finish the song because of the weird looks we get. 😂"
—Lacey, 20, Montana
5."Our family has several movies that are beloved favorites that my children grew up watching. One of them is The Princess Bride (obviously). I don’t know when it was started, but 6-7 years ago, anytime someone said 'It’s possible' or just 'Possible,' someone else would follow up with, '…pig.' It's from the scene where Wesley is lying in bed after they storm the castle, and Prince Humperdinck is in the room, and they are having words. Everyone in our family does this, and it’s so automatic that we often say it to people who are then confused. The worst time it happened was when my 10-year-old son (at the time) said it to his teacher, and she didn’t appreciate it much. She still wasn't amused when I had to explain to her why he called her a pig."
—Sarah, USA
6."'Whose day is it?' My brother and I fought constantly as kids. We were constantly arguing over whose turn it was to take out the trash, who got to pick the TV show we watched, damn near everything. Our parents decided that the best solution was to designate each day to belong to one of us. The days were picked based on our birthdays; his was on the 15th and mine on the 24th, so odd days were his, and even days were mine. It was a mixed bag. Whosever day it was had to take out the trash, but also got to pick the TV show. It took me a few years to realize there were seven more odd-numbered days than ever."
7."Pie day. Real holiday, though. We celebrate on Pi Day, not Pie Day. The parents throw (more like gently smash) pies (jello pudding in a tin with whipped cream) in the kids' faces."
8."My daughter and I make peppermint pancakes on Christmas Eve and hang them in ziplock baggies on the tree for everyone to reheat and eat the next morning. It was my idea to simplify Christmas mornings, but it was my daughter's idea to add peppermint. We actually crush candy canes and add them to the batter. They are delicious!"
—Anonymous
9."Every Saint Patrick's Day, we watch The Luck of the Irish and eat corned beef…"
10."This is pretty weird. We play a game called 'Sweat Bag' whenever we have a large family get-together. It all started when someone tried to throw a wet plastic Kroger bag into the garbage and accidentally hit someone with it. Well, that wet bag started getting thrown around from person to person until one of my nephews said that it wasn’t water on the bag, it was SWEAT... that took everything to a different level. So it has become a bizarre family tradition that when we get together, someone gets a bag, gets it wet, and starts throwing it around. If there are guests at the party, we tell them about it, and then they are fair game as well. We are usually all laughing so hard and screaming that we get weak. I know it’s dumb, but it's fun for us."
"As a side note, the ages for Sweat Bag run from 5 years old to folks in their early 70s. It was two of the older folks that started the whole tradition. Needless to say, we are easily amused."
11."My dad's side of the family has a rule that you have to be able to hang a spoon from your nose. We have pictures of this happening at every large family gathering. Any new members of the family are subject to doing this too!"
12."One year, when we were really struggling financially, we went to the Dollar Store with our three kids to pick out Christmas presents for each other. Each kid chose one gift for their two siblings and us. It's become a tradition now. We go to the Dollar Store every year, but now they pick out one gift and one candy for everyone. We come home, wrap the presents, and exchange them on Christmas Eve. Some of my favorite gifts have come from the tradition because you can see how hard the kids try to get something you'd like."
—Elizabeth, 45, WA
13."We are pro wrestling fans. Since 2021, AEW has held a live Thanksgiving taping of one of their weekly television shows in Chicago. We’ve gone every year since. We have signs supporting our favorite wrestlers and have been featured on television while being noticed by AEW personalities, like the ring announcer. This tradition also involves sightseeing in the city, followed by holiday shopping. Waiting for tickets to go on sale for this year's show because we are going again!"
14."Every Easter, my dad buys out the deli/cheese at the local grocery store. He rolls up roast beef, turkey, ham, and all sorts of cheeses. Then he sets out olives, fruit, wraps prosciutto in cantaloupe, peels oranges with ricotta cheese for the family and any guests. It's such a simple thing, really. But it is our Easter tradition and I haven't found a soul who joined us and didn't just absolutely love it. Yummy food, family, and chocolate. What more do you need in life? This probably isn't all that unique LOL, I'm sure many families get together for Easter and eat food and chocolate, but the spread has always been the same since I was a kid, and it just makes me so happy."
15."20 years ago, I made a vase at a Paint It! Pottery shop and gave it to my mom for Christmas. It was hideous, for lack of better words, but she gratefully accepted it and then "accidentally" left it behind at my grandpa's house, where we were opening presents. The next year, my grandpa re-wrapped the vase and gifted it to a different family member. The howls of laughter when that person opened it and realized they were now the proud owner of this ugly vase. Ever since then, any time there's an opportunity to exchange/give gifts (Christmas, birthday, housewarming, etc...), this vase gets wrapped up and gifted to its new owner. At this point, people are both nervous and excited to receive a large box because they know there's a 50-50 chance it's the vase. 20 years later, and it's a treasured family heirloom. I can't wait for the next generation of our family to join in on the fun!"
16."Big Cleveland sports fans! We waited so long for a championship and were so happy when the Cavs won the NBA finals! Since 2016, on Christmas morning, we wake up and open presents, then watch game 7 of the 2016 NBA finals while my Dad smokes sausage wrapped in bacon with an egg center for our brunch."
—Anonymous
17."We choose a funny theme each year for Halloween and really deck out the house. It started with the neighborhood dads wanting unique haunted houses, but it's just us who have made it a thing each year. We've done Little Shop of Horrors, Spirited Away, The Addams Family, and even the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. We invite friends over, and everyone comes in costume. When trick or treat starts, there's candy for the kids and some cocktails for the adults (the adult trick or treat). After dinner, we play the most irreverent board games 'til midnight. It's our version of The Purge."
—Katy, 35
18."When it's time to decorate the tree for Christmas, my brother and I argue over who gets to hang the most icicles. We have 25 little plastic icicles, so we would trade off who got to hang 13 instead of 12 every year — and even though we knew whose turn it was, we'd argue because it was fun to us. We still do this today, and we're in our 40s."
19."During Covid my family (including all extended) started a Zoom call once a week to check in. Started March 2020 and it’s now September 2024, and we haven’t missed a week since 🫶🏼❤️"
20."This started the year that my husband and I got married, back in 2012. All of my family lives in a different state, and I always spend Christmas with them. I always say it's not Christmas until I'm in Oklahoma. Well, in 2012, Texas got a freak snowstorm, and we were not able to travel to Oklahoma for Christmas. I was severely bummed, and my husband suggested going somewhere to eat to cheer me up. The only thing open was Waffle House, so that was where we went. Everyone there was in SUCH a GOOD mood. I told him that we needed to make this a yearly tradition, even if we were in Oklahoma on Christmas. So that is what we have done. We go to Waffle House every Christmas morning, and it's now become something our 8-year-old has identified as our family tradition."
—Candy, 43, TX
21."Every year at Christmas, we watch a new 'WTF' Christmas movie. It started with One Magic Christmas and hoo boy, this one’s a gem."
22."So my mom's side of the family makes the world's best homemade pizza. When we were kids, the Wonderful World of Disney was brought back on Sundays, so we would have Pizza Sunday, a night where we could have pizza and watch whatever was being shown as a nice little way to end the weekend. Eventually, the Wonderful World of Disney was moved to Saturday, but Pizza Sunday remained. Family and friends would literally beg to come to our house for Pizza Sunday because it was that good. It should also be noted that my dad's side of the family didn't treat us the best, so it was nice to see them grovel a bit in order to get access to that delicious pizza."
—Anonymous
23."The night before our birthdays, our Mum would come to say 'Goodnight little *insert age we were leaving behind*' to signify going up a number the next day. This carried on well after leaving home when I would insist she call me on my birthday eve just before bed 😂."
24."My wife and I celebrate Christmas twice a year with gifts and seasonal food. Once on New Year's Eve, and once on Eurovision night."
25."My mom and I like to sneak fake spiders or mice into each other's gifts at Christmas. She got me with a giant animatronic tarantula one year. I nearly fainted!"
26."Watching Family Guy Star Wars episodes on Christmas Day. My son received them as a gift when he was a young teenager, and it made us laugh so hard that it has become a Christmas tradition ever since. My son is now 32 years old."
27."Putting soy sauce and yeast seasoning on microwave popcorn. My grandma started this tradition and passed it on to my dad, who passed it on to me. I’ve also made my own version by adding Hidden Valley Ranch powder instead of yeast seasoning. My friends all get grossed out when I tell them about it, but I love it. TBH, I would probably be grossed out if I wasn’t so used to it. A couple of my friends have tried it and come to enjoy it, but I swear NO ONE ELSE DOES THIS!!!"
—Anonymous, USA
There's literally no way this could be an exhaustive list, so please let me know in the comments (or with this anonymous Google form): What's your family's one-of-a-kind tradition?
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
