When our children are young, Christmas is a magical time. From early December, they start to write letters to Santa and enjoy Christmas baking and crafts. They love visits to Santa, Christmas plays and seeing decorations, both at home and out in the world. As parents, we often enjoy these early Christmases, more than any since our own childhoods. 

Then, our children get older. While they may still be excited about gifts, they no longer believe in Father Christmas and Christmas morning isn’t filled with building new toys and playing. Things are very different. But no longer believing in Santa doesn’t mean that you and your teenage children can’t still have a magical Christmas. Making special memories and memorable gifts such as personalised christmas gifts is the way to go.

Attend Christmas Events

Visiting Santa and attending nativity plays aren’t the only festive events. Your teenagers might enjoy Christmas shopping nights, ice skating, winter hikes, going out for Christmas meals, and other, less childish festive events. Look at what is on in your local area and talk to your child about things that they might like to do over the festive period. If you are a foster parent, you might want to get some advice from fosteringpeople.co.uk about foster carer payments, to ease the burden of any expenses. 

Enjoy Christmas Movie Nights

Christmas movie nights are enjoyable for any age, as long as you let them evolve as your children grow. They might not want to watch all of their old, animated favourites anymore, but there are plenty of Christmas films that teenagers and even adults love. 

Invite Their Friends

You might not want to invite people from outside of your household to enjoy all of your family traditions, but if inviting a friend is the price that you pay for your teenager still getting involved and having fun, could it be worth it? Ask your teen if they’d like a friend to come to some Christmas events with you, and even offer to drop them off and meet them for a festive hot drink later if they want more independence. 

Have Competitions

Your teenager might not be that interested in things like Christmas baking or crafts anymore. But what if you made it a competition? Have an afternoon baking contest, see who can make the best wreath or Christmas picture and give them plenty of freedom to create things on their own. 

Let Them Decorate

Young children love to help decorate the Christmas tree, but even this is something that older children can lose interest in. You’ll probably still want to decorate the tree yourself, but could you let them decorate their rooms or another section of the house on their own?

Don’t Try to Cling to the Past

The biggest mistake that you can make as a parent is trying to cling to the past. Once your child has moved on from things like Santa, trying to force them will only create resentment. Let the past go with fond memories and focus on building new traditions for everyone to enjoy.

A Christmas with teenagers can still be magical for the whole family. You might just need to make some changes and give them more freedom.