As temperatures drop and evenings grow longer, winter offers the perfect opportunity to gather indoors and create new seasonal traditions as a family. Trying new wintertime activities can really warm up the household during the coldest months of the year and help beat the winter blues—bringing laughter and light, long after the sun goes down. For families hosting an au pair, the winter and holiday season is an awesome opportunity to get together and enjoy winter traditions that inspire cultural learning, foster connection, and are fun for everyone!
Try these 10 winter traditions for families and bring some warmth to the cold weather season!
1. Go Ice Skating
Spend an afternoon or evening ice skating with your family and au pair for a classic winter outing. If your au pair is an experienced skater, they can lend your children a helping hand. If not, everyone can learn together and laugh through a few wobbly moments. Ice skating is a simple way to get outside, stay active, and enjoy the winter season while creating fun shared memories as a family.
2. Explore Winter Crafts
Try some new cultural crafts this winter for some creative fun for the whole family, such as:
- Paper snowflakes: Cut snowflakes from paper and adorn them with symbols or motifs inspired by your au pair’s culture.
- Holiday ornaments: Use paper, felt, clay, or small tree slices to create holiday ornaments. Ask your au pair what kind of ornaments, decorations, or symbols are used to represent the winter or holiday season in their home country.
- Picture book: Get markers, colored pencils, and pens out to tell the story of your time with your au pair so far. Have your children include pictures from your family’s favorite outings together, moments of cultural exchange, and deep connection, then assemble them into a little book that your family can enjoy for years to come! School-aged children will especially love this one—a perfect opportunity to practice their drawing and/or writing skills!
3. Build a Snowman
“Do you want to build a snowman?” What child doesn’t? After the first snowfall, get everyone together to build a snowman in your yard or local park. Don’t forget to bring a carrot, some pebbles or charcoal, and a spare hat to make your creation really shine! If your au pair is from a country that gets a lot of snow, they can bring some new ideas for building and decorating your snowman. If not, your children can teach them. Either way, it’s one of the simplest ways to enjoy winter fun for kids and adults alike!
If you live in a region that doesn’t get snow, try making fake snow indoors. It’s a fun and easy craft that just requires baking soda, cornstarch, and water! After cooking it into a clay-like consistency, you can mold it into little snowmen, snowflakes, or other festive symbols!
4. Bake Cookies
Baking cookies together is one of those classic family holiday activities that is fun all winter long. Ask your au pair if they have a favorite type of cookie (or other baked good) from their home country. Then spend an afternoon discovering the new recipe as a family, after which your children can enjoy the fruits of their labor while getting a taste for another culture!
5. Have a Show-and-Tell Night
Set aside an evening for a relaxed show-and-tell that invites conversation and curiosity. Children can share something they love—whether it’s a favorite toy, stuffed animal, book, or hobby—while your au pair can introduce an item, photo, or tradition from their home country. This simple activity encourages storytelling and creates a space for meaningful cultural exchange that feels natural and fun for everyone.
6. Cook Winter Comfort Foods
Start a winter tradition of cooking a dish together as a family. This is perfect for those cold winter nights when everybody is indoors and could use something warm to brighten up their spirits. Try out new international recipes such as winter comfort foods from your au pair’s home country. Who knows? You might just discover a new family favorite!
7. Try a Winter Scavenger Hunt & Wildlife Watch
Take some time as a family to learn about the winter wildlife and the local plants that support them. Start by creating a simple scavenger hunt list that includes both common sights and a few harder-to-spot animals. Then head out to a nearby forest or nature reserve for a walk. As everyone keeps an eye out for items on the list, your children will learn more about your local environment while enjoying time outdoors. This is also a fun chance for your family to introduce your favorite nature walk to your au pair. Plus, you can return throughout the winter on sunny days to see if you can spot anything you missed the first time.
8. Host a Hot Cocoa Competition!
Get the family together for a hot cocoa competition. Encourage your children and au pair to try something new or use a recipe from the au pair’s home country. For example, if your children have never tasted the spicy-sweet deliciousness that is Mexican hot chocolate, now’s the time!
9. Have a Holiday Movie Marathon
Put on your pajamas and grab a mug of hot cocoa to spend a cozy night in with a holiday movie marathon! Share your family’s favorite holiday or wintertime movie with your au pair. Then, ask your au pair to choose a movie from their home country or one that reminds them of the winter season. It’s an excellent chance to curl up indoors as a family on those long winter nights where the wind howls outdoors—and enjoy a night filled with cultural exchange and relaxation.
10. Build a Pillow Fort
Children love to build a good pillow fort, and it’s an awesome source for winter fun when it’s too cold to play outside. Assembling a fort is always a learning experience, and there’s a sense of pride in looking at your finished work and being able to crawl inside to enjoy it. To make a night of it, bring the whole family in (or around) the fort to read bedtime stories. Ask your au pair to read some from their home country to add a dash of intercultural fun!
Choose Au Pair in America and discover how hosting an au pair can turn everyday moments into meaningful memories and new seasonal traditions!
These winter traditions for families offer simple ways to brighten the season and create lasting memories as well as opportunities for real connection. As you enjoy new seasonal and holiday activities with your au pair, your family will learn the true meaning of hosting. You’ll discover that the process of hosting an au pair is really about those moments of cultural exchange that go beyond traditional childcare. Experience warmth, connection, and cultural fun this winter when you host an au pair with Au Pair in America.
