Most Romantic Christmas Traditions For Couples 2023

Are you looking for a Christmas tradition for you and your partner? Do you have Christmas Traditions that you observe? If you celebrate Christmas, I am sure you do, but have you considered starting a Romantic Christmas Tradition as a Couple that’s personal to just the two of you?

Personal Romantic Christmas traditions that you share as a couple rekindle the romance and magic year after year. These are some great ways to get you started creating the perfect couple’s Christmas tradition that you will enjoy for years to come.

Christmas is one of the most magical times of the year. With all the magic of the holiday season, romance will surely be in the air.

Over the years, things change, families grow, people move away, and our kids grow up. Many of the traditional Christmas traditions seem to focus on kids. It’s nice to have Christmas traditions that are personal to you and your partner to hold onto through all of life’s changes.

It doesn’t matter what the change is; during the holidays, it’s nice to have some Christmas traditions that you as a couple have adopted and remain the same year after year.

Christmas is the time of year when we rekindle the holiday magic and the romance of the season. Enjoying your Christmas tradition as a couple will bring back memories of your first Christmas together.

Every family has different Christmas traditions. Many traditions have been passed down in families. Sometimes without even realizing it. Yet, all too sad is that some traditions get lost over the years.

One of our family traditions was getting dressed up and going to church on Christmas Eve to watch the children’s Christmas pageant. After the Christmas Eve service, we would visit my grandparents for gifts and a little holiday cheer.

We enjoyed certain treats on Christmas Eve that we didn’t get to enjoy during the year.

When my grandparents passed away, it was essential to continue that tradition. Without it, the holidays would not seem right. Even today, one way or another, kids, grandkids, and even great-grandkids prepare to head to my mom’s for Christmas Eve after seeing the kids’ Christmas pageant.

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What is a Christmas Tradition?

Christmas traditions are going to look different for everyone. We usually think of Christmas traditions such as hanging stockings, putting up a Christmas tree, or Christmas dinner together as a family. They can include a variety of customs associated with the holiday and how we celebrate. Christmas traditions may vary by country or region.

As your family changes and grows, you will look forward to enjoying Christmas traditions every year. Most Christmas traditions come from our heritage, making them individual for every family.

What happens with family traditions when you come together as a couple? You may choose to combine both families’ Christmas traditions, or you may want to start your own Christmas traditions as a couple.

Christmas traditions for couples can be anything you want. While we were dating, Gary and I set aside the weekend right after Thanksgiving to go away and treat each other to a weekend of pampering. It’s our way of getting ready for all the business ahead of us. We still do that today. While everyone else is out shopping, we relax and pamper each other while spending quality time together.

It’s never too late or early to start your own Christmas traditions as a couple.

If you are unsure where to start and are looking for ideas, this list is a great place to start. We have compiled some favorite Christmas traditions that we have seen couples enjoy over the years and some new ideas you may want to try.

You could even try many things together and then decide which ones you want to repeat year after year.

Our list of Christmas traditions for couples will get you started on enjoying the magic and romance of Christmas.

Fun Christmas traditions for couples

It’s easy to get caught up in all of the rush, rush, rush of the holiday season. These traditions will add fun to your couples’ Christmas traditions.

Baking Christmas cookies

Baking cookies is a long-time favorite Christmas tradition. Being in the kitchen together can be very romantic and playful.

Going through recipes that have been passed down over the years and deciding which ones need to be made is fun. Making them together takes the fun up a notch.

Baking together takes real teamwork and sometimes patience. If you are in the kitchen together with the attitude of creating a Christmas tradition and having fun doing so, this tradition can be very flirtatious.

My grandma would bake dozens of different kinds of Christmas cookies. Her kitchen and house smelled so good the entire month of December. I still use some of her original recipes written in her handwriting. She said it was the one time of year Grandpa got all of his favorites and was willing to help her in the kitchen.

Wear matching PJs

Pick out matching PJs to wear to bed on Christmas Eve and wear on Christmas morning while opening gifts.

Don’t forget to take a yearly photo. It will be so much fun to reflect on those photos every year.

As your family grows, your little ones can also get in on wearing PJs that match yours.

Christmas Crackers

Christmas crackers are a Christmas tradition that originated in the UK. The tradition dates back to the 1840s. Crackers today are made of short cardboard tubes wrapped in colorful paper.

The crackers are filled with a party hat, a toy or gift, and a festive joke. When the cracker’s ends are pulled simultaneously, the cracker pops open, and the goodies fall out.

On Christmas, a cracker is placed on each dinner plate. Guests can pop their crackers before dinner or at the end.

Crackers are typically known for containing bad jokes and a hat that looks like a paper crown. The crown is said to symbolize the crown that the wise man might have worn.

Visit Santa

You don’t need to be a child to see Santa. Make a date out of it. Bring him your wish list and take your picture with him. What a nice change of pace it will be for Santa.

Making a list for Santa and visiting him is a highlight of our Christmas traditions. It brings back fond childhood memories that we have modified to fit us as a couple.

When I was young, Santa’s village was built in the city’s downtown. It was a special night when we got to stand in line outside, waiting for our turn to go into Santa’s workshop and tell him what we wanted for Christmas.

Display a train around the Christmas tree

At one time, a train was a popular gift to give at Christmas. Toy stores would display the Christmas trains at the base of the tree. The magic of seeing the Christmas train travel around the base of the Christmas tree soon became a tradition.

Just like setting up the Christmas tree, setting up a Christmas train can be a fun tradition to add to your traditions. Make it a date to put it together with each other.

Hot chocolate date

Plan a hot chocolate date. Plan to spend the day together on the day of the first real snowfall of the year. Start your date by playing in the snow, then head inside to warm up and enjoy hot chocolate while cuddling up together.

Have fun with this tradition; put together a hot chocolate charcuterie board before heading out to play in the snow. Add lots of different suggestions for adding to your hot cocoa and some cookies and sweets to accompany your hot cocoa.

Maybe even some hot coca bombs and have the charcuterie board waiting for you when you are done playing in the snow.

Traditional Christmas traditions for couples

Traditional Christmas traditions are timeless. Many of these traditions have been celebrated by couples and families for decades.

Visit a Christmas tree farm

Visiting a tree farm together and searching for the right Christmas tree to cut down is an ideal way to kick off the holiday season.

Cutting down a Christmas tree as a couple is a tradition for many families. To make it a personal Christmas tradition for you and your partner, consider making a day of it. Some tree farms have activities to enjoy together, and many may offer hay rides into the woods to look for your perfect tree.

Whether you visit a tree farm to find your tree, cut your tree out back, or visit a Christmas tree lot, this traditional Christmas tradition is ideal for couples and families.

Guys or gals, this is a perfect time to show off those muscles when cutting down the tree.

Cutting down a tree is a tradition that is said to go all the way back to Martin Luther. He cut down the tree and took it home to share the beauty with his wife. Once inside, he placed small, lighted candles on the branches and said it would symbolize the beautiful Christmas sky.

Christmas Eve pageant

The Christmas pageant is a play that recreates the story of the Nativity. It usually takes place in town squares during the holiday festivals or at church on Christmas Eve. Kids in the church will practice for weeks, and on Christmas Eve, families from surrounding communities will come together to watch the recreation and celebrate.

When we were younger, there was excitement for Christmas Eve. At the end of the service, kids and some of the adults would receive a bag of peanuts, an orange or apple, and a chocolate bar as they left the church.

Whatever you celebrate the holiday with, make it a tradition to enjoy Christmas Eve together. Watching a Christmas pageant is a romantic way to spend the evening.

Exchange Christmas stockings

Hanging stockings by the chimney with care is a long-time Christmas tradition. It is still part of many family traditions today. The tradition of Christmas stockings is thought to have originated from the life of Saint Nicholas.

Although this tradition has changed over the years, long gone is the practice of hanging real stockings by the fire to dry in hopes that Santa will fill them. This has been replaced with fancy store-bought stockings.

As a couple, you can have fun with this Christmas tradition. Each of you fills the others’ stockings and then sets aside some private time during the holidays to exchange them. This would be the ideal Christmas Eve tradition for couples to enjoy together before all of the holiday activities start or after all of the family goes home, and it is just the two of you.

Sending out Christmas cards

The Christmas tradition of sending Christmas cards dates back to the 16th century. As such, Christmas cards have changed throughout the years.

Over the years, Christmas cards have been used to share family adventures throughout the year, new additions, a move, and even the excitement of family vacations. Christmas cards were sent with family newsletters in them.

Thanks to social media, families no longer have unshared news at Christmas, and cards seem to have been replaced with a quick email greeting saying “Merry Christmas.”

Stringing cranberries and popcorn

A favorite Christmas tradition is to string cranberries and popcorn into a garland to wrap around their Christmas tree. One perk of stringing popcorn is that you can sit, talk, giggle, and munch on popcorn as you string it together.

This is a fun Christmas tradition to add to your holidays. This tradition can be the start of a very romantic evening spent together.

Reading the Christmas Story

When I picture parents reading a Christmas story to their children, it makes me smile. It was a tradition for parents or grandparents to read either The Night Before Christmas or the Nativity story to their children right before bedtime on Christmas Eve.

This is a Christmas tradition that couples can start before children even enter the picture. On Christmas Eve, cozy up and read the story together. This beautiful tradition can be passed on through the generations.

Cute Christmas traditions for couples

These cute Christmas traditions for couples will have you just enjoying the holiday. Don’t focus on the pressure of the holiday, just enjoy these cute traditions.

Shop for a Christmas outfit

Shopping together for that perfect Christmas outfit can be a chore or lots of fun. Think of it as a fashion show for each other. Who doesn’t want to look nice for each other?

While shopping for outfits, make a day of it, enjoy the carolers that may be in the mall, sip some special coffee drink from the local coffee shop, or take in a nice restaurant after shopping.

Enjoy a Christmas movie marathon

We all have our favorite Christmas movies that, when we watch, make the season special for us. Set aside a day to binge-watch as many Christmas classics as possible. Make sure to mix in both of your favorites.

Make it a Christmas tradition to try a new movie each year. You might find a new favorite.

Drive around the neighborhoods to see the Christmas lights

Make it a Christmas tradition to spend time together, turn up the Christmas music, drive around your town, and see who has the best light display. Don’t forget the hot chocolate ~ fill an insulated mug to share while you enjoy your car ride.

Every year, it seems like the light displays get bigger and better.

If you are creative, try some outdoor decorating yourself. Soon, your home may be the home everyone is driving around to see.

Host a Christmas party

The Christmas season is for family and friends. This is the perfect time to host your own Christmas party. Many families spend Christmas Eve together, but there are many other opportunities to get together throughout the season.

Don’t forget your friends. Christmas is the ideal time to get your friends together and celebrate.

Set up the Christmas tree

Setting up the Christmas tree is a Christmas tradition different for everyone. This seems to be a tradition that is enjoyed by many across the globe.

As a couple, you decide how and when your tree will be displayed. We chose to spend Thanksgiving night putting our tree up. We do it together, making an evening of it while watching Hallmark Christmas movies.

Every family has their thoughts on when the tree goes up. You decide! There is no right or wrong way to include this couple’s Christmas tradition.

Add a special Christmas ornament each year

Choose a special Christmas ornament with some significant meaning to both of you as a couple. Some couples will buy that one special ornament, and each year, when it’s on the tree, it rekindles memories of the two of you together. Others will buy an ornament each year, and then others will pick up special ornaments during special moments, like when on vacation.

Each Christmas tree in our family has a certain ornament that hangs within the branches. It is not always easy to spot. It is a Christmas pickle! If you have shopped for ornaments, I am sure you have seen this ornament and wondered why anyone would put a pickle on their Christmas tree.

I fondly remember a pickle on my grandparent’s Christmas trees. It was so much fun to look for it on grandma’s tree. I always helped her decorate it, but I never saw the pickle until Christmas Eve. The fun was trying to find it, wondering when she put it there.

I later discovered that the pickle was the first Christmas ornament my grandparents purchased as a married couple. This has a sentimental meaning for me and needed to be part of our Christmas tradition.

This Old World Holiday tradition says it is good luck to be the first person to spot the pickle among the branches.

I have also heard a variation of this tradition where the first child to find the pickle gets an extra gift, gets the first gift of the evening, or gets to hand out the gifts. Many believe this is a German tradition that was brought to this country.

Advent Calendar

Advent calendars are a tradition born in Germany. Families enjoy advent calendars as a way to build excitement with a countdown to Christmas.

There are many kinds of advent calendars; some have treats, toys, or trinkets, and you get to open one door daily. Other calendars have a Santa or character that moves closer throughout the calendar until it reaches the last day.

Choose an advent calendar that will last for years to come and can possibly be passed on. We chose a nice wooden calendar that we used each year. We take turns filling the boxes, creating excitement for each other as we open the doors to count down to Christmas.

Romantic Christmas traditions for couples

The holidays and romance go together nicely. It is no wonder many engagements happen over Christmas. These Romantic Christmas traditions are ideal to add to your yearly traditions as a couple.

Kissing under the mistletoe

Mistletoe is thought to be a plant that possesses mystical powers that bring good luck. People hung mistletoe in their homes to ward off evil spirits. It was used as a sign of love and friendship.

Kissing under the mistletoe was first illustrated in the first version of “A Christmas Carol,” which might have made it become a popular Christmas tradition.

Mistletoe has also been associated with weddings because of the plant’s association with fertility. Mistletoe sounds like it has many interesting qualities.

A very romantic Christmas tradition is to hang mistletoe in your home and kiss every time you are both under the mistletoe.

Camp out under the Christmas tree

Who doesn’t remember the magic of the Christmas lights that first night after the tree was put up? Make it a romantic Christmas tradition to spend that first night after putting up your tree curling up together, and enjoying the magic of the lights together.

Falling asleep in each other’s arms in a room filled with nothing but twinkling Christmas lights makes for a magical Christmas tradition.

Enjoy a sleigh ride

There is something about the winter snow, love, and the Christmas season that makes us want to add nostalgia to the season. It’s the perfect time to take a sleigh ride. It lets us slow down and enjoy the best parts of the Christmas season.

A sleigh ride is an ideal romantic Christmas tradition to add to your holiday season.

Ice Skating

Choose a special day during the Christmas season to bundle up, grab your skates, and head for the skating rink. With all of the Christmas festivities on your plate, use this tradition to get in some exercise and be a little nostalgic by enjoying an activity from your childhood.

Skating the ice rink with your sweetie, arms wrapped around each other, remembering your childhood. This sounds like an ideal Christmas tradition.

Christmas Date

The holidays can be so busy that you and your partner can easily lose sight of each other. Make it a yearly Christmas tradition to set aside one day each week of Christmas to enjoy a special Christmas date.

We know coming up with a special date during Christmas can be difficult. Any of our Romantic and Magical Christmas Date Ideas will have you looking like you put a lot of thought and planning into your dates.

We also love to use date night cards all year long. Christmas is a great time to add some special date cards. At the start of the season, print our Christmas Date Cards, cut them apart, and choose one adventure to enjoy as a couple for each date night during the holidays.

Unique Christmas traditions for couples

A special Christmas tradition for you and your partner can be anything you choose. It does not have to be the same tradition as everyone else. Make it personal to who you are as a couple and something you will enjoy for years to come.

Christmas drink

Every year, we had a special drink that was served only on Christmas Eve. Choose a drink that is unique to you.

We always had hot Tom and Jerry’s. This frothy and comforting drink is perfect for chasing the chills away. It is also known as a traditional Christmas cocktail. It is a variation of frozen eggnog, brandy, and rum that’s served hot and sprinkled with nutmeg.

My dad was always in charge of making Tom and Jerry’s for guests. He made the drinks strong and good! Yet, for the kids, he had a special non-alcoholic version.

Tom and Jerry mix can still be purchased in the frozen department of grocery stores and liquor stores. Or if you are good in the kitchen, the Tom and Jerry mix can be homemade.

Make your Christmas tree special

Our tree has always been adorned with very thin tinsel- one of the things that makes it uniquely ours. When the thin tinsel became hard to find, we began saving it from year to year, which was quite the job!

Some of the tinsel on our tree was on my grandparent’s tree. Yes, there are new and even more interesting ways to decorate Christmas trees, but using thin tinsel was one of the Christmas traditions we chose to start years ago.

The very thin tinsel that we use to adorn our Christmas tree was invented in the 1600s. It was originally used to decorate sculptures. It was later added to the Christmas tree to enhance the flickering of the candles on the tree.

Find that one thing that makes your tree uniquely yours this Christmas season.

Christmas Day Yule log cake

The yule log cake is an elaborate creation made of rolled sponge cake frosted with chocolate to look like tree bark and decorated with meringue mushrooms and other edible decorations.

The yule log is a French Christmas tradition that dates back to the 19th century. The cake is meant to represent the yule log that families would burn starting on Christmas Eve. The yule log represents the new year and would bring good luck to families that burned one.

Volunteer or donate during the season

Make it a Christmas tradition to give back. Set aside time to volunteer your time to help someone use. Or donate to a local shelter, food pantry, or local church.

Christmas can be sad for some; family may be far away or no longer around. When you donate your time, you might just be bringing a little joy to someone else’s Christmas.

Shopping and Wrapping Day

Make your list and check it twice because this Christmas tradition has couples spending the day shopping for loved ones together.

Why leave all the shopping to just one of you? Two pairs of feet are better than one. Once your list is made, make it a Christmas tradition to hit the mall together and tackle that list.

Don’t forget the wrapping paper and bows. Once the shopping is finished, grab a pizza or Chinese and head home to spend the afternoon wrapping and tagging. When you are finished, and the gifts are under the tree, it’s time to collapse and enjoy the tree lights.

For the traveler on your Christmas list, we have compiled a list of Christmas Gift Ideas that any Traveler will love.

Conclusion ~ Christmas Traditions for Couples

Many traditions will revolve around your children or family as your family grows. It’s special to have Christmas traditions that are just for you as a couple.

With all of the business of the holidays, Christmas traditions are the ideal way to rekindle sparks with your spouse.

Our German heritage gave us many of these traditions. What have I missed? I would love to hear about the family tradition your family still enjoys today and one you remember from childhood that may have slipped away.