My family has annual cornhole competitions, where all the families gather together at our house and play. The competition is broken up into tournaments, where the winners are placed in "uptown" and the losers are placed in "downtown". At the end, there's always a trophy (carved and painted by our friend who's a carpenter). It's really fun because everyone's so serious about it, and we have lots of food/drinks/snacks.
Also, my dad came up with the lame idea of having secret handshakes. My sister got really into it, and now both of them make up a bunch of weird ones like the penguin, the elephant, the snowman, and the jellyfish (you do not want to know what those look like).
Not only that, but we always make sure to have a family meal together, with devotions every Monday. Basically, that means taking turns clearing up the table and helping set up the silverware. We even have the rule of no TV, no cell phone, and (for me) no books at the table. There's family news too, where everyone takes turns sharing something positive and negative that happened to them during the day. Each person is expected to bring something interesting to the table that they read or heard.
My family also has the tradition of hugging everyone we meet, especially if it's close relatives and friends. God forbid that you forget to wrap your arms around someone and kiss their cheek, or they'll think you have no manners at all (rolls eyes). I guess that's a Puerto Rican thing.
Oh, and don't forget the endless game nights that we have, personally hosted by my dad who's obsessed with exploding kittens, golf, nefarious, flux, Milborne, loot letter, phase ten, and other card games. Sometimes we have movie nights where we take turns picking something that we want to watch. My sister's usually in charge of popping the popcorn, while dad sets it up, I get the ice cream, and mom gets the blankets.
My dad has this tradition where we go on a "Daddy Date". My sister and I get dressed up while he wears a suit and he basically spends some quality time with his daughters. My mom loves this because it means that she gets to spend time alone in the house. We love it because we get to eat all the food we want and go to cool restaurants. ;) I think it's a great way to get close to your kid.
As if that wasn't enough, my grandparents have this thing where they give my sister and I red enveloped containing money inside. This can be for our birthday, Christmas, Chinese new year, etc. etc. I guess it's an Asian tradition, but I'm not complaining. ;)
I also read somewhere that this family had the tradition of squeezing each others’ hands three times to signal the three words “I love you.” On the day the daughter got married, the father squeezed her hand three times as he walked her down the aisle. According to sources, “Only she knew that this was happening, a tiny personal ritual lodged invisibly within one of the grandest and most public, and she says it was one of the most moving moments of her life.” Anyway, I just thought that was pretty cool.
