# Holidays

**How do we split holidays between our families?**

How you split holidays between families: alternating years, splitting the day, hosting at home, new traditions of your own, or traveling.

In short: Parents choose between 5 main approaches: Alternate families by year; Split the day; Host at home; New nuclear-family traditions; Travel instead. Evidence: your call. No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide. Best settled: around the birth.

- Area: Extended family and community
- Evidence: Your call
- Best settled: Around the birth
- First published: 2026-10-03
- Last updated: 2026-10-05
- Page: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/topics/extended-family-and-community--holidays

## Holidays: what are the options?

1. **Alternate families by year**: You spend each holiday with one family and switch the next year.
2. **Split the day**: You see both families on the same day.
3. **Host at home**: Everyone comes to your home.
4. **New nuclear-family traditions**: You celebrate as just the three or four of you, in your own way.
5. **Travel instead**: You go away on a trip.

## Holidays: what does the evidence say?

**Your call.** No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide.

No research located

## What else is worth knowing?

With a child, both families often want you at the same celebrations. Couples alternate, split the day, host, or start their own traditions. Deciding a pattern once is easier than negotiating each year.

## Questions to ask each other

- Which holidays matter most and to whom?
- How do we split time between families fairly?
- What would we like to start ourselves?

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General information, not medical advice. Two parents can each answer this and compare: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/explore?cat=extended-family-and-community&topic=extended-family-and-community--holidays