Hygge Family Dinner Traditions to Start Tonight will give you tips on how you can slow down and enjoy being able to spend time with your family at a relaxing meal.
If you’re looking for more ideas on how to create a cozy life, How to Hygge: 31 of the Best Cozy Ideas and Themed Family Dinner Ideas Everyone Will Love will help you get started on your journey.
Our days can be a whirlwind of activities, so why not take a moment to change the speed of our life by incorporating a few ideas to stop and treasure our moments with family and friends at the family dinner table?
A good time equals a memorable moment. The more of these moments we string together, our lives improve.
How do you pronounce Hygge?
Hygge is not pronounced the way you think it is. “Hoo-gah” is the correct way to say it. If you want even more clarification, Youtube videos will help you out.
Where did Hygge originate?
The word hygge originally came from Norway. It’s translation loosely meant well-being. The Danish adopted the word as their own, and embody the hygge lifestyle. Danes are among the happiest people in the world and attribute their happiness partly to hygge.
What is Hygge?
Hygge cannot be summarized in just a word or even a sentence. The best way I can describe it is an outlook on life that focuses on simple pleasures and taking the time to cultivate more of them in your life.
Hygge is when you give your body, mind, and spirit rest and enjoy the good things in life, like a sunrise or sunset, reading a book in front of a crackling fire, taking the time to savor a delicious mug of gourmet tea, and spending time with friends and family in a comfortable setting.
What is a Hygge Lifestyle?
Instead of living your life on autopilot, hygge is a way of life that makes sure you live your life in a way that brings deep contentment to your soul.
Sometimes the outer things in life (money, power, achievements) aren’t the things that will make us happy. A hygge life encourages us to look at what truly brings us joy and it to make sure we include those things in our days.
“Some of the most important conversations I’ve ever had occurred at my family’s dinner table.”
Bob Ehrlich
Creating a Cozy Life Group
Since you found this article on Hygge Family Dinner Traditions, I’m guess you like all things cozy living. I created a Facebook group called Creating a Cozy Life with over 103,000 like-minded souls.
It’s a group where we share recipes, pictures of things that leave you in awe, and ideas on how to make your life just a little bit more snug. Join here to be part of the virtual cozy cabin.
Here are the Hygge Family Dinner Traditions to Start Tonight:
1. Dine by candlelight
There’s something magical about sharing a meal by the light of candles. Candlelight creates the ambiance to create meaningful conversations. You can make this idea a weekly tradition or a nightly one.
Nourishing our bodies is when we should slow down and give thanks for the food on our table. Set the tone for gratefulness with a bit of magic.
2. Slow cooker meals
Instead of working at a hurried pace trying to get dinner on the table, the simplest solution is to prepare your crockpot the night before with easy recipes. In the morning, you just take the slow cooker from the refrigerator and plug it in.
When you’re ready to sit down for dinner, your house will smell amazing, and you’ll be relaxed from not having to work so hard. Hygge family dinner traditions use all of our senses. Sight, touch, smell, sound, and taste are all included in a rewarding experience while enjoying a delicious meal.
3.Soft music in the background
Beautiful music sets the mood in any setting. We forget to set the stage for a perfect evening at home, when simply adding ambiance can change an average night into a memorable one.
You can put different music playlists together depending on your mood or even the type of dish you’ll be serving.
4. Dinner-in-bed
You know how to do breakfast-in-bed; how about dinner-in-bed? Get comfortable by wearing your favorite pajamas, get breakfast trays for everyone and enjoy watching your favorite movie from the comfort of your bed.
On a particularly stressful day, stop at your favorite Chinese restaurant, order food to-go and surprise your family with a dinner-in-bed night. You will be amazed at how fast the hectic feel of the day melt away.
You could also put together a simple charcuterie board filled with your favorite cheeses, olive oil, marinated olives, balsamic vinegar, figs, nuts, bread, and cold cuts. The perfect simple dinner.
5. After dinner walk
Start a tradition like walking around the block after or before dinner to extend your family’s time together and to enjoy the crisp evening air.
The hush of the evening underneath the stars is the perfect background with interesting conversations is the extra time needed for our souls.
6. Family Life Blessings
Dinner is the perfect place to realize that we’ve been fortunate. Blessed with good food to eat, blessed with family and friends, and blessed with a roof to shelter us.
Every night have your family think of one thing in your lives that you are thankful for, and hold that image in your heads. Send a blessing to the person or event that has enhanced your life.
7. Cooked with love
When you add meals that have meaning into your hygge family dinner traditions menu, every bite you take will warm you to your toes.
Some examples of memorable meals are:
- Teach your kids how to make a homemade pie from the berries you picked as a family.
- Use Grandma’s recipe for chicken and dumplings for Sunday supper.
- Keep a flock of chickens and use the eggs in your favorite quiche.
- In the summer, go out fishing for your dinner.
When you take part in growing the fruits and vegetables, picking the berries or apples, tending the flock, or dusting off old family recipes and using them in your everyday cooking, the food you eat has an entirely different meaning.
Making the favorite dishes of your family members that don’t live near you is another way to add meaning and family connection to your meals.
8. Dining alfresco
Eating your meals outside takes on a different rhythm. Even if you’re just a few steps away from your home, dining in your backyard can transform a ho-hum evening into a magical one.
It doesn’t matter what the season is; each brings its own gifts. Even winter has benefits, like being toasty warm under heat lamps or following your dinner with hot cocoa and star gazing.
9. Sporting event
If your family loves sports, plan a casual dinner around games you don’t want to miss. Your family will look forward to spending time together and routing for their favorite teams.
Chili and cornbread, homemade chicken soup with crusty sourdough bread, your favorite pizzas with chopped salad, build-your-own tacos, and guacamole and chips are just a few ideas to pick from to make perfect family meals. Having the condiments on the side to make their dish is better for the picky eaters in your family.
10. Farmers market
Connecting to the people who produce your food is a very hygge way to live.
Take your kids on an afternoon outing at a local farmer’s market, so they can interact with the farmers themselves.
Learning where your food comes from promotes healthy eating in young people.
Inspire them to start casual conversations with the vendors. Encourage questions from your kids about how the food is grown, some of their secrets are, and how a typical day goes.
When you get your food home, have the entire family participate in the making of dinner. Assign each family member a part in the cooking process.
11. Fondue night
Give the dining room a rest tonight and set dinner before a cozy fire. Spread a blanket on the floor or use the coffee table as your dining table.
Here are some family dinner ideas of items to dip in your fondue sauces: sirloin, shrimp, or herb-crusted chicken in cheese sauce, bread in cheese fondue, pasta like ravioli, or tortellini in alfredo sauce, steamed vegetables in a cheese sauce, and fruit for dessert in chocolate fondue.
Here’s my amazing recipe for cheese fondue in case you don’t have one.
And here’s even more ideas for cheese fondue dippers.
You can even make a chocolate fondue recipe for dessert. This is my favorite recipe.
Here are some ideas on what to dip in chocolate fondue.
12. Potluck gathering
Host a weekly or monthly potluck gathering at your home to enjoy the company of your friends and family. It’s fun to change up the routine of a regular meal to something more entertaining.
I love to serve simple sheet pan dinners or simple dishes like chicken alfredo using rotisserie chicken at the potlucks I host at my home. You can also do themed food like a Mexican dinner and assign your guest the dishes to bring.
Evening bonfires, board games night, card games, or movie night are some of the themed ideas you can start with on your gatherings.
13. One good thing
Every night go around the table and have each person say what the day’s highlight. Looking for the golden moments keeps everyone focused on looking for the good parts of each day and giving honor to them.
It could be as simple as picking up a lucky penny, indulging in a delicious bagel with cream cheese, ideas from your favorite cooking show, or even a small compliment from a stranger. Nothing is too small.
We’ve reached the end ofHygge Family Dinner Traditions to Start Tonight. I hope you enjoyed it!
Let me know in the comments below how you spend your family dinners and if you tried any of the ideas, and how they worked.
Don’t forget to join the Creating a Cozy Life Group. You’re not going to believe how amazing it is!
I created a pin for you to add to your Pinterest board to refer back to it.
You can follow me here on PINTEREST. If you try any of these ideas and take a photo, be sure to tag me here on INSTAGRAM.
Thanks for stopping by. I’m so happy you found us!
More Hygge Articles You’ll Love
- Embrace Hygge at Work: Turn Your Office Into a Cozy Place
- Best Hygge Books to Inspire a Cozy Life
- 31 Hygge Quotes to Change Your Life
- Cozy Hygge Bedtime Rituals to Try Tonight.
- Hygge Morning Rituals to Try Today
- What is Hygge? The Popular Danish Lifestyle Decoded
- Creating a Hygge Bedroom You Never Want to Leave
- How to Create a Hygge Kitchen You’ll Love
- What to Eat for Dinner When You’re Short on Time
- Themed Family Dinner Ideas You’ll Love
