When general conference rolls around every six months, many Latter-day Saints look forward to enjoying cherished traditions—in fact, we think some of Latter-day Saints’ best and most unique cultural traditions are those associated with general conference.

Some traditions are elaborate, requiring hours or days of preparation, but some are super simple. For example, one of our favorite traditions was shared by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf in 2017. He posted on Facebook about how he changes his necktie often during conference weekend:

“It is kind of a family tradition that started years ago when between conference sessions, I stained my tie and worriedly searched for a replacement,” he wrote. “Fortunately, I had one in my office. My grandsons enjoyed it so much that they changed their ties too, and since then it became almost a sport to do it.” The Facebook post includes several photos of President Uchtdorf with his grandsons and their neckties.

We recently asked on social media for readers to share their favorite conference-time traditions, and we received lots of fun responses, which fell into four main categories.

1. Food

Food often plays a role in conference traditions, and Latter-day Saints have naturally found ways to use snacks and treats to encourage kids to stay quiet and pay attention—perhaps most prominent is general conference bingo.

And some have expanded on the conference bingo concept. For example, Tiffany Jones shared on littledoveblog.com her family’s bingo-reminiscent tradition:

“I make homemade pretzels and we play the conference cup game. Fill cups with random snacks and label them with words like Jesus, missionary, temple, Book of Mormon, etc. Every time a speaker says the word the kids get the snack out of that specific cup. The kids love it and it gets them to listen.”

We weren’t surprised that when we asked our readers about their favorite traditions, many responses were food-related.

Many mentioned special breakfast foods that they enjoy during conference. Our favorite came from Ellie Thompson (@heffelump_12), who mentioned the tradition of making aebleskivers—a traditional Danish food consisting of spherical pancakes made from fried batter.

Legend has it that aebleskivers originated with a group of worn-out Vikings who, after a long battle, craved hot pancakes. Since they didn’t have any regular pans with them, they cooked batter in their shields or helmets, resulting in unique spherical cakes.

Here are some other favorite conference breakfasts our readers mentioned:

“Each of our kids picked out their own candy or treat to snack on. And we got to “sample” each of them!” —sandychadwickcherry
“Making crepes for Sunday breakfast” —keith.g.rex
“Bingo and homemade @waffleluv” —laneycluff
“Get donuts for Sunday morning!” —churchofjesuschrist.messages
“PJs and cinnamon rolls!” —daniellenwiley
“Homemade blueberry muffins” —tippytoni_
“My mom makes us cinnamon rolls and I get blueberry muffins” —allison_c_hobbs
“Candy questions for kids after each talk. Answer a question, get a treat.” —gselcho
“Conference bingo with candy” —lydiastopczynski
“Bingo with candy!” —bundfam
“DQ after priesthood session!” —jaredpuddicombe

2. Relaxation

A few readers mentioned how conference weekend allows for a little more relaxation—both in dress code and morning wakeup:

“Sleeping in” —adam_curtisbc30
“Staying in pajamas for most of the day —isaac_gerstner_

3. Family and Nature

Another theme in readers’ responses is the opportunity to spend time with family members—whether at home or out in nature:

“We go up to our cabin with my extended family and listen to conference together!” —irishdancefairy
“Cuddling in a cocoon of blankets with my friends and family all around me.” —western_rose13
“Drive to see the leaves between conference on Sunday” —kwalkhome
“All together on the couch for hours. Simple and the best.” —cami.bunk
“Spending break outdoors and seeing God in nature.” —cosmoskat
“Just chilling with regular clothes or Sunday best and hanging alone or with friends.” —fluteflounder12plus”

4. Conference Itself

Some readers mentioned their favorite parts of the conference sessions themselves that have become so common that they feel like traditions in and of themselves:

“Hearing stories about airplanes ;)” —hanna_strawberry96
“Temple announcements!” —vickiwillard

Of course, general conference traditions can be a lot of fun, but the real focus of the weekend is hearing the words of our Church leaders. We love these words from President Uchtdorf: “Regardless of how or with whom you will watch general conference, … If you listen with your heart, you will hear the special message the Savior has for you.”

For more LDS Living content related to October 2022 general conference, click here.

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