How To Have a Fun Family Christmas
What will Christmas look like this year for you?
There’s no doubt that this year the festivities may be a little limited and many of us won’t be able to spend time with family or friends. But there’s no reason why it can’t be a special time. I’ve pulled together some of my favourite activities that should help keep everyone entertained right through to New Year’s Eve!
Head out to nature:
Whatever the weather I love planning walks and adventures with the kids. Burning off that Christmas excitement is certainly key to a happy home. We often plan an outdoor picnic, taking a flask of soup and my delicious freshly baked madeleines with us. Find a sturdy log to sit on is part of the fun. There’s something rather lovely about sitting in nature, watching the kids run about. Giving them something to do on the walk means we’ll be able to move more than three steps from the car park. I love The Woodland Trust who have some great ideas for keeping the kids entertained. Scavenger hunts sound like lots of fun. They’ll even tell you where you can find a wood near to you, here. Woodland Trust-Find woods
Back at home, rainy days were made for a family game - Christmas certainly wouldn’t be Christmas without one.
Bring out the board games:
The card game Uno has always gone down a treat in our house, it’s great fun and highly competitive no matter your age. And if you like your card games to be educational there’s lots of counting involved!
We love all the variations on the theme when playing a game of Cluedo. We particularly like Harry Potter Cluedo which offers a great tour around Hogwarts with lots of twists and turns along the way.
Bird Bingo, Dog Bingo, Ocean Bingo…. You name it, we love a game of bingo in our house. These pictured bingo games are a great way for everyone to learn new facts and information - and the best of all, someone gets to shout, ‘Bingo!’.
Creative games like Pictionary are always full of lots of giggles. They’re good for the artists in the house, but much more fun when the participant can’t draw at all!
Get Creative:
Getting the house ready for Christmas is easy with these craft activities:
Red Ted Art has a great idea for a Christmas Tree Ornament, here. All you need for the Yarn Christmas Tree Ornaments are green wool, sticks from nature and felt or buttons for decorations. Great if you want to create a keepsake that can be popped on your tree year after year. Red Ted Art
These Pine Cone Christmas Crafts from Hello Wonderful have to be one of the cutest ornaments we’ve seen. You’ll need pine cones, found in abundance at this time of year, and some scrap felt, poms poms and glue. Why not create your own family in pine cone form? Hello Wonderful
For a variation on the leaf print that we’ve created year after year, this one from Cinta and Co. involves using paint, markers and a zip up plastic bags (you can recycle your old sandwich bags for this). It’s a messy activity but thankfully all zipped up in a bag, so win-win in our book. Cinta and Co
With templates provided these Christmas pencil toppers from Make It Your Own are easy to do and great cutting out practise for little fingers. With accompanying festive writing templates, this might be a good place to start with those thank you letters. Make It Your Own
Kids will love this fun (and delicious) activity! Our wonderful brown butter madeleines have turned into lollipops. Kids will love to dive them in melted chocolate and put the gorgeous themed sprinkles on. Check out our Christmas Madeleines Kit here. Madeleine and Co kits
Festive Flicks:
Who doesn’t need an excuse to re-watch an old Christmas favourite film at this time of the year?
Christmas doesn’t start in our house until we’ve watched Elf at least once! Will Ferrell’s portrayal of a North Pole elf who finds out he is human and travels to New York to find is father, is utterly charming and packed full of festive cheer.
Dr Seuss’s tale of the revenge-seeking Grinch who plans to ruin Christmas for the residents of Whoville is bought alive by the mad cap behaviour of a green Jim Carrey.
The Snowman has been around in animated form since 1982, but it’s lost none of its charm. Raymond Brigg’s story of a young boy and a snowman who comes alive is one of my favourite Christmas tales. Guaranteed to have me sobbing on the sofa.
Not your usual Christmas story but Home Alone has got to be one of the best. When 8-year-old Kevin, played by Macaulay Culkin, is left at home alone he must stop his home being burgled. Not a Christmas I would have enjoyed as a kid but great fun for a Sunday afternoon.
Miracle on 34th Street is ideal to get little kids into the Christmas mood. It’s been made a few times but Richard Attenborough’s portrayal of Kris Kringle (the real Santa Claus) is gently done. Your kids will be enchanted.
A classic French one has to be Le Pere Noel est une ordure. Legendary! But has to be watched in French and it is very French!
Community Spirit:
Keeping an eye on our neighbours and checking in with friends has been even more important than ever this year. We think one of the best things to come out of lockdown has been that sense of community spirit.
There was a great community idea last year when neighbours joined forces and created an Advent Calendar for the street. Each day a different house displayed a number counting down the days to Christmas. The variety of artwork displayed in windows was incredible, from paper letters to flashing lights, and a fabulous way to draw everyone together. I reckon it’s worth doing this in our street this year - especially as we may not be allowed into each other’s homes.
Alternatively, why not offer a neighbour something tasty. Our kids Madeleine kits make for a sparkly and original gift. The Sparkly Madeleines Kits and Christmas Madeleines Kit both contain our deliciously buttery handmade madeleines and enough decorations to make them truly special.
And finally, we’d like to wish our customers a very Happy Christmas!
