Christmas Starts In September

It's Time To Decorate For The Early Christmas Season

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 15:34:00 +0000

I found this great deal on Lazada! Check it out!

Product Name: 【Ship Today】2023 Christmas Curtain For Window Big Size Curtain Sale 100cm X 210cm Christmas Decor Christmas Kurtina Living Room Curtain Bedroom Curtain

Product Price: ₱438

Discount Price: ₱219

https://s.lazada.com.ph/s.iN2ME?cc

Christmas Cushion Cover Throw Pillow Case

Home Pillow Linen Pillowcase
Product Price: ₱159
Discount Price: ₱75.12
https://s.lazada.com.ph/s.iNfwS?cc
https://s.lazada.com.ph/s.iNfwS?cc

Product Price: ₱540
Discount Price: ₱297
https://s.lazada.com.ph/s.iNVps?cc

Christmas Dinner would look so festive with this Christmas Table Runner..

Christmas Decoration for Home Tablecloth 180*35cm
Product Price: ₱257
Discount Price: ₱122.67
https://s.lazada.com.ph/s.iNf0i?cc

christmas decorations lazada sale philippines

christmas tree lazada philippines

lazada christmas sale

lazada christmas decor

lazada philippines christmas tree

lazada christmas tree

christmas decor lazada

philippines decorations christmas

wall decor lazada philippines

Our Old House In Hedemuenden

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 05:49:00 +0000

Christmas Eve Games

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Thu, 23 May 2013 07:05:00 +0000

You don't often think to play games on Christmas Eve, but playing a game or two can be a lot of fun.

One fun game is ideally suited for anxious children, but could also be for adults, if you want to add some fun for gift giving. For children, this is a way to make that "open one gift on Christmas Eve" rule a little more exciting and make it last a little longer.

You create a hunt with clues, so the children have to follow the clues to find their gift. Instead of the gift being under the tree, for example, you might put it somewhere else, but the children will follow clues to find it. For this game, you can use anything to write your clues on. You could use Christmas cards in their envelopes that you had extras of, you might cut out Christmas tree shapes for this, or you might want to use ornaments.

Whichever method you choose, write a clue on each of your items and leave those around the house. You start by handing each child the first clue. It might say, "you sleep here every night" and the children will run to their beds. On their pillow you have placed another clue that might say, "mom's eggs taste better with this" and the children head to the spice cabinet, where they find another clue on the salt. The final clue (and depending on the ages of your children and their tolerance, you might have only 5 clues for this game, or many more) will be the gift itself. To make it extra fun, have the gift be under the tree. Your children won't see that coming!

If you have a large gathering on Christmas Eve, try a circle game. Have everyone get in a circle and the first person will start with, "in my Christmas stocking there is an apple" and the next person will add, "in my Christmas stocking there is an apple and a boot". Each person will continue on, remembering the previous items and the adding one of their own, and all in alphabetical order. If you miss an item, you're out of the game and the winner is the person who successfully remembers all the stocking items over and over again each time they have to recite the items and add to the list.

Looking for a little physical activity on Christmas Eve? How about a rousing game of musical chairs using Christmas music? This one can be particularly fun if you use upbeat and well-known Christmas music. Use songs everyone knows and require they sing along and dance while they run around the chairs. This adds a fun element because you are likely to have at least one person who gets so caught up in the music and dancing they don't realize the music has stopped. This game is played like any traditional game of musical chairs with the loser being the one who doesn't get a chair when the music stops.

Since the big event on Christmas Eve is Santa's arrival, play a game of "where's Santa"? In this game, everyone sits in a circle and one person is chosen to be Rudolph. That person leaves the room for a minute. A Santa is chosen among those left in the room. Rudolph returns and begins hunting for Santa. Rudolph should stand in the center of the circle and try to figure out which person is Santa. Santa, meanwhile, winks at other people in the circle. If someone gets winked at, they yell, "ho ho ho".

Once Rudolph figures out where Santa is, another Rudolph and another Santa are chosen and the game continues.

By Christmas Eve, your Christmas cards have been on display for a few weeks, so maybe it's time to play a game with them. Have someone set up a laundry basket, or a gift box a few feet away (the distance depends on the age of your players and ability). Have them try to toss the cards into the box or basket. This sounds easy, but different cards of different weights and styles will react differently and can be harder than expected to get into the box or basket.

School Christmas Gift Exchange Games

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Thu, 23 May 2013 06:56:00 +0000

Many public schools don't allow gift exchanges during the Christmas season, but some do and certainly many private schools do. Many fun games can be created to make the gift exchange really fun and festive for kids.

There are several activities you can impose to make the gift buying interesting. For example, you can declare that one of the rules of the gift exchange is that gifts must be handmade or put together in some way and not purchased. You can take this a step further by declaring that the gifts feature the school's colors in abundance. Perhaps they might also somehow incorporate the school's mascot.

Definitely in a gift exchange with children, there should be a low dollar limit on the gifts (such at $5).

But once the gifts are ready, there are many fun exchange activities and games that can be used to make this even fun and memorable for the kids.

You can use a "white elephant" gift exchange method; here the kids draw a number and choose their gift from the pile of gifts in order by the number they drew. They can exchange their gift for a different one if they choose. A gift can only be "stolen" three times and the person who drew the first gift can "steal" a gift at the end of the gift exchange if they like. Kids always get a kick out of the "stealing" aspect of the white elephant gift exchange.

Children enjoy buying gifts for other people, so having them draw names is an excellent activity for a gift exchange. To add a twist, make the gift activity interesting by telling the children they can't tell their recipient they are buying for them. Then create a fun activity during the exchange itself to play up the "mystery" element of the gift exchange.

In the mystery scenario, you can have each child open their gift, then try and figure out who it is from. If the children were asked to make a gift, this can be particularly fun, as some children might have drawing skills, or woodworking skills which might make it easier or harder for the other children to decide who have them a gift.

As the children open the gifts, have them guess who the gift is from. If they are wrong, they have to do a little dance or silly physical act before making another guess. This repeats until they guess the right giver of the gift they have been given.

Another fun activity for gift giving among children in a classroom is to have each child make a game piece for an unknown game board. Everyone brings a handcrafted game piece (there can be rules as to its size, for example, no larger than 2 inches high), to play with on the communal game board.

The "game board" can be nothing more than a large rug that's been fashioned into some sort of game, ideally a Christmas-themed game. Always popular is "get Santa back to the North Pole" played much like Chutes and Ladders or Candyland. Since most children know how to play these games, the learning curve is small and at the Christmas party, they can get to playing right away. To keep with the gift exchange idea, each child can be asked to bring their handcrafted game piece wrapped and the pieces can be exchanged as gifts before everyone plays on the big game board.

Payday

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:53:00 +0000

Payday: 24 Count ____

Whatchamacallit

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:51:00 +0000

Hersheys Whatchamacallit: 36 Count

Whatchamacallit

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:51:00 +0000

Hersheys Whatchamacallit: 36 Count

Zagnut Bar

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:50:00 +0000

HERSHEY'S Zagnut Bar: 18 Count

Hershey's Zagnut Bar

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:50:00 +0000

HERSHEY'S Zagnut Bar: 18 Count Peanut Butter and Toasted Coconut have been notorious rivals, yet the Zagnut has reconciled these bold flavors in a single bar. All hail the Zagnut Bar! HERSHEY'S Zagnut Bar SpecificationsBars per Shipment: 17Weight per Bar: 1.75 ouncesWeight per Shipment: 1.88 poundsTotal Shipment Weight: Approximately 3.88 pounds

Chocolate Lover's Assortment

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:49:00 +0000

2.5 lb Chocolate Lover's Assortment - Birthday with a Zero Box Top Personalize: Create a unique Birthday box top with your personalized message. This 2.5 lb candy assortment is for chocolate lovers. The box is jammed with over 20 of your old time favorite candy bars including Bun, Charleston Chew, Goo Goo Cluster and many more. For a complete list see "additional info" below. Cost: Only $3.00 more than a standard decade box and FREE if you order 2 or more boxes shipping to the same address.Shipping: Orders placed by midnight usually ship on the next business day.

Hershey's Zero Bar

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:47:00 +0000

HERSHEY'S Zero Bar: 24 Count

Hershey's Zero Bar

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:46:00 +0000

HERSHEY'S Zero Bar: 24 Count ero is a one-of-a-kind candy bar combining creamy caramel, crunchy peanuts and smooth almond nougat covered in rich white fudge. Store this candy bar in the freezer for a .

Atomic Fireballs

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:45:00 +0000

Atomic Fireballs - 5 lb bulk bags

Ice Blue Mint Coolers By Brach's

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:44:00 +0000

Ice Blue Mint Coolers by Brach's - 5 lb bulk bags

Bit-O-Honey 5 lbs

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:44:00 +0000

Bit-O-Honey: 5LBS Bit-O-Honey is a chewy candy with almond bits blended into a honey flavored taffy. A 5 lb bag contains about 300 pieces. Bit-O-Honey: more sizes >>

Black Licorice Laces

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:42:00 +0000

Black Licorice Laces: 18.75 LBS
Each lace is approximately 1/8" in diameter and 36" in length. This is bulk product meaning it is laid loose in the case, not packed in clear or printed film. Each bulk case of laces contains 18.75 lbs. of product.FLAVOR: Licorice

Adult Christmas Games

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Wed, 15 May 2013 07:08:00 +0000

Not all Christmas games have to be for children, or have to be serious. Good gracious, adults like to let their hair down and have a good, silly time too. Here are several games to get you started.

If this is a group that's not afraid of looking silly, here's just the game. Provide a pair of pantyhose for each team and a total of 8 balloons. When the game begins, the team should begin blowing up the balloons and the inflated balloons have to be put into the legs of the pantyhose. To make this game fair, the teams should be of equal number and the pantyhose not a petite size.

The game ends when someone gets all their balloons into the legs of the pantyhose, "wears" the antlers and sings the first verse of "Jingle Bells". Be sure to make everyone finish the game, however, so you can get a great picture of everyone in his or her pantyhose antlers.

For a fun relay-type game, how about making a Santa beard? Make a big bowl of cotton balls and get a container of Vaseline. Put some Vaseline on the chins of each member of each team (ideally, 2 teams of about 5 people each). The first players in line run to the bowl of cotton balls and sticks their chin in trying to get as many to stick to the Vaseline as possible. They run to the back of their line, so the next player can have a turn.

When everyone on a team has a beard, that team wins. As with the other game, be sure to take lots of pictures of everyone wearing their Santa beards. Also have plenty of towels and water to get the Vaseline off.

This next game is great for a smaller group of people who are open to a more quiet game. This is about packing Santa's bag. You start by saying, "I packed Santa's bag and in it I put pajamas." The next person continues with, "I packed Santa's bag and in it I put pajamas, and toilet paper." Each person continues, each time adding a new item, but also listing the items that were added before. You are out of the game when you miss an item. Someone could be sitting outside the game keeping a list of all the items so if the game goes on for a bit, you will know if someone misses an item.

If you're having a Christmas party for adults, why not offer up a fun game that's sure to remind them of a childhood favorite? Create a Christmas scavenger hunt. You will tell people to create teams (about 4 people per team is adequate, but you might want to have larger or smaller teams depending on the size of your party). Make a list of items they need to return with.

If you choose to keep the searching local, either at your home or in the neighborhood, include items like a miniature light string, a piece of holly, a leave off a poinsettia plant, and the like. If you choose to have guests traipse all over town for items, you can have even more fun. You might require them to purchase a holly-decorated box of tissue, or have them provide photo proof that they went down your city's Christmas Tree Lane. Whatever it is, be creative and enjoy the process. People love this game, not only because it reminds them of childhood, but it helps people get to know other party guests they might know that well and it's a game that gets people working together, which can always be fun.

Everyone enjoys Hershey's kisses at Christmas. Divide your group into two teams and have two bowls of Hershey's kisses at the other end of the room. Give each team one set of oversized mittens or gloves. The first person in line runs to the bowl of kisses, and has to unwrap the kiss while wearing the oversized mittens/gloves and pop the kiss into their mouth. They run back, tag the next person in line, and exchange the mittens/gloves and the next person runs forward to get a chocolate kiss. The winning team is the one in which all members have enjoyed a kiss first.

Christmas Day Games

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 07:07:00 +0000

Just because the gifts are opened and the paper strewn about the living room doesn't mean the fun of Christmas is over. Add some fun party games to Christmas day to extend the fun of Christmas.

If you have a large gathering on Christmas day, have fun with the hat game. When they arrive, give everyone a Santa hat. These are inexpensive and can be purchased for $1 at the dollar store, or even less in bulk, if you plan ahead. As everyone goes about their business of getting food, chatting with others and the like, the room will look very festive with everyone wearing their Santa hats.

However, the object of this game is to not have your hat on. As people forget about the hats, the object is to get rid of your hat and not be the last one wearing a Santa hat. Inevitably there will be one person so wrapped up in a conversation or the buffet table, they forget to take off their hat and will be left the game's loser. This is a game that can be played again and again as you head forward with the day's festivities.

One fun memory game that kids particularly like is to make everyone pay careful attention to all the gifts that are opened on Christmas day. After the gifts are removed from the room (or you remove yourselves from the gift room) have everyone try and remember every single gift everyone got. Include stockings and any food gifts. Tell people they only have to remember the items that were opened that day, not any gifts they received and opened prior to Christmas day. This can be a fun game that's particularly popular with kids because they love to relive the gift magic. In addition, if they were so immersed with their own gifts they didn't notice anyone else's this is a good chance for them to educate themselves about what everyone got that day.

If you need a game to keep everyone busy before dinner, try the "guess me" game. Buy some large heavy socks, not low-rise, but the type that are worn outdoors in the winter that are thick and come at least to the calf. Put several items in the socks. Make sure identical items are in each sock. These items should be related to Christmas in some way. You might include a small ornament, scotch tape, a pinecone, a Hershey's kiss, and the like. Have each person feel the socks (having two socks just makes the game go faster, but you can play with just one sock), and write down their guesses about what's in the socks. Be sure to tell everyone how many items are in each sock. The winner gets, you guessed it, one of the socks!

If you have a bunch of wanna-be performers in your group on Christmas day, how about playing a little game of "Christmas Idol"? Set up a small table for the "judges" and have teams of 2 people (or individuals, if they want) sing a Christmas carol. Tell them to have a lot of fun with the song, and even add a Santa hat or other dress-up items if they wish. The winners can take home a CD of Christmas music. This game is particularly fun if just the children want to perform and be judged by the adults, or if, conversely, the adults perform and are judged by the children.

Fun Office Gift Exchange Games

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 06:57:00 +0000

There are dozens of fun office gift exchange games people can play during the Christmas season. Officemates might have a "secret Santa" gift exchange or a popular "white elephant" gift exchange. All are popular and always fun, provided the rules are clear and everyone understands them.

One of the most popular office games involving Christmas gifts is the "white elephant" gift exchange. The rules can vary depending on the office and participants, but generally it works something like this. Each person participating purchases a gift not to exceed a certain dollar amount (determined in advance and might range from $5 to $20, again depending on the group). The object here is a fun gift, so anything particularly practical is not welcome. You're looking for unusual and interesting, perhaps funny, and something other people will want.

Everyone who's participating in the exchange gets a number (the number should be the same as the number of presents). The numbers should be they drawn out of a hat or something else (perhaps a Santa hat, in recognition of the season?). So, the person who draws number "1" goes first and picks a present. They open it and keep it. The second person can either pick a different present or they can "steal" the first present. They can't open a present until they are sure they are keeping their choice and not picking the first gift. This continues until everyone has a present. Any present that's been opened can be subject to stealing, but a gift can only be stolen three times.

At the end of the game, the person who was the first to open a present can steal a gift if they choose, since they didn't have an opportunity earlier.

In this game there's always one gift that everyone wants and will steal over and over again. What makes it fun is trying to figure out who is going to get the most coveted gift. In some cases, people can end up with the gift they brought.

Originally the "white elephant" gift exchange was a way for people to "regift" or give someone a gift they themselves received and don't want. For a fun twist, you could ask people to bring something from their home like that, or you can require they purchase something (with the aforementioned limit on spending).

There are many varieties of the Secret Santa game, which is so popular in offices, but one option that's fun involves putting a dollar limit on the purchase and having participants actually make "Santa lists". Here's how it works: Those participating create a little list for "Santa". There should also be a dollar limit placed on this gift exchange, so if that is $10, then people should only list items on their Santa list that can be purchased for $10 or less.

Everyone who is participating draws a list out of a hat, or some other object, and sets about shopping for that person. They know who they are shopping for, but the recipient doesn't. On exchange day, the Secret Santas must deliver the gifts to their officemates' desks without being seen. Those participating can decide if they want people to sign the cards attached to the gifts, or if the secret should stay a secret. If they choose the latter, gift giving can be interesting, since it's anonymous, but many people choose to have cards signed so in the end, people who to thank for their gifts.

Reese's Pieces Peanut Butter Candy

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 09:37:00 +0000

Fun Office Christmas Activities

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 07:58:00 +0000

Just because you're stuck in an office all day doesn't mean Christmas fun can't extend to your workplace. Depending on the environment at your work, it's definitely possible to mix holiday fun with work.

One obvious choice for some fun at the office during the holidays is to have a party. You could have several, in fact. How about a cookie exchange party? Plan to do this at lunchtime one day, and during that block of time, everyone brings several dozen cookies they have made. You have to set a particular number of cookies everyone brings. Because once everyone has an empty plate, they go around the table picking up cookies that look good to them and place them on their empty paper plate. If everyone brought 3 dozen cookies, say, then everyone gets to take home 3 dozen cookies. This is not a particularly unique idea, but one that brings a bit of fun into the workplace.

Keeping in mind whether or not the public visits your workplace, you might choose to decorate. Why not have a Christmas tree decorating event? Everyone brings 6 ornaments and as a group activity, everyone decorates the tree. This is a good way to build team spirit and decorate your workplace at the same time.

Don't forget to institute a "secret Santa" event at work, where you secretly buy gifts for someone and have some type of gift exchange. But what about a "Santa's helper" activity? Someone in the group has to begin this on the sly. Essentially, this first person (the only one in the know about how the whole thing began) puts together a little gift. Ideally, it's a basket with a few gift items in it. They might be decorative items, or baked goods or even bath items. Attach a card saying that "Santa's helper" dropped by and brought these items. Now the person who received the "helper's" gift must put together a little something for someone else and - again on the sly - deliver it to the next person. It continues until everyone has received a visit from "Santa's helper".

Nothing brings people together like a group activity designed to help others. What if your officemates came up with an activity designed to help people less fortunate at the holidays? You might adopt a local family and everyone in the office purchases items for that family. You might choose to purchase Christmas trees for needy families. If the public visits your office often, you might even begin a "sharing" tree and people can bring items to put under the tree for needy families or children. As a group activity, the office workers can then deliver these items to the needy.

The particularly festive office might want to have someone come in and do a cooking demonstration. If there are enough people interested, you can hire a cook or baker to come into your office on your lunch hour and do a demonstration or class. Say you want to bake but don't know what to bake this year. A baker can come in and demonstrate cookies or other goodies you might not have thought to make. Or someone can come in with ideas and samples for the perfect Christmas meal. These ideas are perfect for the environment where people work many hours and are quite busy but still want to do their regular cooking and baking each year.

Christmas Games For Elementary Age Children

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 08:05:00 +0000

If you're planning a Christmas party for a group of elementary-age children, there are a myriad of really fun games you can include. Be sure to have lots of prizes and take lots of pictures because some of the games can be silly!

To get the kids moving around, start with the "fill the stocking" game. In this game, create teams so there are at least 3 people and no more than perhaps 6 people on each team. Have a stocking for each team. Place the stockings on the wall and have also a bowl of candy and spoons. The first person on each team will put the spoon in their mouth (backwards, so the bowl of the spoon is sticking out) and get some candy out of the bowl. Still holding their spoon in their mouth, they must walk or run to the stocking on the wall and get the candy in the stocking. They run back to the line and the next child has a turn (each child should have his or her on spoon). The game continues until the candy bowl is empty.

The obvious prize for the stocking game is a big bowl of candy!

Another active game is an "unwrap the game" relay. Provide two piles presents at one end of the room (these can be presents with real teats inside, or "dummy" wrapped presents). The children are divided into two teams and a relay is created. One person runs to the stack of gifts, unwraps it, throws away the paper and runs back. Then the next child in line runs up, unwraps a gift, throws away the paper and runs back. If the paper lands outside the trash can, the child must run back and put it back in the trashcan before returning to the line and allowing another person to take a turn.

If these to games are played first the kids might want a little rest. Now's the time to play a sit-down Christmas party game, like "remember this". Get a large cookie sheet or baking tray and fill it with Christmas-themed items. You might include an ornament, a candy cane, a Santa hat, garland, ribbon, etc. There should be at least 20 items on the tray. Give each child about 20 seconds to look at the items, then cover the tray and remove it from sight. Give the children another 20-30 seconds to remember everything they saw on the tray. Have them quickly write don their guesses. The prize is for whoever remembers the most items!

Another good sit down game and one that's also a learning game is a word find game. Provide children with a list of Christmas words and have them find other words within those words. For example, if one word is "reindeer" they might find in, deer, red, den, and so on. Longer words are best, so think of words like Christmas, snowballs, poinsettia, holly berry and the like).

Children love games that involve sitting in a circle and having fun that way. Here's a "circle" game children are sure to love. This tests their ability to remember little details about other people, like their voice. Have handy a sleigh, either one cut out of cardboard or a small one purchased a gift or dollar store. Blindfold one child and have another child hold the sleigh. The child with the sleigh calls out to the blindfolded child something like this:

Santa, where's your sleigh?
Someone's come and taken it away.
Who has it? Who?

The blindfolded child has to guess who has the sleigh. Give the child 3 chances to get it right before giving the sleigh and blindfold to other children.

For another sit down game, give each child a piece of paper and a pencil. Tell them to close their eyes and then tell them what to draw. Give them the shapes, but don't tell them exactly what they are trying to draw (though most children will figure it out). So, first tell them to draw three circles, with the largest being on the bottom and the smallest on the top. Then tell them to draw dots for eyes, and buttons for a coat. Keep going until you have described a snowman. Then have the children open their eyes to see what they have actually drawn. Award a prize for the drawing that most closely resembles a snowman.

Family Fun Christmas Activities

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 07:58:00 +0000

Family is at the core of the Christmas season, so creating fun memories with your family is always at the top of the must-do list this time of year.

What fun activities can you incorporate into your family life that makes Christmas memorable and fun? Plenty, really. There are the traditional and the things a little bit out of the box.

Think back to your childhood and Christmas time in your house. Are there particular memories that are clearer than others? Those are likely the traditions your parents created for you and your siblings. Trying to create traditions in your own home with your own children is one way to make Christmas fun, exciting and memorable. Perhaps it's decorating cookies, or making gingerbread houses. Maybe when you were younger your mom always had something yummy smelling coming from the kitchen. You can create the same tradition by simply keeping potpourri warmed and smelling nice, if you don't have the time to bake frequently.

If you want to do a fun family activity in the kitchen, but baking's not your thing, you can make a variety of other gift items in your kitchen. The kids love making chocolate and candy covered pretzel sticks, and you can pair those with homemade hot cocoa mix to give as gifts.

Be sure to incorporate music into your family's traditions. How about some family fun singing Christmas carols or creating your own family music CD? Record your family singing Christmas carols and use that CD as your music CD for the holidays. If you all are particularly talented, you could make these look pretty and give them as gifts.

Many families like to cut down their own Christmas tree. This is a really fun family activity that can add a lot to the Christmas season. Christmas tree farms are located just about everywhere. Check into a local grower's group for locations. You simply show up, grab a saw (this is mom or dad's job) and go hunting. Depending on the location of the tree farm, you might walk only a short distance, or you might have to hike up and down hills and far into the farm's reaches to find just the right tree.

To add even more fun to this activity, create another family tradition that will annually go with the tree cutting. It can be as simple as also having lunch (at the same place each year) and picking up candy to eat in the car on the way home. You might also add a shopping excursion to the day; after the tree is safe at home in a bucket of water, you might all go shopping as a family for some new ornaments.

Other fun family activities can include annual visits to certain places in your community. Does your town have an annual "Christmas tree lane" where all the homes on one street decorate (sometimes in an over the top fashion) for the holidays? You can make a tradition of driving down the street each year, or walking the entire street, if the weather allows. Walking gives the kids a chance to see some of the details of the various décor items.

Many children think hot cocoa is an essential part of the Christmas season. If that's the case with yours, you could start a fun family activity each year where you make a big batch of hot cocoa mix at the start of the season. Let the kids have a small cup each night before bed during the month of December and closer to Christmas, add special items to the hot cocoa, like mini marshmallows one night and whipped cream another. Be sure to leave this family-made hot cocoa for Santa on Christmas Eve!

At a certain age, children enjoy decorating their room for the holidays. One fun family Christmas activity is to encourage this decoration by letting the kids shop for items to put in their rooms and letting them do the decorating. Be sure to take a picture of them in their decorated room each year. They'll enjoy looking at the pictures year after year.

Christmas Party Games Young Children

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 08:04:00 +0000

When planning Christmas games for young children, the options are endless. Make sure you provide room to run, do a little planning and the kids are sure to have a good time.

Let's start with a few relay race ideas. Begin with a candy cane relay. Give each team 4 candy canes (and be sure to have a few more in case some break) and have the child who's running hold the candy canes between their fingers, with the crooked part of the cane hanging over their fingers. But tell them not to use their thumbs. The canes should be just carefully perched between their fingers.

The children run to their teammate, exchange the candy canes (again, only using fingers), and that teammate runs to the other end and does the same. The game is over when only one team still has candy canes that haven't dropped on the floor.

Another fun relay that kids love is pass the ornament. In this game, each team gets one ornament (a lightweight, basic thin glass one is fine) and a straw. They must blow through the straw to get the ornament down the line, then the next child blows on their straw to get the ornament back down the line. Make sure each child has a fresh straw, as you don't want everyone to get sick.

This next simple relay game can be played with just about anything that signifies Christmas. You could have the children pass a Santa hat (perhaps requiring them to wear the hat as they run down the line) or have them wear Christmas socks that they then have to take off and get to the next child during the relay.

"Santa Says" is a fun game that all children will know how to play because it's just like "Simon Says". Before playing it, confirm that each child is familiar with "Simon Says" and then create a series of orders from "Santa", like "Santa says, touch your toes", "Santa says bend your knees" and so on. But sometimes leave the "Santa says" part off and trick the children. Always a popular game!

Young children love the "freeze dance" which is often played in preschool and kindergarten. Only in this game, you create a Christmas freeze dance: here you play some Christmas music, let the children do a little dance, then turn the music off and the children must "freeze". If there will be several sit-down games played at the party, this is a great way to let the children use some energy before they have to sit down and focus on the other games.

Young children can play the "clue" game as long as the questions are kept to their knowledge of various things surrounding Christmas. The game is played like this: the teacher gives a series of clues about something Christmas related and keeps giving clues until someone shouts out the answer. It might go something like this:

Answer: Santa's sleigh
Clue: I'm thinking of something big
Clue: It helps Santa on Christmas Eve
Clue: It holds a lot of presents
Clue: It's very fast

You keep giving clues until he children figure out the answer. Since these are young children, don't give clues that are too difficult or beyond their knowledge.

Kids love toss games, so why not create a snowball toss game at Frosty's belly? Get or make a large cardboard cutout of Frosty the Snowman and cut a hole in his stomach. You can create snowballs out of several things. Take plastic bags and put mini marshmallows inside, or use Styrofoam balls. If you use the latter, don't make the children throw the "snowballs" very far since the Styrofoam won't go that far. Have the children stand a distance back from Frosty (you can determine this depending on the age of the children and space you have available) and have them toss the snowballs into Frosty's tummy. First one to get all 3 snowballs in the tummy wins a prize!

Family Christmas Gift Exchange Games

noreply@blogger.com (AMD) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 08:00:00 +0000

It used to be that families had no rules about gift buying. Everyone bought for everyone else, and gifts were exchanged when the family all got together somewhere during the Christmas season.

These days, it's more common for people to draw a name out of a hat or get assigned a person to buy for. Or the family creates a type of "white elephant" exchange instead of having family members buy for individuals in particular. So, what many families need is a fun way to exchange the gifts, whether they be for a specific person or whether they are 'white elephant" type gifts.

If the family members drew names, there are several fun things you can do. The gifts can be hidden and clues given as to the location of the gifts. So, if you arrive at grandma's house with your gift for Aunt Martha, you might tuck her gift into a kitchen cabinet. Then you'd create a series of clue as to here it is. You might say, "Cinnamon lurks here" or "it's the hub of the home, but not always the home of the hub".

The clues can be silly or deadly serious. They can be designed so someone will know where to find their present in just minutes, or designed so that it takes a series of clues to get someone right to their gift. If the group is small or the house particularly large, and the participants have the time you can always create a hunt where more than one tip is left and one tip leads to another, which leads to another until the gift is finally found.

Why should the kids have all the fun? Create some fun gift exchange ideas for adults. Whether the family is doing a name draw and exchanging regular gifts or not, you can have some good family fun with a white elephant gift exchange. How about a themed white elephant gift exchange? If the family is into fishing, you could create that as a theme. Everyone must bring a gift related to fishing (this could be anything from sporting goods items, to a singing bass that goes on the wall). It could be a hand held electronic fishing game or a board game with fishing as a theme.

In that same vein, you could create a "cooking" white elephant exchange or a camping themed gift exchange. Again, it's more about what will please members of the family than anything. Then create some fun games for the exchange itself. Perhaps everyone draws a number and gets to pick their gifts from the pile in the middle based on their number. Perhaps you begin the game that way, but then also people to 'steal' someone else's gift if they choose.

You can require that the gift recipient shakes a gift, studies a gift and makes a good, educated guess as to its contents before opening it. If they are right, they can "steal" someone else's gift, but if they are wrong, they keep theirs. Add to the silliness factor by playing a card game and dictating that people can't get their gift and open it until they win a hand in the card game (ideally something fairly quick like poker or rummy).

The idea behind any family gift exchange should be enjoying each other's company and enjoying the Christmas spirit. As long as it's fun and engaging, there's no reason why the adults in the family can't have some fun games for exchanging gifts just the kids might.