Fun Ideas with Family and Friends

Prepare an Atmosphere for Fun

1. Set Your Heart Right: Your outlook and actions set an environment where others can feel comfortable enough to relax and enjoy themselves.& Nothing can ruin family or friend timetogether more than having a not-so-good attitude. Focus on enjoying your time together with others. Use this time to make new, happy memories.

2. Set the Tone: It costs nothing but time to have a clean house. Remember most people are not interested in seeing whether things are immaculate but it is important to pick up, put away, and wipe down common areas. A Clean kitchen, bathroom, and eating area show others you care about them, have planned for their coming, and want them to feel cared for.

3. Set the Mood: Select easy listening music e.g. Christmas songs, from a radio station or your favorite CD’s, something everyone can relate to. Candlelight often adds to the illumination of the season and festive feeling associated with special gatherings. Once a candle is lit no one needs to know it was one left over from last year.

4. Scent the Air: Remember to include “scents of the season” if you have them. Candles can provide both mood and scent. Do not spend money if you have candles, pine, berry or other ways to scent the air. How about adding spice to tea or cinnamon and cloves simmering on the stove?

5. Keep the Refreshments light: People usually get more than enough food at this time of year and the focus of the gathering can be more than focusing on food. Of course you may be having some meals together. So,try to do what you can ahead of time, KEEP IT SIMPLE. Sharing coffee, tea, apple-juice, or popcorn and apples at an afternoon gathering is just fine.

Fun Things To Do At Gatherings

1. Bring out the games! Remember games you have and enjoyed playing in the past. Dust them off and pull them out. Young and old can spend fun times laughing and talking over games. Try Charades, card games, Yahtzee, Monopoly, Scrabble, Pictionary, or the spoon game. Keep it light and FUN!

2. Puzzles are a fun group project. Set this up in a room everyone will be walking through often so they can stop and add a puzzle piece now and then. For guests staying severaldays this can help connect people giving them more focus and purpose.  Note; Try puzzles that are colorful yet challenging enough for everyone to enjoy and probably complete in the time frame you have together.

3. Watching “YOUR TEAM” battle it out on TV with guests who have similar interests. If they don’t, record your show for later. Sharing time, care, concern and understanding your friends and family is more important at this time.

4. Consider activities – if you have long-term guest visiting. Activities might include walks, bike rides, sight seeing local homes or parks, a visit to the local YMCA (if you have guest passes), making Christmas decorations from materials you already have, baking, or even singing. Each group is unique. Enjoy them!

Have a very merry Christmas!