Family Holiday Activities

Holiday Fun For All Ages

• Holiday Fun For All Ages

  The holidays are one of the only times during the year that family and friends all gather together -- don't waste it glued to the TV. Instead, try an activity that gets everyone interacting and having fun. Here are some ideas that kids aged one to 91 will enjoy!

• Holiday Fun For All Ages

  CHARADES: Divide into two teams of at least three people each. Set a time limit for each round (a few minutes). Have each team write titles of books, TV shows, movies, etc. on scraps of paper. Fold the scraps and put them into a bowl for each team. Take turns having a team member draw a clue and try to get their teammates to guess what it is without using words.

• Holiday Fun For All Ages

  VIDEO GAME OLYMPICS: Divide into teams or go it alone. Select your "events." You can go musical with "Guitar Hero," "Sing Star," and "Dance, Dance, Revolution"; athletic with Wii sports; intellectual with "Brain Age"; or classic arcade with games like "Pac Man" and "Astroids." Have a gold, silver, and bronze winner for each event. The team with the most gold medals at the end wins.

• Holiday Fun For All Ages

  HAVE A BOARD GAME TOURNAMENT: Pull out a family classic like checkers, backgammon, Sorry, Yahtzee, Scrabble, or Connect Four. Decide what order you're going to place in. The winner of each round goes on to play in the next person in the queue.

• Holiday Fun For All Ages

  PUT ON A TALENT SHOW: You may be amazed at what talents your family and friends have - from singing and dancing to wiggling their ears. Why not give them a chance to show it off. Ask everyone to put a short act together (3-5 minutes long), draw numbers to determine the order you perform in, then let the show begin. You can ask the stage shy to act as MC or judge.

• Holiday Fun For All Ages

  GET OUTSIDE: Get a game of flag or touch football going, go for a walk, play freeze tag -- anything that gets you up, moving, and having fun!

• Holiday Fun For All Ages

  VOLUNTEER: Spread the holiday spirit by donating your time to help others. Every major city and countless smaller ones have soup kitchens and shelters where food is given out for free. Find a location near you by looking online or in the phone book. Thenjust give them a call and let them know you want to help out.

• Holiday Fun For All Ages

  TELL STORIES: Gather around and get comfortable for storytelling time. You can take turns telling funny or heart-warming stories about each other (you know kids love to hear about when their parents were young). You can also get creative and make up a story as a group. Have one person start the story and then have each person in turn make up the next part of the story. You may want the camera running for this one!

• Holiday Fun For All Ages

  HAVE A SCAVENGER HUNT: Create a list of items to find (e.g. pa icture of a pilgrim, stuffing recipe). Divide into teams of 1 or more. Set a time limit. Whichever team/individual returns with the most items on that list within the designated time wins!

• Holiday Fun For All Ages

  PLAY MACY'S DAY PARADE or FOOTBALL BINGO: Create cards with 15 items (5x5) on each. For example, for the parade you can use baton twirler, juggling clown, Santa Claus, and helium balloon. For football try a fumble, yelling coach, penalty flag, and pom poms. Get out a stack of pennies or other markers and start watching. Each time one of the items on your board comes up, put a marker on it. Whoever gets 5 in a row first, wins.