We took a trip to Ireland last year, but it was just us. We knew immediately the kids would love it, so this time we brought the kids to Ireland! Day 1 We left the house Monday, August 14th about noon and arrived at Newark International Airport at about 2:30, breezed through security, and sat […]
100 Ways to Have More Holiday Spirit
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The holiday season brings out the best and worst in many people. Here are 100 Ways To Have More Holiday Spirit This Year that will be great to do with your family. Joining together to have a good attitude and enjoy the season is important for everyone. This year, use this list to remind you of all the great ways you can enjoy the holidays together.
100 Ways To Have More Holiday Spirit This Year
1. Volunteer at a soup kitchen
2. Read The Christmas Story together
3. Create an Advent calendar with special things to do instead of receive
4. Go caroling in your neighborhood
5. Attend a Christmas Mass service
6. Chop down your own Christmas tree
7. Make your own homemade gifts
8. Have a gift wrapping party
9. Throw a Christmas party for your neighborhood
10. Make a 3 gift rule for everyone in your family that includes one item they want, one item they need, and one item the family can share.
11. Buy gifts for an “Angel” on the local Angel Tree through the Salvation Army
12. Bake holiday cookies, candies and treats together as a family
13. Watch White Christmas
14. Go to the local Christmas parade
15. Buy lunch for the next person in line at a restaurant
16. Decorate your home with lights
17. Drive around local neighborhood light displays
18. Make homemade apple cider
19. Build a snowman or snow fort in your yard
20. Deliver Christmas treats you have made to your neighbors
21. Visit a local nursing home to cheer up individuals who are alone on the holidays
22. Listen to Christmas Music
23. Watch Miracle On 34th Street
24. Decorate you Christmas tree with your family
25. Have a family game night
26. Go shopping together as a family
27. Knit holiday scarves for friends and family
28. Host a “Dirty Santa” party where everyone brings gag gifts and has fun swapping them back and forth
29. Host a fun Christmas costume party
30. Cut fresh cedar or holly and make real wreaths
31. Go in search of real life mistletoe in area trees
32. Write a family newsletter to send instead of cards.
33. Take silly family Christmas photos to send to friends and family
34. Make a photo collage of the last year with your family
35. Make homemade Christmas tree ornaments
36. Make a classic holiday dinner with all the trimmings
37. Make holiday food baskets to give to those in need in your community
38. Watch A Christmas Story
39. Make paper chains with green, red and gold paper to hang in your home or on your tree
40. Make your own cinnamon scented pine cones using essential oils
41. Knit or sew your own stockings
42. Learn sign language to your favorite Christmas song
43. Take snacks and bottled water to a local hospital waiting room for those waiting on family
44. Volunteer to help with your church Christmas program
45. Watch the Home Alone movies as a family and figure out how your kids would have done
46. Buy a spa day for a single mom who could use a pick me up
47. Babysit for friends while they go do their holiday shopping
48. String popcorn to go on the Christmas tree
49. Make a gingerbread house
50. Go visit Santa at the local mall
51. Buy toys and donate to a local children’s hospital or children’s home
52. Go sledding
53. Go on a sleigh ride if you have one in your area
54. See The Nutcracker at a local theater
55. Give your kids $10 and let them go shopping for gifts at the local dollar store
56. Hang “Jingle Bells” around your home and on doors
57. Make fun holiday treats for the teachers at your kid’s school
58. Learn about holiday traditions in other cultures
59. Eat candy canes
60. Make homemade ribbon candy (tons of recipes online)
61. Make a classic family holiday recipe
62. Eat a fruit cake
63. Make a Yule Log
64. Make gingerbread men or ninjabread men
65. Make paper snowflakes
66. Take blankets, gloves and scarves to a local homeless shelter
67. Make a homemade rag doll using scrap material
68. Watch The Polar Express
69. Open pajamas on Christmas Eve and go out to look at lights wearing them
70. Line your driveway with luminaries
71. Watch The Muppet Christmas Carol
72. Participate in a local Nativity scene
73. Create a family holiday cookbook
74. Sing Christmas carols at a local nursing home
75. Learn to knit or crochet new stockings
76. Go skiing
77. Read holiday poems
78. Use an Elf On The Shelf for fun with the kids
79. Eat by candlelight
80. Cook your meals over an open fire to remind how good you have it with modern conveniences
81. Build a fire in the fireplace and share things you are thankful for
82. Go for a hike and look for winter berries
83. Look through photo albums of Christmas from years gone by
84. Shovel snow from a neighbor’s driveway
85. Invite a friend or neighbor who would be alone to your holiday meals
86. Give the gift of time instead of presents to your kids and family
87. Teach your children about the origins of Saint Nicholas
88. Volunteer as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army
89. Create a family video singing your favorite holiday songs and send to family or friends away from home
90. Send care packages to soldiers stationed overseas
91. Give small gifts to your mail carrier, bank teller and doctors
92. Take a basket of treats to your local police department or fire department
93. Track Santa on NORAD’s website
94. Make snow ice cream and share with the neighbors
95. Take hot cocoa, cider or coffee to local construction workers on a cold day
96. Go ice skating
97. Kiss under the mistletoe
98. Do a random act of kindness for a stranger every day
99. Make snow angels together
100. Make homemade eggnog
These ways to have more holiday spirit this year are going to help your family focus on each other and those in your community. Get back to what Christmas and the holiday season is all about with these fun activities to do together as a family.
Mother of 3 says
What wonderful ideas. I always start the holiday season with good intentions but loose my holiday spirit somewhere along the way…