You’ve seen Santa. The gifts are wrapped. You don’t want to bake any more cookies, and you’re definitely not loading screaming kids back into the car to drive across town for another light show. It’s that time of year when school is out, Christmas isn’t quite here, but you still have time to kill. Make the most of the time with kids being home with these fun at-home, simple activities that my family loves!
Hand-made gift giving
Save money, give something more heartfelt and fill time with a togetherness activity! Ornaments are a fun and easy way to get kids involved in gift-giving. We opted for plastic bulbs this year, and made a day of cutting Michael’s coupons, shopping and decorating. I gave glitter and a funnel (with supervision) to my 5-year-old and very responsible first-born, . We gave sparkly pom-poms to my little miss in toddler town (who isn’t allowed near glitter, like ever). Dollar store foam stickers and ribbon topped it off. Our families loved them!
Movie night (plus snacks!)
Hands down, our favorite family movie is Prime Video’s The Snowy Day, based off the children’s book by Ezra Jack Keats. I have littles at home, and it’s the perfect mix of relaxing/not over stimulating while still being engaging – we all love it! It’s available to stream free if you’re an Amazon Prime member.
Check out our recommendations of family holiday movies for all age groups. And in case you missed it, check out Whimsically Wonderful’s favorite festive treats blog that would pair perfectly with movie night.
Winter holiday house
Inspired by the recent Jan Brett Winter Wonderland Tour at the Metropolitan Library (but faced with the lack of snow!) the kids and I made an outdoor winter fairy fort that the animals from The Mitten would be jealous of. We live in a really wooded area (six mature trees on our property alone!) so we had lots of big branches to choose from. We piled up the branches into a little hut, then threaded battery-powered fairy lights through them. The kids decorated the fort with leaves, pecan shells and anything else to “reinforce” their burrow. If it’s cold outside, recreate the fun inside with couch cushions! Fairy lights tend to make everything just a bit more magical.
Moms truly are the reason holiday magic exists. It’s a heavy weight with lots of added to-do’s, but I’ve reminded myself for the umpteenth time this year that it doesn’t have to be perfect or extravagant to be memorable! All feelings are welcome, and simple togetherness activities are the ones that fill that quality-time love language bucket. Enjoy and Happy Holidays!
Kirsten Holder is a transplant from Michigan but calls the “land that is grand” her home. She graduated from Oklahoma City University and is passionate about the arts, community development and small business. She is the senior project manager for MetroFamily Magazine, and lives in a historic pocket in OKC with her young kids Jimmy and Millie, husband Andrew and puppy, Roserock.
