The sequel is not necessarily better than the first, but it does have some perks: a vaccine, for instance. There has been – and continues to be – a lot of on-going suffering. Many states are asking for families and friends to avoid gathering for the holidays or to mask-up when gathering.
We have opted for not participating in holiday gatherings. One brother of mine is overseas, another is out of state, and my brother who lives in state is in agreement. We are having another quiet, socially-distanced at home holiday. Not to worry: there will be plenty of phone calls and zoom to make up for it. (The hardest part is not getting to see my grandfather again. But there will be plenty of phone calls and, hopefully, some zoom or skype if he can figure it out.)
Where it is another Holiday At Home, it is time to breakout a list of 26 Holiday Activities for Fostering Connection During a Holiday at Home. The Holiday Wonder List had some ideas for activities on it. Some of them will make an appearance here, too, but this list has an assortment of new ideas to make the most of a holiday at home. There are many ways to make the holidays special. I’ve separated them into Doing Good and Home Fun. Pick and choose which ones resonate for you!
Doing Good
- Make Kits for a Local Organization. This was inspired by Maine Need’s assortment of kits that they are in need of. Does your local church, shelter, or community organization make kits for people in need? If they do, turn an evening at home into a kit-making party. Have food, holiday music, and fun while you make kits for others. If you want to include friends or family, bring them in via zoom or set tables up outside on a warmer day and bundle up. If there is not a local effort to make kits, maybe bring this up to your local church or shelter and start it yourself!
- Knit scarves, socks, or gloves for local shelters.
- Volunteer. Sometimes it takes a little google searching, but you can find local organizations in your state in need of volunteers year-round, but especially for the holiday season. A quick google search found me these resources for Maine: Volunteer Maine and Points of Light Engage.
- Carol in your community. As a kid, we caroled at local nursing homes with our girl scout troop and volunteered to make holiday crafts with those who lived there, too. During the pandemic, those opportunities are a little more complicated. But maybe some local day centers and nursing homes have a virtual caroling option. (Or, again, you can see about starting one!)
- Write letters to patients at the local nursing home.
- Donate new or gently used toys to local organizations. Domestic violence shelters/Women’s shelters, police departments, and children’s cancer centers are often all in need of toys. Contact the places before donating to make sure what they can use or accept. Shelters and cancer centers vary in their needs. Police departments love new or gently used stuffed animals to have on hand for calls that involve children. Maine Needs also has an assortment of toys they are seeking to have for the community (dolls, blocks, etc..).
- Send holiday cards to soldiers overseas. Make this a family bonding time! Write them all together with music or movies, good food, and holiday drinks. Kids could even draw pictures or their own cards for them. Here is an entire post of organizations to check out who have various Adopt-A-Soldier or letter writing programs. The Red Cross also has Holidays for Heroes.
- Volunteer at a local soup kitchen. You can check locally with churches, food pantries, and shelters to find locations or you can go check out foodpantries.org and Feeding America to find locations near you.
- Bake breads, muffins, or cookies and do surprise drop-offs in the community. We have done this for our local fire and emergency departments, police department, and library.
- Donate food and/or new or lightly used items to your local animal shelter. If you can, call in advance or visit their website to see what their needs are. If you have something not on that list, ask them! We had a birdcage one year that we used to use for our parakeet, Pele. It was not on their need list but they were so happy to have it. Many shelters do not have a lot of storage, so checking with them first is kind.
Home Fun
- Play holiday party games. Last year, we picked up some holiday board games, puzzles, and card games. A quick google search shows dozens of options on Amazon or stores like Walmart and TJ Maxx, if that is your jam! But you do not have to buy games to have fun. Do a round of Candy Cane Wars (dump out a bunch of candy canes, set a timer, put your hands behind your back, and try to pick up the candy canes… with only the candy cane in your mouth), holiday charades, holiday themed Two Truths and a Lie, have snowman dressing contest (use a roll of toilet paper and any decorations around the house to dress up like a snowman), jingle bell toss (into plastic cups or bowls glued to a board or poster board to make a field), saran wrap challenge (wrap cookies and gifts in balls of saran wrap and see who can unwrap them first), and a reindeer candy cane toss are all just a few ideas of inexpensive at-home games!
- Take a holiday light tour. (Make a thermos of hot cocoa and bring some festive cookies while you drive around to look at local Christmas lights or take a tour at a local light display near you like Gardens Aglow or Winter Wonders).
- Make DIY bird feeder treats to hang on trees. Here’s an idea of one here to get you started. Pinterest has so many more!
- Christmas Door Decoration Contest. Each person in your home gets to decorate one door in your house. Make it a friendly competition. The winner gets the glory of being Santa’s Elf and opening the first gift on Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning.
- Holiday Movie night. Need I say more? Either with your family at home or with family and friends on zoom, watch some of your favorite holiday movies. Eat some festive treats alongside them for a little extra flare.
- Make paper chains. Or ribbon chains! A thick ribbon can make amazing, durable chains.
- Attend a holiday production. A musical, play, or chorale performance can all be really fun ways to have some festive fun.
- Make ornaments. There are so many ways to make ornaments. You can pick up the clay ones to paint, sew felt ornaments, popsicle ornaments, crochet ornaments, make salt dough ornaments, or follow any dozen DIY ornament ideas on Pinterest.
- Play in the snow. [Regionally / seasonally dependent, of course.] Make snow angels, snowmen, or have a snowball fight.
- Go ice skating.
- Read Christmas stories. Pick a Christmas story to read every night by the tree, take out holiday books from the library to enjoy throughout the month, or pick a special, cozy book to read from on Christmas Eve.
- Christmas campout by the tree. Make a cozy fort, hot cocoa and holiday smores, play games, watch Christmas movies and read, and sleep out beside the tree.
- Make your own garland.
- Have a winter scavenger hunt or I, Spy around your house or property. (Bonus tip: you could harvest some local stuff to make crafts while you are doing it, like pinecones to turn into fire starters.)
- Decorate Christmas socks. This is especially fun for kiddos. They can decorate the socks that they hang for Christmas. We also have small socks on our tree for every member of our family, which is such a fun way to keep them close even when they are far away.
- Make Christmas treats for beloved pets of friends and family. Mail or deliver them for a happy surprise. 🙂
- Have some fun at zoom gatherings. I know, I know everyone jokes about how much they hate zoom after the Year of Zoom. Hear me out, though! Zoom can be a really fun way to make loved ones and friends feel near even when they are far away or to have a safe social gathering without masks. (Have a puzzle and eggnog night where everyone brings a puzzle and chats while they work on it. Have a game night and movie night. Especially with group watch functions on things like Amazon Prime and Netflix, if you did not want to be on video to chat, you could use those chat rooms to still have fun and hang out.
Bake cookies and decorate them. Gingerbread house decorating. Pick a holiday craft or decoration and make it together on zoom.
Which of these are you going to do first? Let me know them in the comments.
xoxo,
