It’s that season of the year again, Christmas! The season of fun, sparkles, lights and so many events to go. In the midst of the mostly noisy season, you sometimes just want to spend private time with your family; just you, your partner and your children or maybe even your extended family as well, and friends that have become family. So here’s a list of 5 fun things you could do with family this Christmas.

1.    HAVE A FAMILY CHRISTMAS DINNER

There are so many parties and events this season and it can get very exhausting showing up at events that you have no control over; the food, music, games for kids and so on. To keep up the merry spirit of the season, how about a family Christmas dinner? The boys and men dressed in tuxedos and the girls in lovely princess dresses. The menu, music, conversation, and more would naturally suit your family style. Kids love playing dress up so it’s a great way to get them excited and the menu could include something from each person’s favourite meal.

2.    START A NEW FAMILY TRADITION

Christmas is a great season to strengthen family bonds and starting a Christmas family tradition is one way to achieve this. A family Christmas tradition is an activity or event the family does on a yearly basis in order to celebrate Christmas and create meaning, there are tons of things that can fall in this category. You could visit or volunteer at an orphanage to share love and gifts, make a special dish you’ll prepare or buy every Christmas, read the Christmas story around your Christmas tree on Christmas Eve with your favourite family drink. The idea is to have something fun and sustainable that has a shared meaning for the family and creates an avenue for everyone to come together, away from their busy schedules. 

3.    HAVE A CHRISTMAS THEMED FAMILY GAME NIGHT

Games are a fun way to relax with the people we care about and children love gifts. So you could have a Christmas themed family karaoke night where everyone gets to take turns singing, yes, even off key! It’s so much fun laughing together; each child can be given a tiny gift after their performance. Board games and card games are also a nice way to go, played in teams, so you could break into a group of two and have fun together.

4.    HAVE A MOVIE MARATHON

Let’s prep the popcorn and drinks or ice cream and chips, roll out the blankets and have an indoor family movie marathon. Everyone gets to pick a movie, maybe even Christmas and family themed movies or cartoons. It is fun, it’s practically free and it gives you a quiet day-in with the kids. You could also visit the cinemas for a day out with the kids to see their favourite movies.

5.    HAVE A STAYCATION

Instead of travelling out of the country, find lovely places within Nigeria or your resident country where you can stay with the kids, and have a fun family time there. A staycation is a holiday spent in one's home country instead of abroad, or one spent at home, involving trips to local attractions. So you could break out the swim wear and spend the day by the pool, go shopping for fun books, visit your favourite kids’ clothes store for dresses, shoes, jackets and awesome fashion items that the kids would love. It’s a fun and unexpected surprise for the kids since this is different from their Christmas clothes and gifts!

Christmas is fun when spent with friends and family and we hope this list has given you an idea of quiet activities you could engage in with your children and partner. Have yourself a merry Christmas spent with Family and friends. This Christmas, spend it well! Spend it with friends and family.