Ways to Spend Quality Time Together this Christmas

*This is a collaborative post.

Christmas is a time for watching classic films, for eating much-loved seasonal food, and for listening to songs with sleigh bells in them. But, perhaps more than anything else, it’s a time to get together with family and enjoy their company. Before you invite your nearest and dearest around for the day, however, you’ll want some idea of what you’d like to do with them. Here, we’ll run through a few much-loved activities that’ll bring everyone together.

Turn Phones Off

When you’re confronted by a group of people you barely spend any time with, it’s easy to retreat into cyberspace and see how everyone’s day is going on the world of Facebook and Twitter. But this prevents us all from enjoying what’s really important: the here and now. So, for at least a few hours out of the day, try to implement a ‘phones off’ policy. It’ll focus minds, and get everyone to concentrate on the amazing entertainment you have planned.

Go Outdoors

Being cooped up indoors all day will drive you to distraction, so get everyone out in the open air for a nice, bracing stroll! You’ll probably find that the pubs in your vicinity are crammed to capacity, but if you’re lucky enough to be out in the countryside, a half-hour walk will allow you to work up an appetite for that all-important Christmas dinner.

Baking Festive Treats

Festive food is what makes the season great. And if you have small children to entertain, having them get their hands dirty is a great way to teach them the rudiments of cookery. What’s more, it’s great fun, and it’ll provide your guests with a stream of tasty treats at the end. Mince pies and Christmas Cake are both reliable and easy to make. Licking the bowl when you’re done might be frowned upon nowadays, because of the raw egg content. But the chances are good that they’ll be fine!

Making Christmas Decorations

By the same token, DIY Christmas decorations are a great way to spruce up a Christmas tree. Baubles can be customised so that every member of the family has their own particular part of the tree to call their own. You can fill the rest of the tree with quality decorations from a somewhere like Cox & Cox.

Playing Games

You don’t need any special equipment to play a game with your family. Nevertheless, some board games provide reliable fun at this time of year. Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly and Charades are all tried and tested, and you can divide the teams by age in order to make things nice and even. Don’t pick anything that’s too complicated, as explaining the rules of Pandemic to an uncle who’s been at the sherry all afternoon is likely to prove difficult.

Check out my Board Games Gift Guide for more game suggestions this festive season!

Check out my What to Feed A Vegetarian at Christmas guide!