a little fun day 1

Sunday, December 13th, 2009 at 3:24 pm

Having fun during the holidays can be difficult at times, what with heavy stress, unreal expectations, strong tempers, and short fuses. All to often the Christmas season gets completely lost in the ridiculous tradition of going insane. However, there are great ways to ease stress and enjoy time with your family. Ways you have maybe not ever thought about.

I’m going to give you 12 days and 12 ways to ease stress and build fun memories with your kids. These tasks are simple and most of them don’t take long to accomplish. The goal isn’t to spend a long time planning and spending much money, but instead to find simple ways to delight your children, and yourself at the same time.

Day 1.

M&M right at ya.

What I did:
I called Matthew(6) into the living room. When he came in I threw an M&M at him. He had no idea it was coming and it took him completely off guard. It took him about 3 M&Ms before he realized that I was tossing candy coated chocolate at him. He was not upset. It also only took about 3 M&Ms before the rest of the kids’ candy radars zoned in.

The 5 oldest were in the living room trying to catch M&Ms (little ones were sleeping). It isn’t as easy as you would think and took about 10 minutes before all of them had caught one.

Each child who caught an M&M was rewarded with 10. Ben and Matthew (4 & 6) caught them by mouth because they just couldn’t get them with their hands.

The game brought about giggles, and a little tackling as they dove for the mid-air candies.

Tips -

Be prepared for the 5 second rule. Your kids aren’t likely to let an M&M go uneaten. Even if it sat on the floor for a second.
Have two of the BIG bags for this event. One for you, one to throw at the kids.
Don’t tell your kids about it ahead of time. In fact, don’t tell them about any of these ideas ahead of time. That way if something doesn’t work out or has to be postponed they won’t be disappointed. Also, surprises make bigger impressions.
Some M&Ms may end up under the couch. This is fine. The candy shell acts as an excellent preservative.
On second thought, you may just want to avoid tossing them in the direction of the couch.
Don’t be afraid of looking silly. Being afraid of looking silly looks sillier than actually looking silly.
Don’t be surprised if your teenager gets involved. As a matter of fact, expect it.
Laugh.

Merry day 1!

Be sure to come back and tell me how it went.