Christmas Lights Fun

A family tradition of ours around Christmas time is to drive around and look at the Christmas lights in the nearby neighborhoods.

 

I put this invite on the door in the morning.  Everyone saw it as they left for work and school.

{Click here to print your own Christmas lights invitation}

We have a few favorites of people who really know how to "deck the halls" each year and have the lights timed to music and everything.

We turn on Christmas music (it plays on several different radio stations) and we sing along, caroling in the car while we scour the town for lights.  It is exciting to try and find as many light displays as we can!  

Lord of the Rings Marathon Date

Okay, I admit it.  My husband and I LOVE The Lord of the Rings.  My husband has read the books many times.  And, as you all know, the Hobbit is coming to theaters this week, on December 14!  I am so excited (squeal)!

So for our fun date this week I wanted to watch The Lord of the Rings trilogy to get ready for the opening day of The Hobbit.

I crafted a date card that read...

"My precious, 

Tonight we shall see if you can answer my riddles.  

If you pass the test, then we will watch these together!"

{Click here for your own free 4 x 6" LOTR date card}

Then I taped it to the movies and left it out where my husband would see it.

In the story The Hobbit, Bilbo is lost in the dark tunnels of the goblins.  That is where he meets Gollum.  Gollum does not know that Bilbo has found his lost ring--his "precious"--Bilbo needs help getting out of the tunnels.  So they play a game of riddles.  Whoever cannot guess the riddle loses and the winner gets what he wants.

So I thought it would be fun to play a game of riddles together with my husband.  Online I found this page with lots of riddles.  I typed up only the riddles (so we couldn't cheat) and then we took turns asking each other and guessing.  Then we looked up the answers on the website.

Here are a couple of examples of riddles with their answers.

1. It is greater than God and more evil than the devil.  The poor have it, the rich need it and if you eat it you'll die.  What is it? 
          NOTHING.  nothing is greater than God, nothing is more evil than the devil, the poor have nothing, the rich need nothing and if you eat nothing you will die.

2.  I am the beginning and the end, and the end of time and space.  I am essential to creation, and I surround every place.  What am I?
        The letter E. End, timE, spacE, Every placE.

Clever, right! Did you guess the correct answers??  I didn't,  I had to cheat.  ;)  

So pick a few riddles that look fun to you and have fun playing a game. Then snuggle up and relax as you enjoy The Lord of the Rings!

Sporty Date Night

I know we talk a lot about family activities.  But we also need time as a couple to rejuvenate and have fun together.  If we are happy as a couple then our kids will be happier too.

It does not need to be expensive or an all night adventure.  My husband and I try to do something together once a week.  Whether it is a stay-at-home date or a let's-go-out-on-the-town date, it doesn't really matter--it is always fun!

For this date I wanted to do something active with my husband.  I decided we would play racquetball at our local gym.  I put an invitation by the door along with our racquets and ball, so when he left in the morning he would see it and be excited about it all day. 

You can use this invitation for any sporty activity you like.  Golf, soccer, basketball, bike riding, tennis...the list is endless.

{Click here to print your own sporty date night invitation}

Then of course the "loser" of your friendly competition gets to buy the treats.  You gotta have a treat to end off your date! :)

{10 Days of Halloween} Pumpkin Family Night

For this activity we went to a local pumpkin patch and everyone got to pick their perfect pumpkin to carve.I wanted to make it special, so I made this invite for my family and posted it on the front door for everyone to see as we left in the morning for work and school.

{click here to print your own Pumpkin Family Night invite} 

After we went to the pumpkin patch, we took our pumpkins home and had fun carving them.

It is a little slimy digging out all those seeds but that is the fun part right?  We didn't throw them all away so that we could use them as part our treat for later.

The kids had fun helping to design the pumpkin faces and the older ones even got to help do some carving this year.

Some turned out more scary or goofy.

But each one was a little different.

After the pumpkins were carved we placed a candle inside each one--they looked so good!

Then we washed off the seeds and set them out on a cookie sheet.  We covered the seeds with a little butter and salt them put them in the oven until they were roasted brown.  Mmm, so yummy!

We decided to eat our pumpkin seeds while we watched Charlie Brown a the Great Pumpkin.  What a fun night! By the time the movie was over, we were all ready for bed.

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Day eight of

 

{10 Days of Halloween} Witches Brew

One of the reasons I love Halloween is that there are so many fun things you can do! I love hot stew with the cool autumn weather. But I wanted to make dinner even more fun by having different kinds of "witches brew."

First, I made a little invite and delivered to each of my family members in the morning. Here's what the invite said:

 
 {click here to print your own Witches Brew dinner invite}

For dinner I made some crock pot "brew" (just regular stew with veggies and stew meat). Then I also made a "caldron" (or big bowl) of homemade root beer with dry ice. The fog from the dry ice made the dinner seem more spooky and mysterious.  Finally, as a yummy treat after dinner, we made our own witches brew.

Here's what we did. I used a muffin tin with liners and filled them with different ingredients for our witches brew. If you were hosting a Halloween party, you could set out the ingredients in cups or mason jars with labels. But for my family, I wanted to keep it fairly simple. I chose six ingredients we had on hand. But if you want more ideas, check out this list of awesome witches brew ingredients (thanks to family crafts):

Earthworm Knots (Miniature Pretzel Twists)
Bloated Ants (Raisins)
Candied Spider Eggs (Dots or Gum Drops)
Ghost Guts (Mini Marshmallow)
Shredded Lizard Gizzards (Coconut)
Witches' Warts (Chocolate Chips)
Baked Skelton Bones (Pretzel Sticks)
Bat Brains (Popcorn)
Boiled Lady Bugs (Red Jelly Beans)
Braised Beetles (Milk Duds)
Cheesy Owl Eyes (Puffed Cheese Balls)
Chocolate-Dipped Houseflies (Chocolate-Covered Raisins)
Compressed Cobwebs (Chex Brand or Similar Cereal)
Crumbled Bat Wings (Blue Corn Chips)
Deep Fried Fingernails (Bugles Brand Snacks)
Dehydrated Dragon's Wings (Doritos)
Dirty Shoelaces (Black Shoestring Licorice)
Dried Seaweed (Chow Mein Noodles)
Flattened Slugs (Corn Chips)
Freeze Dried Drops of Blood (Red Hot Candies)
Goblin's Belly Button Lint Balls (M & Ms, Any Style))
Plops of Pigeon Poop (Yogurt Covered Raisins)
Rat Claws (Shelled Sunflower Seeds)
Roasted Snack Eyes (Peanuts)
Splintered Turkey Bones (Shoestrings Potato Chips)
Toasted Cat's Eyes (Blanched Almonds)
Vulture Toenails (candy Corn)

To make the witches brew, I wrote all the ingredients on slips of paper and placed them in one of our Halloween trick-or-treat buckets to draw from.  (You could also make the labels with pictures for younger children.)

Then each person drew three ingredients from the bucket and that determined their witches brew.  Everyone had fun gathering their ingredients and mixing their brew--there was a lot of cackling and witchcraft going on at the dinner table!

{witches brew of earthworm knots, ghost guts, and candied spider eggs}

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Day five of

{10 Days of Halloween} Halloween Gift

Are you hosting a Halloween party this year and need a party favor? Or do you need a special way to say thank you this Halloween season? Well, here is a gift idea that anyone would love. 

These hard plastic cups with straws are not only useful (they hold hot or cold beverages) but they make great gifts! I found these Halloween cups at Walmart for a small price, but you can find them just about anywhere now.

I filled the cup with some tasty goodies! I included a ball point pen, gum, and a mix of candy (sugar free, chewy, hard, and chocolate). 

I didn't add any special packaging for these gifts because I felt like the cups were already decorated enough. But if you have clear cups or want to add a little more flair, simply wrap each cup in cellophane and tie with a ribbon. 

I included this fun Halloween poem as a gift tag. 

{click here to print your own Halloween poem tag}

Now you can give a special Halloween thank you to any of the special people in your life!

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Day four of

"Brain Quest" Dinner Game

I bought these brain quest cards for my kids.  There are like a thousand questions on them and it's a great way to learn new facts.  So I decided test all of our brain smarts by having a Brain Quest Dinner Game.

We took turns asking each other questions.  The person asking got to pick which question to ask (each card has several questions to choose from).  The guessers raced to be the first one to answer the question correctly.  The guessers had to raise their hands, so whoever raised their hand first got to try answering the question first.  If the guesser got the answer right, he/she received a point.  The person with the most points at the end of dinner got to pick the family activity we did together after dinner.

 

We actually had a lot fun asking each other questions from these cards during dinner--it was a simpe, fun family competition!  Brain Quest cards are available for all different grade levels, so you can even get your younger children involved.

To make this dinner even more fun, give everyone a special invitation before hand!

{Click here to print your own Brain Quest dinner invite}

Rapunzel Mystery Dinner: Tangled Web We Weave

This is a very simplified version of the mystery dinners you can buy, and my kids all loved it!  To do a mystery dinner with kids, they just need something simple and straight forward with a few mysteries and puzzles to figure out.

Here's how I created our own Rapunzel Mystery Dinner.

{Invitation} Give everyone an invitation with an assigned role of who they will be at dinner that night (like the maid, queen, king, princess, prince, butler, etc.).  Leave the invitation in a place where each person will find it.  I put the invitations in plain sight on everyone's beds.  The invitation should also include the date and time of the dinner and any other mystery dinner instructions (like if they should dress-up, etc.).

{Click here to print your own Mystery Dinner invitations.}

{Rapunzel Mystery Plot} The princess, Rapunzel, has been taken from the castle.  She needs to be found....HURRY!! 

{To start it off} Just before dinner a "mysterious" person rings the door bell and leaves a clue.  The kids run to the door to answer it and find the clue on the door step.  Everyone gathers around to read the clue together.

                  {Clue #1} If you ever want to see your Rapunzel again, you will need to do something for me first!  To find the next clue go to the Snuggly Duckling.
    Signed, Lady Gothel

{The Snuggly Duckling}

{Sunggly Duckling} Before you start the mystery, hang a sign for the Snuggly Duckling in the dining area and decorate it like the thieves hideout.  After reading the first clue, go to the "Snuggly Duckling" (or the dining room).  Everyone's dinner should be served and ready to eat.  Sit down and start eating dinner together.  In the center of the table there is a yellow flower (real or fake) with another clue next to it, only slightly hidden so that the kids will find it while eating dinner.  Read the clue #2 together.
         
                {Clue  #2} Bring me back what once was mine!  It must go back to where it came from.  When you return it, you will find the third clue.

But first you must sing the healing song like an opera singer:

"Flower gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Let the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine
What once was mine."

Once you do this, I will begin to feel stronger. Now go and follow ALL of the instructions!
Signed, Lady Gothel

{Clue #2 & flower garden puzzle}

{Healing Song} Follow the instructions and sing the healing song in opera-style.  This is sure to include a lot of giggling and silliness if your family is like mine!

      {Puzzle} Along with clue #2, include a puzzle of where you need to return the flower.  I took a picture of our flower garden and then cut into puzzle pieces.  Put the puzzle pieces back together to learn where Rapunzel's flower (sitting in the middle of the table) needs to be returned to.

* To add more "mystery," have the power go out and finish eating dinner by lantern light.  Also, it is fun to include magnifying glasses, flashlights, etc. so that everyone can feel like they are doing real detective work while figuring out where the princess could be and what to do with clue #2.

{Flower garden} When you finish with dinner, remember that part of the clue was to,  "Bring back what once was mine."  Take the yellow flower from the table and plant it in the flower garden.  Then look for clue #3 and read it together.

{Clue #3} This is where you will find your Rapunzel!
Signed, Lady Gothel

{Clue #3 & close-up picture puzzles}

{Close-up Pictures} With clue #3, include two different close-up pictures of where Rapunzel is hiding.

{Rapunzel's tower}

We have a swing set, so I decorated it to look like "Rapunzel's tower" with a few vines and flowers and took close-up pictures of that.  The kids have to figure out what location the pictures are from and then go there to look for Rapunzel.

{Find Rapunzel} When the kids have figured out the close-up pictures, that is where they need to go to find Rapunzel.  You can use a doll to represent Rapunzel, or print a coloring page from Tangled.

If you use a swing set, have the kids climb the ladder to find the Princess Rapunzel.  Once they have found Rapunzel they need to hurry to safety (by sliding down the slide) and carrying the princess all the way back to the "castle" (or the house).  

{Celebration} Now that the princess has been safely returned home, you can all celebrate by sharing a yummy dessert together! :)

You may also want to end the night by watching a movie together, like Tangled, of course!

* If you decide to host your own Rapunzel Mystery Dinner, please leave a comment and let us know!! We would love your feedback and to hear your own great ideas. Also, we recently added the invitation as a printable. If there is anything else we can include that would make this activity easier for you, please let us know!

Wacky Wednesday Dinner Night

Sometimes I feel like my family can be so silly.  So they inspired me to have a "Wacky Wednesday" night at dinner time.

On Wednesday morning I gave everyone an invitation to our Wacky Wednesday Dinner Night.  On the invite it specified some of the dinner details.

{Click here to print your own Wacky Wednesday Dinner Night invitations}
The day, time, and place are left blank for you to fill in.

On the invitation it specified to wear "wacky" clothes.  For example, wearing mismatched socks, backwards pants, inside-out shirt, one pant leg rolled up high and the other down, multiple layers, mixing clothing styles, etc.  Everyone came up with their own wacky ensembles then came to dinner.

We each took turns modeling and presenting our wacky outfits.

Some were pretty funny!

Then we read a Dr. Suess classic called Wacky Wednesday.  It's a quick read, so we read it before dinner. 

At dinner, I wanted to make things "wacky" so I set the table by putting things in weird places.  Some things were upside down (including the pictures on the walls) and some were in odd containers (like the blender for holding sugar and the Halloween bowl for the casserole).

I hung a few items from the ceiling and light fixture that weren't normally hanging there and used different objects as our seats instead of our regular kitchen chairs (like an exercise ball).

I also added some unusual silverware to the place settings (like using a measuring cup instead of regular drinking glass).

All this wackiness made for lots of laughing during dinner time.  My kids loved discovering all of the wacky things I had set at the table and we all had fun trying to eat dinner in such a wacky way!