We all know that the holidays can get pretty stressful. This year especially, we feel that it's really important to slow down and enjoy the little moments. In this post, we wanted to put together a few simple but fun ideas to hopefully spark some some holiday spirit!
Bake Off
Nothing feels more like the holidays to me than baking. Olivia and I always have the best time experimenting with new recipes around the holidays. Some of our usual favorites are chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter balls, and muddy buddies. It's the perfect way to get a little creative and feel festive at the same time. The best part is, you don't have to get fancy if you don't want to, or you can go all out if that's your thing. Block out a couple hours on a weekend morning, play your favorite Christmas music, pour yourself an apple cider mimosa, and bake away!
Hot Chocolate Bar and Game Night
The holidays undoubtedly look a lot different this year, and I think a lot of people aren't necessarily feeling the holiday spirit. Planning out a game night with family members or your significant other with some festive holiday treats sounds like the perfect night in to us. Some of our favorite games to play with family are Banana Grams, Catch Phrase, and Family Feud. For a hot chocolate bar, just grab your favorite brand of cocoa and a couple adds ons like mini marshmallows, crushed candy canes, and shaved dark chocolate. Pour it into a festive mug and enjoy!
A Solution for Wrapping Procrastinating
I am admittedly someone who puts off wrapping gifts until Christmas Eve. A good way to get around that is to make it a more enjoyable experience for yourself. Dedicate a night to putting on your favorite Christmas movie, make yourself a cup of tea, and set up a wrapping station. Give yourself the length of the movie to get as much done as you can, and save the rest for another night. Breaking the job up into a couple separate chunks of time is the best way to avoid getting overwhelmed with the task. Also, if you're looking for cute wrapping paper, Rifle Paper Company has adorable prints! Another great tip is creating themed basket as a gift idea. These are always a go-to for me because I love coming up with the concept and giving someone a gift that is really tailored to what they like. Plus, "wrapping" this type of gift is super easy!
Acts of Kindness and Connection
Write out an act of kindness or connection you can do for someone every day from now until Christmas and complete one each day. Whether it's buying coffee for the person behind you at Starbucks, calling an old friend, making a donation, or sending a holiday card to someone who could use some cheer, taking the time to do something small like this every day is what the season is all about.
Christmas Light Car Ride
A fun holiday activity Anthony and I started doing is picking a weeknight, getting takeout, and driving around looking at all the Christmas lights. This is a fun way to break up the work week during an especially busy time of year for most companies. It's always fun to play some good Christmas music and to scout out the neighborhoods where most of the houses go all out. Last year, we even found a house through the local news that put on a dedicated light show! All in all, I highly recommend this holiday activity as a yearly tradition.
Gingerbread House Making Competition
Another really fun holiday activity is to buy a couple gingerbread house kits and have a competition for who can create the best one. You can even come up with a theme and set a time limit and then post pictures of each persons' creation to Insta stories as a poll to see whose is the favorite. If you really want to set the holiday mood, make this holiday stovetop simmer. It will make your entire house smell like Christmas, and paired with some friendly gingerbread house competition, there's really nothing better.
That wraps up our list of holiday activities and we hope this has sparked some inspiration for really taking a movement to enjoy the simple pleasures that come along with this time of year. Let us know what your favorite holiday traditions are in the comments!
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