30 IDEAS FOR FAMILY FUN

1. Enjoy the snow.  Bundle up and build a snowman in the front yard.
2. Find a steep hill for sledding, or take turns pulling each other around in the yard.
3. Arrange a scavenger hunt inside the house when it's too cold to venture outside.
4. Construct a gingerbread house or decorate sugar cookies made from scratch.
5. Get everyone involved and cook dinner together.
6. Play charades, cards,board games or interactive video games the whole family can enjoy.
7. If you have a membership at a YMCA or community center, go as a group to burn off the additional calories and sugar from your holiday meals.
8. Build a fort out of pillows and blankets in the living room and have a family campout.
9. Look through family photographs and tell stories, or make up stories about the photos of people in a magazine.
10. Make a family calendar either online using a digital photography website, or the old-fashioned way using art supplies and a blank 2011 calendar.
11. Write letters or make greeting cards for family and friends who couldn't make it to your family's holiday celebration.
12. Go to a concert or put on your own at home.  If your family doesn't play any instruments, turn up the music, play your best air guitar and lip-sync along.
13. Take turns dressing up as famous or recognizable people.   Speak in character using their accents and phrases.  Give clues as to who you are.   The family member who guesses correctly first wins. 
14. Bring canned foods and non-perishable items to a local food bank together.
15. If the weather permits, play a game of two-hand touch football, H-O-R-S-E or Red Rover with family, friends and neighbors.
16. Make an ethnic meal and talk about that culture.  Assign each family member to bring something that represents that culture, such as an article of clothing or a traditional saying.
17. Write a family newsletter to send in your holiday greeting cards.
18. Have a bubble-blowing contest outside with watered-down dish soap and makeshift bubble wands.  Test various household items to find which one produces the biggest bubble.
19. Practice a foreign language or learn sign language.
20. Crank up the tunes and have a dance-off in the living room.
21. Wash the car(s) and wax it/them.
22. Piece together a large jigsaw puzzle or solve a crossword puzzle as a family.
23. Lace up your ice skates and take the family to an indoor or outdoor rink.
24. Make homemade bread, ice cream or pizza with fresh ingredients.
25. Make popcorn on the stove using oil, popcorn kernels, butter and salt. Split the batch up for homemade caramel corn and cheddar cheese popcorn.
26. Cut pictures from magazines and create a collage.  Use a theme like "winter wnders" or "our family".
27. Make sock puppets and a puppet theater from cardboard boxes.  Take turns entertaining.
28. Play "20 Questions" and "I Spy".
29. Rotate turns reading a book aloud to each other.
30. See a movie or a play.  Go bowling or to the symphony.  Visit a museum, art gallery, zoo, aquarium or farm.  Get out of the house for a memorable family outing.