I wanted to share a fun way we are counting down to Christmas without spending money this year. It’s also giving us some great family fun time too!
Every year I buy new games for Christmas. But this year? I’m not letting myself. Why? Because we have SO MANY GAMES. And many of them we’ve hardly had a chance to play.
So this year? I’m determined that we’ll spend some extra fun time playing games and reading books in the evenings leading to Christmas.
Count Down To Christmas Without Spending Money!
One day when all of the little kids were at school or napping, I dug out a pile of our favorite games, plus some that our elementary-age kids haven’t played before. I grabbed some of our Christmas books too. I wrapped them all and piled them on top of the mantle.
I ended up with 16 packages total, so beginning December 9, we’ll begin taking turns unwrapping one package each evening. We’ll get all ready for bed, then play a game together before our family singing and prayer time.
My hope is that this will become a new family tradition – and not just at Christmastime! During the long winter nights, I’m hoping we get into a habit of pulling out games to play together or books to read together.
Hopefully, I’ve picked out games that our younger kids can play and our older kids will still enjoy! Our game-gift pile includes:
- Spot It!
- Memory
- Uno Attack
- Connect Four
- Blink
- Headbandz
- Yahtzee
- Farkle
- Pass the Pigs
- Huskerdu
- Racko
- Pictionary
- Plus several Christmas books from the library!
Need more great family game ideas?
What about books?
If you don’t have many Christmas books, and you don’t want to spend the money to buy some, head to the library. They are free, you can wrap and enjoy them, then take them back to the library by their due date!
More Count Down to Christmas Ideas
- Two years ago I put together this Reverse Advent idea and I love it. See which of these ideas for serving others works well for you!
- We loved this 12 Days of Christmas – Seeking Jesus Count Down!
You are so clever!!