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The Best Games to Get Your Family for Christmas

November 22, 2018 by Laura 5 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

The best games to get your family for Christmas? You knew this was coming. After all, it’s a holiday tradition. I share all the games our family loves. You share all the games your family loves. We all get new ideas for games we might want to get our families for Christmas!


This year will bring back some old favorites for our family now that we have a 4-year old living with us. Candyland anyone? You betcha!

The best games to get your family for Christmas:

Family Games for Little Ones and Adults

  • Spot It!
  • Candyland
  • Memory
  • Hungry Hippos
  • Trouble
  • Don’t Break the Ice
  • HiHo Cherry-O
  • Uno Attack

Family Games for Bigger Kids and Adults

  • 5-Second Rule
  • Connect Four
  • The Game of Things (Great fun for a group!)
  • Rummikub
  • Settlers of Catan (With extentions, which you’ll need if you have more than 4 players.)
  • Settlers of Catan Cities and Knights (This is an expansion of Settlers of Catan. This is our favorite add-on to regular Setters.)
  • Seafarers of Catan (Also an expansion of Settlers.)
  • Ticket to Ride
  • Carcossonne
  • Bohnanza (This one is unique. Great for older kids and adults. We love this one!)
  • Life
  • Risk
  • Manhattan
  • Guestures
  • Taboo
  • Blink (A great stocking stuffer!)
  • Headbandz
  • Acquire
  • Sequence
  • Clue
  • Apples to Apple Junior (This is probably our favorite group game. We don’t recommend the regular version of this game because the cards are less familiar to the kids.)
  • Scattergories
  • Pictionary
  • Cranium
  • Boggle (This game totally counts as school work, but no one knows they’re learning.)
  • Monopoly
  • Sorry
  • Quelf (I’ve actually decided that I very much dislike this one. The kids like it though.)
  • Racko
  • Balderdash
  • Yahtzee
  • Farkle
  • Pass the Pigs
  • Huskerdu (great for younger kids – still fun for adults)
  • Mastermind
  • Skipbo (We’ve played hours of this game through the years!)
  • Wits and Wagers
  • Anomia (One of my new favorites!)
  • Pandemic
  • Castle Panic
  • Mars Attack
  • Codenames
  • Tsuro
  • Avalon

Your turn to weigh in! What are your favorite family games?

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Free Printable Game “Kiss-Tac-Toe” (The Chocolate Kind!)

December 17, 2015 by Laura 8 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

kiss tac toe1

Malachi and I came up with this fun game idea. It’s Tic-Tac-Toe – only with chocolate kisses instead of X’s and O’s. This, of course, turns the game into Kiss-Tac-Toe.

I think this is incredibly clever. But then I realized that I have teenagers and overemphasizing the word “kiss” or suggesting that they give these fun gifts to their friends and Bible class teachers is probably weird and embarrassing. I’m not entirely above embarrassing my children on purpose, but I suppose this time I will refrain from insisting that my 13-year old give Kiss-Tac-Toe gift packs to his peers at church and on the basketball team.

What is my plan then? Well, first of all, Malachi and I have had a pretty good time playing 47 rounds of Kiss-Tac-Toe with a variety of Christmasy game boards. It’s almost torture for him to avoid actually eating the game pieces, but just like embarrassment, I’m not above torture in the name of winning a game. Competitive? Me? Oh no. Not much. (Sometime I should tell you about our family’s Kiss-Tac-Tournament.)

My ultimate plan with these game packets is to put them together with a few other fun items for some of my retired lady friends who share an apartment complex in town. They meet in their community room daily and play games together for hours. I think they will get a big kick out of these Christmas-time game boards and game pieces. I’ll package them up with fuzzy socks, pretty soap, a mini-calendar, and some baked goodies.

Merry Christmas Kiss-Tac-Toe

How to Put Together Kiss-Tac-Toe Gift Packs

1. Print the game boards, gift tags, and instruction card. (Access instructions below). I recommend printing the game boards on heavy white cardstock.

2. Cut them apart and put one game board and an instruction card into a sandwich-sized zip-lock bag.

3. Put 10 chocolate kisses into each bag – 5 each of 2 different colors.

4. Seal the bags. Fold the gift tag over the top and attach with ribbon or a stapler.

Merry Christmas Kiss-Tac-Toe Free Printable Game

Even if you don’t package these up to give away, you might have fun leaving game boards and chocolate kisses around on tables in your house for people to play during Christmastime. It’s just silly fun, you know? I like silly fun. (As opposed to non-silly fun? Whatever.)

You know what I’m thinking now? I should make Christmas Bingo Boards. We could play it with M&Ms. I can’t believe all the candy talk going on here right now.

Are you having a fun Christmas season?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Our Family’s Favorite Board and Card Games

December 9, 2015 by Laura 20 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

By request, I’m sharing all of our favorite games. This post is always fun because we can all share our favorites in the comments, which gives us good Christmas gift ideas.

You’ll definitely see that we are a game-playing family! We don’t have as much time as we used to have to make a game night happen. But when we can, we love to play games for hours!

What Are Your Favorite Family Games

The top four in this list are games we got new last year, thanks to your recommendations! If we had to pick a favorite, it would be Settlers of Catan with a variety of expansions.

  • 5-Second Rule
  • Spot It!
  • The Game of Things
  • Rummikub
  • Settlers of Catan (With extentions, which you’ll need if you have more than 4 players.)
  • Settlers of Catan Cities and Knights (This is an expansion of Settlers of Catan. This is our favorite add on to regular Setters.)
  • Seafarers of Catan (Also an expansion of Settlers.)
  • Ticket to Ride
  • Carcossonne
  • Bohnanza (This one is unique. Great for older kids and adults. We love this one!)
  • Life
  • Risk
  • Manhattan
  • Guestures
  • Taboo
  • Blink (Malachi and I play this quick card game a lot while the older brothers are at basketball practice.)
  • Headbandz
  • Acquire
  • Sequence
  • Clue
  • Apples to Apple Junior (This is probably our favorite group game. We don’t recommend the regular version of this game because the cards are less familiar to the kids.)
  • Scattergories
  • Pictionary
  • Cranium
  • Boggle (This game totally counts as school work, but no one knows they’re learning.)
  • Monopoly
  • Sorry
  • Quelf (I’ve actually decided that I very much dislike this one. The kids like it though.)
  • Racko
  • Balderdash
  • Yahtzee
  • Farkle
  • Pass the Pigs
  • Huskerdu (great for younger kids – still fun for adults)
  • Mastermind
  • Skipbo

I love that many of these are inexpensive and some are even small enough for a stocking!

Now it’s your turn. Share your favorite games! What do we not have that you recommend? What games do you plan to get for your family this Christmas?

This post contains affiliate links.

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What Are Your Favorite Family Games?

November 23, 2014 by Laura 80 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Our family loves playing games, especially now that all four kids are old enough and able to play games we all enjoy. Finding a chunk of time that works for all six of us to sit down and play together is rare, so when we find it, we jump on it!

What Are Your Favorite Family Games

We are trying to come up with a new family game or group game to get our kids for Christmas this year. Because you are all brilliant and always full of great ideas, I thought I’d ask you what games you love at your house. First, I’ll give you a list of what we already have and enjoy together:

  • Settlers of Catan (with extentions)
  • Ticket to Ride
  • Carcossonne
  • Bohnanza
  • Life
  • Risk
  • Manhattan
  • Guestures
  • Taboo
  • Blink (Malachi and I play this quick card game a lot while the older brothers are at basketball practice.)
  • Headbandz
  • Acquire
  • Sequence
  • Clue
  • Apples to Apple Junior (This is probably our favorite group game.)
  • Scattergories
  • Pictionary
  • Cranium
  • Boggle (This game totally counts as school work, but no one knows they’re learning.)
  • Monopoly
  • Sorry
  • Quelf
  • Racko
  • Balderdash
  • Yahtzee
  • Farkle
  • Pass the Pigs
  • Huskerdu (great for younger kids – still fun for adults)
  • Mastermind

Wow, after making that list, it kind of makes me wonder if we actually need another game this Christmas. We have oodles in our closet! Still, tell me your favorites. Our lives may just not be complete yet without one more game. :)

This post contains affiliate links.

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Our Family’s Favorite Games

December 5, 2013 by Laura 31 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

It happened again tonight when Justus (our 13 year old) was eating his potato soup. I started giggling for no reason. This happens to me occasionally when my family is around the table playing games. Tonight, we had to head out the door after dinner, so we were finishing our game and eating at the same time. Justus took a bite of soup, and it was outrageously funny. Except that it really wasn’t, even a little bit.

I admit it. I was getting loopy. We had been playing Settlers of Catan, the Cities and Knights version for way too long. We started it last night after church, took a turn at breakfast this morning, played a few more rounds after lunch, and by dinner, my brain was fried. The game is awesome, but it takes some thinking skills. And we had been playing in and around our regular day of school and work and life. Thus, the potato soup eating hilarity.

Ah, but this is what memories are made of. As our boys get older and are now able to gather around the table for “big kid games” we take advantage of every spare moment we have to spend time playing together. Their schedules are busy, so we have to be intentional to make it happen. Here are some of our favorite games:

Settlers of Catan, especially the Cities and Knights version

ticket to ride

Ticket to Ride

bohnanza

Bohnanza

Apples to Apples and Apples to Apples Junior

Manhattan

Uno Attack

 

Sequence

Farkle

 

Pass the Pigs

Disney Scene It

blink

Blink

headbandz

Headbandz

Don’t tell, but here’s the new one we’re getting this year for Christmas.

Now tell me about the games you and your family love to play!  (And do you ever get loopy after playing games just a little bit too long?!)

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Gratituesday: Board Gaming

June 27, 2011 by Laura 23 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

There are a few weeks during our year that offer a little more down time that other times of the year. Recently, since the garden isn’t producing a huge amount yet, soccer is not in season and we haven’t been traveling…we’ve been blessed to have a bit more time at home. We’re taking advantage of this “down time” to scrape and paint our house, invite people over that we’ve been wanting to get together with, and several nights recently, we’ve taken the time for family game time. 

Slowly but surely, we’re getting to the point where all six of us together can play games (that don’t involve Chutes, Ladders or a Candy Cane Forest). I’m loving it. I tend to be so task oriented, focusing on projects that need to be done, dishes that need to be washed, phone calls that need to be made. It’s hard for me to loosen up and really participate in any down time we might have. There’s always so much work to be done. 

The work will always be there. 

But I’m always so grateful for the times I’ve put aside my “to-do list” and just played with my family. We get silly. We laugh. And every once in a while, I actually win a game. ;)

It’s an honor that my kids want to spend time with me. It’s a privilege that my husband is home in the evenings to hang out with. Quiet evenings at home are rare. In just a few weeks, we’ll have produce taking over our kitchen, soccer season will start, schooling will begin and all thoughts of down time will be buried under muddy soccer cleats and buckets of tomatoes. 

For today and maybe even again tomorrow, I will say yes to a rowdy game of Apples to Apples or a lazy game of Traverse. I have yet to regret one moment of board game playing with my family.

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday? Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here. If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post! Thanks!


Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

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Stocking Stuffers for Kids

December 11, 2010 by Laura 51 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I think I love stuffing stockings almost more than any other gift giving at Christmas time!! My mom made our family’s stockings and they are just beautiful! But they’re a little bit small. It seemed that no matter how small I kept the stocking stuffers, half of them still wouldn’t fit through the top! I finally bought the boys new, bigger stockings. My mom’s stockings are still hanging for decoration and will always be among our favorite Christmas decor. You can read more about her hand made stockings here.

christmasdecor0915smI have learned during my last 13 stocking stuffing years that filling stockings with junk is a waste of money and toy box space. There are all kinds of little things on the ends of store aisles that are touted as “Great Stocking Stuffers”, but they’re made of junk. The kids will play with them for a total of two minutes before they get lost under the couch cushions.

I now avoid junkie toys and go with items that are truly usable, educational, or consumable.

This year (don’t tell my kids), they’re getting quite a few consumable items. I got them some treats that we hardly ever buy, which means they’ll be thrilled to find them in their stockings! Here are some consumables they’re either getting this year or have been given in years past:

  • Annie’s Mac and Cheese box
  • Juicy Juice 100% juice
  • Pack of Gum
  • A Can of Black Olives
  • A Favorite Candy
  • Cereal Bars
  • A Small Jar of their Favorite Jelly
  • Sunflower Seeds
  • Beef Jerky
  • Fruit
  • Fruit Leather

I love consumable stocking stuffers because well…they will be quickly consumed. They won’t get lost in a toy box never to be seen again. They’re treats we rarely enjoy, making them a pretty special gift!

Here is a list of items I recommend that are fun, small enough to fit into most stockings and either educational or useful!

  • Veggie Tales DVDs
  • Sewing Kits from The Whole KIT ‘n Kaboodle
  • Card games like Blink, Old Maid, Skip-Bo…
  • Regular decks of cards
  • Mittens or gloves, hats, scarves, ear muffs
  • Socks (okay, bordering on being in the “not fun” category, but my kids are always happy to see socks without holes)
  • Fun bandaids
  • CDs
  • Books
  • Hair clips and such for little girls (although I have no experience in this area!!)
  • School supplies

What items do you put in your kids’ stockings?

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Gifts of Games

December 8, 2010 by Laura 58 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Well now, games are not as practical a gift as say…socks and tweezers. But I like giving games as gifts because they bring people together for fellowship. Games create great family fun and are a wonderful way to learn.

(I don’t think I would actually ever give tweezers as a gift, by the way…it was simply the first practical item I could think of after socks, mainly because my eyebrows could stand some plucking right now.)

That was more than you needed to know, wasn’t it?

First I’ll list my favorite recommended games, then I’ll take care of the eyebrows. Here are my family’s favorite games in no particular order:

CandyLand, Hi Ho Cherry-O and Chutes and Ladders

Okay actually, I don’t really like playing Chutes and Ladders. I really, really don’t like it. It feels like the game that never ends. It just goes on and on my friends. As soon as someone gets almost to the top of the board to win, they hit a chute and down they go to practically the bottom which means that they have to start over and a mom can only handle so much of a good thing before she wants to flick a little game character across the room. However, it’s a great counting game and it’s inexpensive. I enjoy CandyLand and Hi Ho Cherry-O much better and while you’d think Hi Ho Cherry-O would make me hungry for fruit, CandyLand makes me hungry for gum drops. Why? I don’t know. I don’t even like gum drops.

Apples to Apples and Apples to Apples Junior

We love playing a few rounds of Apples to Apples Junior some evenings and it’s great for building up vocabulary. If you play the regular version of Apples to Apples with your kids (not the junior version), be aware that you’ll be teaching them some vocabulary, or some characters, that you’d rather not teach them about right now. Like Madonna.

Farkle

Even our littlest guy can play Farkle. It’s a great dice game that’s very inexpensive.

Pass the Pigs

We got Pass the Pigs last year and it’s really fun! Of all things, there are two little rubberized piggies that you toss and get points for how they land. WHO thought of this, I’d like to know? But whatever. It’s a fun and uncomplicated game.

Settlers of Catan, and a bunch of Catan add on games

My husband (and now my older sons) are very much into long, drawn out strategy games (like Risk). The game of Risk makes me want put my tweezers in my shoe, stand on it and pluck my eyebrows out with my fingernails, but they like it so what’s a mom to do? But Settlers of Catan? That’s a strategy game I can handle. Usually. And then there are add on games that you can get to go with it like Cities and Knights and Seafarers of Catan.

Manhattan

Okay, now Manhattan is very much a game I recommend if your husband likes strategy games and you really don’t like thinking hard while you play a game. Manhattan takes about an hour to an hour and a half to play and is not complicated at all, yet there is strategy involved. I REALLY like Manhattan and reallllly recommend it. More about Manhattan when I talk about Gifts for Men.

Uno Attack

Uno Attack is just regular Uno with a goofy twist. The machine spits out cards at you and kids love it. This game has given us lots of laughs, and often too many cards to hold at one time.

Sequence

Sequence is fun for kids about seven years old and up. I really like playing this with my kids. I’ve noticed a Sequence for Kids, but haven’t played it. Anyone want to share thoughts about Sequence for Kids?

Disney Scene It

We first played Disney Scene It while at some friends house for a party. It was SO much fun to watch the different scenes on the screen and try to see if you could yell out the answer first. Yeah, the kids almost always beat the adults. :)

Quelf

I’ve recently been introduced to Quelf by my friend Rhonda. She said it’s a hoot! Anyone else played Quelf? I’m thinking my boys would like it and I may put it on our list sometime.

Okay everyone…pipe in here with your own favorite games! Which great ones did I forget? Which of the ones I mentioned are your favorites?

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Fun, Fabulous and (mostly) Free Preschool Projects Ebook (FREE!)

July 8, 2009 by Laura 16 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Help yourself to this FREE e-book with over 100 fun pre-school ideas submitted by the readers of HeavenlyHomemakers.com. In this e-book you’ll find these categories:

Fun with Food
Seasonal Fun
Hands-On Fun
Fun with Arts and Crafts
Fun with Role Play and Make Believe
Fun with Music
Online Fun
All Kinds of Fun

Enjoy making sweet memories with your kids using the great ideas in this e-book!

101 Preschool Projects Free Download

Grab this FREE 101 Pre-School Projects book here!

I’m excited to share that signing up for these freebies will connect you to our new Heavenly Homemaker’s Learning Zone. It’s free, of course. You can unsubscribe at any time, your info will never be shared or sold, and being on this list means that you’ll be the first to know of the other fun (yes, FUN!) educational tools we’re putting together!

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