Activities to Do with Kids During the Holiday Season

Just like other parents, I, myself, am guilty of just allowing my eldest daughter to watch TV or play mobile games on her dad's phone when she doesn't have classes since it keeps her preoccupied and I can do more things during that time. I am lucky that most of the time, she prefers doing arts and crafts even though it leaves the house in utter mess. That is why I have designated areas where she can do her arts and crafts so I won't need to clean the entire house thoroughly every night.

I don't get to spend as much time as I did in the past with her because I am packed with so much to do. Aside from taking care of two kids, I need to do the

house chores and I still have 3 part time jobs on top of those which is just so challenging to manage. Hence, the reason why I rarely update my Facebook page and blog site as well. My eldest daughter, Adelaine, also started doing things on her own like taking a bath with minimal supervision, choosing her own clothes, preparing her own snack and cleaning up her own mess though it's not perfect the way she does it.

Because I sometimes feel so bad for not being able to spend as much time as we did in the past, I try to find or create different activities that she can do during the holidays so we can all spend time and bond together.

Here are my top picks especially for the holiday season:

1. Baking. One thing my Adelaine loves to do with her dad or me is to cook or bake together. We tried baking chocolate chip cookies and brownies but we definitely need more practice. If you're an experienced baker though, you can definitely take it up a notch and be more festive and creative in what you're baking.

2. Driving around. It may seem a bit boring for some but ever since the pandemic started, we can only drive around different places and see different sights through the car window. This holiday season though, every sight is a must see. Even ordinary houses and neighborhoods are a sight to behold. We look at the different Christmas decorations that each house showcases. It uplifts our mood and makes us feel excited about the

coming special day.

3. Day out or Night outs. We usually plan our day outs during the holidays because most places have limits to their guests or diners. It's one of the protocols we follow during this pandemic. If necessary, we make reservations. Day outs or better yet, for this season, night outs are good because we can see the lights all around just like the picture above that was taken during our 7th wedding anniversary at the Manor at Camp John Hay in Baguio City, my hometown. (Here's the link to the Manor's Facebook Page if you want to reach them)

Basing from the picture, what kind of places do we love going to? Gardens or parks with a show of lights, or hotels offering buffets or activities that especially is made for the kids. This being said, let's go to number 4.

4. Gingerbread house making. If I were an expert baker, I'd love to do this at home. Since I am not, we either try to find someone who sells a set to be assembled or go to a place where they offer such activities. Luckily, one hotel in our city offers this interesting and fun activity so we made a reservation and we're excited to have Adelaine try it out soon.

In case you're interested to do the same activity with your kids, here's the link to reserve your slot, too, especially if you also live in our city.

5. Card making and gift preparation. To keep Adelaine pre occupied inside the house, I let her make cards for the people she wants to give it to. Since she loves arts and crafts anyway, we can turn it to something more productive and special. On top of this, I can also have her prepare simple gifts for the people she loves.

6. Photoshoot. Christmas family photoshoots have been the trend recently. You can do it at a studio or you can do it at home. In our case, we prefer doing it at home because we do it on Christmas Eve while preparing food and waiting for the gifts to be revealed.

7. Christmas greeting or caroling video. Adelaine loves sending singing videos to our relatives. Even before the pandemic started and since caroling was not permitted because of the current situation, she decided to send singing videos to her aunts and grannies to wish them a Merry Christmas.

Caroling is a children's activity in the Philippines. It's similar to trick or treating. The children go from one house to another and instead of saying "Trick or Treat", they sing Christmas songs instead and the people would give them coins or money instead of candies.

8. Karaoke or Singing practice. If there's one thing I'm confident I'm good at, that would be singing. My husband can sing pretty well, too. So we are sure the kids got that talent from us. However, in the Philippines, singing is a hobby for most people. You don't need to be a

great singer to sing at a karaoke or home karaoke. But if I want Adelaine to practice a specific song, we do it in the karaoke. We even do a duet sometimes. It is also a good way for her to learn how to properly sing, learn new songs or Christmas songs, practice and have fun.

9. Stories and marshmallows by the bonfire. Adelaine loves roasting marshmallows, eating

s'mores, star gazing and simply just hanging out and telling stories. It's a simple yet memorable activity for the whole family.

10. Cook outs. When we have visitors come over the house, we do a cook out with the kids. My husband loves cook outs since he enjoys cooking. Grilling would be fun for the kids, too. You can prepare hotdogs and mallows for the kids to grill.

11. Attend Christmas parties. We usually have multiple Christmas celebrations during the holidays. If there is no pandemic, the kids would have their Christmas party at school. But since it isn't possible right now, we're glad that the holidays are busy family events for us. My husband's side of the family usually celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve. My side of the family on the other hand, celebrates on Christmas day that is why every year, we are guaranteed to have at the least, two Christmas parties to attend.

12. Give out Christmas presents or food to the needy. This is one of the things we've always wanted to do as a family. It's a good way to teach the kids to be grateful and a good way to help others and share our blessings. My husband's aunt used to bring everyone to the children's hospital in their hometown so the entire family helps out in picking simple toys for the kids, wrapping them, cooking food and packing them. Some would stay behind while others went to the hospital to hand out the gifts and food while the others sang Christmas carols. Now, we're thinking of alternatives that we can do to continuously give joy

to the needy even for a day despite this pandemic.

13. Movie night or Afternoon at the Movies. Movie nights have been a part of our weekend family bonding. But since the kids will be out of school for 2 weeks, there will be more time for movie nights or might I say afternoon movies. And since it's the Christmas season, watching Christmas themed feel-good movies would be great, too. Don't forget to prepare your warm blankets, hot choco, chips or popcorn.

These are just a few ideas for some activities you can do with the kids this holiday season. These are good ways to make them busy and lessen down their screen time during the holiday season. Too bad we don't have snow in the Philippines. We could have added more activities we can do with the kids.

How about you? What activities do you do with your kids during the holidays? I would love to hear about them. Happy holidays!