The weather has been brutally cold for the past few weeks for most of the country. So, what do you do when you’re stuck inside either because of the snow or because of the frigid forecast? Here are a few family-friendly activities to keep everyone entertained inside.
Movie Night
What better way to bond than over a movie. Choose a family-favorite and gather all the necessary snacks and beverages to make it feel like a real movie adventure. You can stock up on a variety of movie candy, popcorn and beverage options, this way everyone in the family gets what they want. Set the movie time for early evening, turn down the lights, make sure all phones are silenced or put away and start the movie. This will help ensure that there are no disruptions and create optimal family time together.
After the movie, you can chat about your favorite parts and either snack on some more candy or even make ice-cream sundaes. Your kids will enjoy the sweets and you’ll get a few hours of undistracted time together.
Arts & Crafts
Make it a family night to create a scrapbook or collage of your latest vacation, or seek out some old photos and make a family history scrapbook. All you’ll need for this project is: photos, glue sticks or double sided tape, photo album, colored paper, and scissors. You can pick up different stickers, or accessories to decorate each page or keep it simple. Make sure you have colored markers, or pens to help write captions on each photo, so that you remember what each picture is in the future.
This is a great activity to do with the family because you can teach your kids about your family history, share fun childhood stories and reminisce about your favorite family vacations.
Give Back
Since the weather may not be optimal to go out and help build a house, or clean up a local park, there are still some family activities that you can coordinate together on to bring some joy to another person. One great way to gather as a family is to create care packages to send overseas to the men and women serving in the military.
It’s simple; you can pick up supplies such as socks, magazines, non-perishable snacks, books, and toilet paper to send abroad. Make it even more personal by crafting up personalized cards to say Thank You! It’s fun to organize all of the supplies and write a note of gratitude. You can partner with different organizations to get a list of recommended supplies and find out where to send the box to. Every little thank you helps brighten their day. Giving back as a family brings you closer and your efforts are greatly appreciated.
There you have it! Just because the weather outside isn’t great for family fun in the sun, doesn’t mean you can’t bring the fun inside.
Vicky is an independent writer for DollarTree.com. Dollar Tree offers great deals on office supplies, party supplies and more.
We love having a movie night (or afternoon) when it's just too darn cold to be outside!
I live in Michigan so the weather has been cold, so we like to do family game nights, we always enjoy it, and I also love to get the kids in the kitchen to help me bake too.
I think playing games together can be more fun with the interactions with each other. slehan at juno dot com
When it is so cold that outside activities are not an option, games and movies are fun. One family thing we did was gather excess canned foods, and cleared out the closets of pillows and throws etc. together to take to the Mission. We live in the NorthEast and it gets too cold for the Homeless. My daughter has fond memories of that.