PLEASE help me make Christmas fun!

[FatBottomedGal]

Apologies, I’m posting here for traffic!

This Christmas is our second without my dad, now we’re a family of 3 (ages 69, 33 and 30) and I find filling Christmas and Boxing Day is a bit of a struggle.

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for what we can do fill the time? To give an idea of last year...
Woke up
Came downstairs and had breakfast
Opened presents
(Lull)
Started cooking lunch
Ate lunch around 3pm
Watched home movies
Played Jenga
Mum went to bed at 6 because my brother’s cocktails were too lethal
Brother and I played games for a bit longer, both quite bored at this point
Went to bed at 9pm

Boxing Day we did a dog walk and then sat around watching tv

I just want to have things up my sleeve for when we inevitably get bored! I think we all drank so much last year because there wasn’t much else to do. I know it’s horrible to say it but I dread Christmas so much. With 3 adults and no kids it does tend to drag on I just want us all to have fun!

Any ideas would be hugely appreciated

I remember playing the really nasty racing game and it was really good fun, they’ve got it on amazon

We played hunt the sprout one year, out of desperation to pass the time. It was great fun and now everyone demands it!! Some chocolate sprouts, some real ones. Just silliness

I know it sounds a bit rubbish but we were once all given a parcel and told to each go in a separate room to open it. They were cheap wigs. Seeing my v straight laced uncle walk back in in a big blonde curly wig really perked up the day.

I can't tell you how grateful I am for all these lovely suggestions!

I've been on Amazon looking for board games - a lot of them are for 4 players or more but I'm determined to find something! We did have Speak Out but apparently my mum's packed it away (she's moving house in the New Year) and has no idea where it is!

I think I'm going to suggest:
Wake up
Breakfast
Long dog walk
Start cooking dinner (usually my mum and I will do this while my brother prepares cocktails, but we have a big kitchen so we can all be together!)
Eat
Open presents
Games
Get the cheeseboard out
Christmas film
More games

UpEarly that sounds hilarious - did you actually just hide sprouts and have a hunt?

Could you put a mark on the back of some of the jigsaw pieces and the person that places that piece gets anothe chocolate/ cocktail/song to sing?

we always get a christmas jigsaw too. keeps us busy until new year.

What about a christmas quiz? There are loads on-line if you would struggle to make one yourselves. But a really simple DIY one might be to put famous names into google images, copy n paste them into a doc and get the others to play "guess the name". It's good to put a mix of really well knowns along with people who are famous but your family may not really be aware of (eg a picture of the Kardashians if your family are into following serious politics or a picture of some minor minister if not)

Mostcharityshops sell jigsaw puzzles for a couple of pounds. Go for a couple of 500 piece puzzles rather than 1000 or 2000, because you can usually get them finished over a day or two.
Exploding Kittens is a brilliant card game that would make the most dour person laugh.
Newmarket card game (just an ordinary pack of cards needed) is a good game for three, play for money just small change not fivers) to make it competitive.
Definitely go for a walk, preferably somewhere pretty with a pub along the way for a drink, or take some mulled wine in a vacuum flask. Score the houses Christmas light displays for tasteful/tasteless/subtle/OTT/Santa's grotto gone mad.
Get some of those frackers with bells or whistles in that you can play a tune on and form an after-dinner musical ensemble. Or the crackers with the windup toys and have a race.

Christmas after bereavement is difficult, and this might not work for some people, but we always start the meal with a mention of 'those who are no longer here to celebrate with us' and we drink to their memories. Nothing long or maudlin, just acknowledging that we all feel their loss. It's like it gives people permission to allow them to enjoy the day, can't explain what I mean really, but we find it helpful.
Hope you all have a nice couple of days, Op.

Our local zoo is open on Christmas Day

Fancy dress masks / wigs sounds fun

Or silly joke things like plastic eggs, whoopie cushions

Wine tasting?

Get three or four mini or full-size bottles of wine - bogging, better and good - cover and and taste and rate them.

See who can tell the difference between plonk and good stuff.

There's a horse racing DVD game called Race Night which is fun and interactive. You choose which horse to back and watch the races. We have had lots of fun as a family playing this.

Right - I've just downloaded Heads Up and Trivia Check on my phone which my mum will definitely love!

titchy that is a really good idea! I've found a cute labrador puzzle on Amazon which I'm hoping will be delivered on time!

FadedRed thank you for your lovely message and suggestions. We will absolutely take time out to remember my dad - from memory, we kicked off the day last year with a breakfast toast to him over some espresso martinis We talk about him quite often; we all miss him terribly but at the same time we've come so far since he passed away. I suppose Christmas makes you reflect on these sorts of things all the more so!

What about charades or pictionary? You don't need to buy anything, just get some pen/paper. There is a random charades generator online, and a pictionary one, so you could do 1 person generating and then presenting the word/whatever, and the other 2 have to race to guess first to get the point. Then pass the laptop/phone on to the next person to present their word, etc.

The jigsaw is a good idea, you can all get involved with it.

What about taking a group photo, by the tree if there is one, your Mum might like that.

You could have a chess game going too, or a giant crossword puzzle poster.

You might find those crackers that have a whistle / xylophone note, musical score, etc for a DIY song, I think John Lewis had them last year.

Why does Christmas Day / Boxing Day have to mean enforced jolity, board games and puzzles? For lots of people, that sounds like hell. It's perfectly acceptable to watch box sets or go for a walk in the park and feed the ducks - just do what you want and don't spend the day stressing that you're not having enough "fun".

Scrabble is always a good game for 3 players. Or Cribbage - if anyone can remember the rules/how to score!

We get up and have breakfast
Open gifts and drink light fires
Then we all go for a pampering bath one at a time
Then a walk
Or dance in kitchen
Then food
Wash up together to music
Have a rest sometimes separate
Go to neighbour
S
Come home watch a film

Go to bed

There is no way I cd stay in all day
I get irritable
Plus hate games with a passion .

Friends of mine (adults only Christmas), always place bets amongst themselves on the colour of the Queen's dress for her speech.

They also have a forfeit for the first person to stop wearing their cracker hat.

FatBottomedGal yes that's exactly what we did!! And they kept on turning up all day! It gave everyone an excuse to wander off and look behind all the Christmas cards/on the cereal packets/wherever - if they got a bit bored or restless at any point during the day. If I was more organised I would do clues, but part of the fun is that it's quite impromptu and extremely low-key...

I also love a quiz and a jigsaw. Articulate is a fun game, we don't play to win, we just try and guess the words, so it can go on for ages, and there's no 'competition', also that way it's fine to play with just 2 or 3 people.

It sounds like you're going to have a lovely day!

If you are getting a board game in, for the love of God don't buy Risk!

The whole family still joke about the year I went out shopping in a daze and grabbed this one.

It turned out to be more fiendishly complicated and long-winded than the Brexit negotiations. After a week of going round in circles with it for a week we gave up, exhausted.

Just don't!

We love board games...Rummycub is good or Uno...but you might want to go to bed still speaking to each other.

We coped for the first couple of years without DF by taking a Christmas Day package at a country house hotel. Very grown up and quite good fun and no parallels with what had gone before. Chat with others over cocktails, beautifully cooked (by someone else) meal, a walk around the grounds and then home early evening and no washing up to do.

Whatever you do, I hope you have a peaceful and fun day.

Definitely games OP something like Pictionary where everyone has to get involved the worse you are at it the funnier it is!

Maybe add some fun consequences of winning or losing so it’s a bit of a laugh....hold back some presents and the winner of each round gets to open another Christmas present? Add some really silly novelty presents like silly glasses, stick on moustaches, paper hats etc. Every time you loose you have to add another item of silly dress up so everyone ends up with a face plastered in mouaches or balancing 7 crowns on your head! Over a couple of hours of play it will get more ridiculous as you go along and hard not to laugh at each other and keep a bit of banter going while all that is going on. Might be a bit more interactive and livelier than a puzzle. Could you also think of a few films that everyone would like a get on dvd just in case tv is a bit rubbish, just to have as back up. Maybe keep drinks light until towards the end of the evening so everyone stays a bit tipsy but not too tired out early on - you need numbers and sparkle! Good luck!

Found 2 jigsaws in our local hospice shop today. One is a cartoon gardener one (my Mum loves gardening) and the other is a Beano one which my brother will love. The Oxfam card games had all sold out which was annoying but at least others will have fun with them.