The holidays are upon us and spending time with the family can get a little boring if you aren't prepared. If you've got relatives who can't seem to take their eyes off of their cell phone screen or the football game on TV, don't fret...there's a solution.

 

My husband and I decided last year that we needed to figure out a way to freshen Christmas up a bit for our sanity. We bought a bunch of board games and created a few interactive gift games--it made Christmas awesome and memorable for everyone!

Here are the board games that were a hit with our families!

  • Bean Boozled--This is so fun, but you need a stronger stomach for it! It's fun to watch the reactions from your family members as they try these gross jelly beans.
  • Werewolf --This has turned into my family's favorite game! The teens and adults love it. Kids can play too! It gets intense!
  • Speak Out--You get ten mouth guards and can order more online so you're not all sharing the same mouth piece. It's pretty fun and hilarious!

Here are some interactive gift games we tried last year!

  • Plastic wrap gift ball game--I play this on Christmas and on Easter for older kids who are too big for an Easter egg hunt! You'll want a lot of plastic wrap and lots of little gifts. I went to the store and got a few $5 gift cards, candy bars, lottery tickets and other small trinkets. You take your little gifts and wrap them in the layers of the plastic wrap until it forms a huge ball. How it works is one person tries to unwrap the ball as fast as they can while the person in front of them rolls dice to get doubles to steal the gift. The person unwrapping the ball gets to keep all of the small gifts that fall out of it on their turn! It's fun because then everyone ends up with a little something! The game goes until the ball is totally unwrapped. You can do an adult version and a kids version.
  • Unwrap the gift game--Here's how it works...you wrap a gift really well--I'm talking multiple layers of wrapping paper covering various sizes boxes within boxes. You want the game to last awhile--so, the more layers of wrapping paper you use the better! You'll need two dice, two oven mitts and a Santa hat! The object of the game is to unwrap the gift completely. The person who unwraps it gets to keep it! Sounds easy. But wait, it gets more difficult. The person in front of you is rolling the die trying to get doubles while you try to unwrap the gift wearing oven mits and a Santa hat...it's pretty hard! Once that person rolls doubles, it's their turn to unwrap the gift. But, before they can start unwrapping the gift they have to put on their Santa hat and oven mitts--all while the person in front of them is trying to roll doubles to steal the gift! It's super fun and you don't have to spend a lot on the gift!

 

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