Fun Last Minute 'Game Show' Advent Calendar Idea for Big Kids { Free Printable }

 Our children are now 11, 11, and 14.  If you have older kids like us, that means you might be running out of ideas for ways to make the annual tradition of an advent calendar a fresh and fun experience.  We have done everything from puzzle pieces to Lego minifigure parts, from Christmas books to dollar scratch tickets.

Since all 3 of our children are gamers, I thought it would be fun this year to give them a way to earn in-game currency.  Usually, I am not a huge fan of spending real life money on virtual items, so I think this will be a real treat for them. Since we have three children, I'll give each child one guess at the answer to one 'game show' question each day.  Only one child needs to answer correctly for all three to win the prize, which I have decided to be one dollar per child to go towards in-game currency or a gaming membership.

DIY Game Show Advent Calendar Activity . . .

Step 1.  Download the PDF below.  Then either print out four copies of the blank cards or digitally add text and save four versions with six different game cards on each version.  Do not include the answers to the game show questions on the card, but rather keep a list of them in a safe place.

TIP 1: I found age-appropriate Christmas-themed riddles online and used one riddle per card.  Other ideas would be trivia questions, math problems, brain twisters, tongue twisters they'd need to say 3 times quickly, etc . . .  If this activity is a hit this year, next year I might try Star Wars trivia questions.

DOWNLOAD FREE PRINTABLE PDF

Step 2. Carefully cut out your 24 cards.  Then roll them into tiny little scrolls and secure them with curling ribbon, gold cord, inexpensive Christmas stickers, Christmas washi tape, or tiny elastics.

TIP #2:  If you don't have the dexterity (or the desire) to roll and secure 24 tiny scrolls, other options would be to merely fold the cards in half  or into thirds, or to put them in business card sized envelopes.

Step 3.  Put one scroll into each day of your advent calendar. I also always include one small piece of candy for each child, but that is certainly not required.

What ideas do you have for making an advent calendar more fun and interesting?

Tell us in a comment here.

Prepping for the Holidays with Personalized Tree Ornaments from Ornaments With Love

Thank you to Ornaments With Love for providing a personalized tree ornament sample for us to base this review upon and for providing a second product for our giveaway prize.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Ummm . . . no it's not too early to be thinking about the Holidays!  Even if you don't start your shopping early, there are a few things to think about before the season sneaks up on you . . .

1.  What are my children going to ask Santa for in their letters this year?  Will it sell out if I wait to buy it?  Will I need to put it on layaway to pay for it in time for Christmas?

2.  What should my children wear for the Holiday card photo this year?  When do I need to order them to get them before December so I'll have time to write a note inside and address them all?

3.  Do I need anything major for entertaining this Holiday?  New dining room set?  New television?  Should I have the floors professionally cleaned?

4.  Some retailers take extra time to ship any personalized items I may want to give as gifts.  The shipping time might even get longer as the Holidays grow closer.  Should I shop for these items now before the big rush?

Christmas is a huge deal at our house.  We started some fun traditions when our oldest was just a toddler.  For example, every year I purchase personalized ornaments for the whole family.  I always get one that represents all 5 of us and sometimes the pets too.  Some years, the pets get their own ornaments.  Each child always gets his or her own personalized ornament.  Some years I let them choose their own and others I decide to surprise them.  Whichever course I choose, we always order our ornaments from Ornaments With Love.  I think this might be our 7th year buying ornaments from this family-owned business.  I shopped their site before I even thought about owning a blog.  You should see the cute ornaments I found last year!

Another tradition we have is that our children always gift a personalized ornament to their favorite aunt and uncle (my sister and brother-in-law).  This year, we chose this Personalized Moose Family Christmas Ornament.  I just thought they were too adorable when I saw them.  I never thought I would perceive a tree ornament to be huggable, but that's what I think when I look at this smiling moose family.  This ornament is available for family sizes of 1 to 4 children.  Maybe I'll get one for my own family next year!

This year, I think I'll be surprising my children with ornaments I choose.  The great thing about Ornaments With Love is that there are new ornaments added to the already vast selection every year.  That way, I can always find something cool and new, rather than choosing from the same ornaments year after year.  Also, shipping is free when your order totals $50 or more.  And, did I mention that their turnaround time is as little as 2 business days and they ship by U.S. Priority Mail?  Still, I always order early because it's one thing I can just check off my Holiday prepping list!

Time to get started on your Holiday prepping!  Visit www.OrnamentsWithLove.com to view their enormous selection of personalized tree ornaments.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck in the drawing!

This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. A random drawing will be held shortly after the contest closing. The winner will be announced here and will be contacted via email. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be drawn.

Teaching the Joy of Giving to Our Children . . . A Work in Progress

Now having gotten past Christmas, I can look back to examine how we did as far as our ongoing task of teaching our children the joy of giving goes.  Since our oldest, who is about to turn 10, was 6 years old, he has put aside 50 cents of his allowance every week to do something charitable with at the end of the year.  Every single year he has chosen to buy toys to donate to Toys for Tots.  Since this has become a tradition, we did the same thing with the twins when they started earning allowances this year.

Our 6 year old son did just fine with it.  He saved his 50 cents each week all year long, picked out a toy he loved, and donated it, making a point to tell me that he would return when he had enough money to buy one for himself.  His twin sister, however, had an awful time with it.  She picked a toy that she loved, but then changed her mind about the toy multiple times.  She seemed very conflicted.  I think she did not want to donate a toy she wanted for herself and would rather choose a toy she liked less to donate.  Ultimately, she chose a giant stuffed purple unicorn to donate and cried for the next two hours because she spent her money on a toy she loved and had to donate it.  I was just beside myself and could not figure out another way to explain to her how happy a little girl just like her would be to receive the unicorn as a gift this Christmas and that it may be her only gift this year.

Another way we've tried to show our children the joys of giving is to have them gift presents to each other for Christmas and for birthdays.  These are small, but thoughtful gifts that usually cost around $5 to $10 each.  All 3 children do very well with this.  They all put a lot of thought into what each sibling would really love.  I can tell by the looks on their faces that they are overcome with joy when their gift to their brother or sister has successfully put a smile on that sibling's face.  I also like doing this because it teaches our children that a gift does not need to have a high price ticket to be a great gift.

What kinds of things do you do to teach your children the joy of giving?  Any ideas would be appreciated, as our work in progress continues in the new year.

My Photos: Christmas Day 2012

Since it's almost New Year's Eve, I figured I should not wait much longer to share my photos from Christmas Day.  Like always, I took far too many photos.  I took many on Christmas morning and lots at my sister's and brother-in-law's house, but I did a poor job of taking photos during Christmas dinner at my cousin's house.

We did break two of our Christmas traditions this year.  Instead of leaving Santa freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, we used our ninja cookie cutters to make him ninja sugar cookies.  Also, we avoided our youngest son getting sick on the way home from Christmas dinner by giving him a Hyland's Motion Sickness tablet before we left my cousin's house.


Here are just a small handful of photos highlighting our family's Christmas Day . . . 

"Ninja Sugar Cookies"

"A Visit from Santa"

"Our Traditional Christmas Breakfast"

"A Hand-drawn Gift"

"Group Hug"

"The Joy of Giving"

"Waiting for the Signal"

"Diving Right In"

"Favorite Uncle"

"Her Duck Collection is Growing"

"Cookie Decorating Kit from Whole Foods"

"A Work of Art"

"What's For Dessert?"

Click here to view all my past favorite photos.

DIY Reusable Advent Calendar Boxes

Last year, I made these DIY Advent Boxes and I am happy to say that our children just loved them.  If you recall, I had put a piece of Holiday candy for each child in every box along with pieces to a jigsaw puzzle.  Every day in the month of December, they would open a new box to retrieve their candy and to find more pieces to the puzzle.  I will be using these advent boxes again to countdown to Christmas with my children, but I made two changes . . .

The first change is that I included 4 pieces of candy in each box instead of 3.  Why?  Because my husband jokingly complained that there was no candy for him each day, thus guilting our children into sharing their candy with him.

The second change I made is to use a more difficult puzzle.  Last year I used the 100pc Crocodile Creek Robot Travel Puzzle.  I was able to put 4 puzzle pieces in each box.  Although the puzzle was just slightly challenging for our then nearly 5 year old twins, it was far too easy for their big brother, who was nearly 8 at the time.  So this year, I chose a more challenging puzzle . . . the Disney Circle of Friends 150pc Puzzle.  I thought this puzzle looked neat because it is circular in shape, plus it has all our children's favorite Disney characters on it.  Well, it turned out that the puzzle was even challenging for me.  I had to assemble it in order to put the puzzle pieces into the advent boxes in an order that made sense.  Hopefully, our now nearly 9 year old son will be able to help the twins with adding their pieces.  Since there are 150 pieces in the puzzle, most of the boxes have 6 puzzle pieces in them, which I think will be more fun for each child to be able to add more than one piece to the puzzle per day.

Go here to learn how to make these DIY Reusable Advent Boxes.

The "Holiday Celebrations 2012 eGuide" on How to Make the Holidays Special (#HolidayGuide #CBias)

We see Holiday gift guides everywhere we turn this time of year, but what we really need is a Holiday e-guide that covers everything from Holiday entertaining to Holiday fashions to Holiday shopping.  The Holiday Celebrations 2012 eGuide does exactly just that.  What I like most about this guide is that it is designed with the average household in mind.  It includes tips, special offers, free shipping offers, and exclusive coupons from brands we all know and trust, such as searsStyle™, Cookie’s® Kids, Tyson®, Pepperidge Farm®, Colgate®, Starbucks®, and Nivea®, as well as from new ones such as Rio Soul and OtterBox®.  Let's face it . . . it is enjoyable to read magazines about how celebrities decorate their homes, how they dress, and what they gift for the Holidays, but in the end it really is not helpful to the average family.

Take a few minutes to look through the Holiday Celebrations 2012 eGuide below.  All you need to do is click on it.  If you find the guide to be helpful, you can share it with your friends and family via email, Facebook, and Twitter by using the quick share button located at the bottom of the guide.

A few of my favorite things . . . 

Two items featured in the Holiday guide that would make a perfect pair is the Starbucks Holiday Blend coffee (suggested by Elizabeth of Party Blu Prints and available at Sam's Club while supplies last) and the Pepperidge Farm Milano Mini Candy Cane cookies (suggested by Audrey of Getting Gorgeous and exclusively available in Target stores for a limited time).  Not only would this pair be perfect to serve to your own guests, but they would make wonderful additions to any gift basket you may be putting together for your neighbors or for a hostess gift.

(Click any image to enlarge)

Vera of Getting Gorgeous suggests these Tyson Any'tizers Bruschetta in Chicken & Bacon.  I have to say that she had me at "bacon."  These look so good and would be perfect to serve to your own guest or to bring with you to any Holiday events you may be attending.  These appetizers will be available at all Walmart stores from the end of November through Christmas Eve.

We all know it is a challenge to dress the whole family up for the Holidays without overspending, so the holiday style specials offered in this guide will truly come in handy.  Take a closer look to find out how you can receive 20% off at SearsStyle.com and snag Free Shipping plus a free North Face backpack from Cookie's Kids.

The last thing I want to share can be found at the very end of the Holiday guide.  With all the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy this fall, that is just one more important reason to want to give to those who are less fortunate during the Holidays.  I think the idea about holding a Holiday Art Auction during your Holiday party is a fun and innovative way to raise money for the worthy cause of your choice.  It is also a way for the children in your life to show off their artwork and to feel proud when their artwork has been sold to one of the party guests.

To learn more about these and other ideas about how to make your Holiday extra special, visit the Holiday Celebrations 2012 eGuide.

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Pepperidge Farm #CBias #SocialFabric #HolidayGuide.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Holiday 2012: Personalized Tree Ornaments Are a Family Tradition

Since my husband and I spent our first Christmas together, years before we were married, I purchased two personalized ornaments for our tree . . . one for me and him and one for our Beagle named Buddy.  Our family has changed and grown quite a bit since then.  The wonderful thing is that I have the ornaments to tell our family's story for  the past 17 years.

This is the third year that I have had the pleasure of showing off an ornament of my choice from Ornaments With Love.  You can see my choices for the last two years here and here.  In addition to the ornament I chose to showcase, I always order additional ornaments, such as an ornament for each of our 3 children, a couples ornament for my husband and myself, an ornament for the whole family, and sometimes an ornament for our pets.  A few years ago, I extended our tradition to include an ornament for my sister and brother-in-law when they bought their first home.

This year, I chose this Personalized Heart Christmas Ornament that holds up to 16 names.  This particular ornament had the option of putting red hearts in the blank spaces.  Since I only needed 8 spaces for names, I was able to have them alternate with 8 red hearts.  I love how this ornament turned out!

As you can see, the personalization is very carefully done.  Below are the ornaments for my sister and brother-in-law, plus the one I chose for my husband and myself.

Every year I do one of three things . . . allow my children to select their own ornaments, ask my children to specify a theme, or surprise them with ornaments I pick out for them.  This year, I asked for each to give me their first and second choices for a theme.  I was not able to find any of their first choices, which were a superhero, a ninja, and a duck.  Maybe Ornaments With Love will be able to add these for next year?  I was able to find all their second choices, which were the martial arts black belt, a skateboarder, and a fairy.

If you are buying ornaments for a gift, you will be happy to know that each ornament comes wrapped in bubble wrap and tissue paper and each is accompanied by a printed Christmas-themed cello bag with a twist tie and a gift tag attached to the front of the bag.

I want to also mention that, for all the years I have been buying personalized ornaments from this website, I have never experienced an error in personalization or had an ornament arrive damaged.  Ornaments With Love also offers Free Shipping within the U.S. for orders over $50.  They also offer flat rate shipping fees for U.S. and for Canadian addresses, plus they ship internationally as well.


Thank you to Ornaments With Love for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.

Silly Monkey Stories: What Every Ninja Needs

Santa had a hard time deciding what to put in Luke's stocking this year.  Since he is under 5 and has inherited all of his big brother's under-5 toys, there is very little that he does not already have.  Well Santa finally thought of something that neither Luke nor his big brother own . . . Ninja throwing stars!  (Don't worry . . . they're made of foam.)

Santa was so sure that Luke would be thrilled with his Ninja throwing stars.  Well, Luke was pretty thrilled, but he pulled them out of his stocking, held them up to show us, and yelled . . .

"Look!  Snowflakes!!"

Click here to learn how to participate in Silly Monkey Stories.

Click here to read all my Silly Monkey Stories!

If you have a Silly Monkey Story to share, sign Mr. Linky below with the link to your blog post (not the link to your main blog page). Please do not forget to visit the other participants and leave them comments to let them know you stopped by!

4 Christmas Wishes From Our Family to Yours

It's Christmas Day and I wanted to take the time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!  I know a "Merry Christmas" means different things to different people.  Here is what our family loves about Christmas and what we wish for each of you and your families . . .

(Click any photo to enlarge)

1.  We wish you a day spent with loved ones (human or not), whether in person, by phone, online, or by memory.

2.  We wish you will have the chance to enjoy one of your favorite foods, whether it's a spiral ham or a pepperoni pizza.

3.  We wish you the chance to experience the joy of giving.

4.  We wish you a relaxing day that is pleasant, stress-free, and full of joy (and maybe a nap).

Happy Holidays to All!

5 Favorite Tree Ornaments Bring Fond Memories

Since we spent our first Christmas living together five years before we were married, my husband and I would add new ornaments to the tree every year.  Some were personalized ornaments marked with the year and some were just ornaments that we really loved.  Needless to say, sixteen years later, our tree is quite full.  That does not stop us from adding new ornaments every year, especially since our first child came into our life and then the twins thereafter.

Every year when we trim the tree as a family, we all reminisce as we hang certain ornaments on the tree.  Even our not yet 5 year old twins will find delight in recognizing the ornaments bearing their names from past years.

Pregnancy Ornaments

The ornaments below mark the two Christmas' when we were expecting.  It was such a special time for us even though both pregnancies were difficult ones.  I cherish both these ornament so much.

Couple Ornaments

This was the first ornament I purchased for our first Christmas tree in our first apartment.  That seemed like a lifetime ago, when both my husband and I were young and stupid.

Pet Ornaments

Before we had children, our dogs and cats were our children.  Even after the children came into our lives, I still would get one personalized ornament every year with all our pets names listed on it.  Our Beagle Buddy was my very first dog ever and I had him before I even met my husband.  Although he did not quite make it to Christmas in 2009, I made sure he had his own ornament (left photo below).  He was nearly 16 years old when we had to let him go and he was loved by everyone, even the four-legged members of our household.

Charitable Ornaments

The ornament shown above on the right is one of my favorites.  Not only does the dog on it remind me of our beloved Beagle, but these were ornaments created by children's art.  We purchased a few of these about 14 or 15 years ago, all with a different design.  These were being sold at our local mall and the proceeds benefited Project Bread.  In the years following, I always looked for more of these ornaments, but I never saw them being sold again.

Thank you for taking the time to stroll down memory lane with me.  I hope your holiday is full of fond memories as well!