The holidays are a perfect opportunity to gather your extended family. Give your parents and in-laws a chance to be involved in your kids’ lives with these fun holiday activities.
Make memories with grandparents
The best gift you can give grandparents is the chance to spend time with your kids.
During the holiday season, spend extra time with your extended family. This is a wonderful time to share your children with their grandparents. Make holiday memories with these fun ways to get kids together with their grandparents and get grandparents involved in new family traditions.
Share a special craft
Does your mother or mother-in-law knit or crochet? Does one of your kids’ grandfathers do woodwork or cook? Schedule a long afternoon to let grandparents teach grandkids a special craft. While kids are out of school, there’s no reason not to spend the extra time with a special grandparent. Help organize the craft day, and try to focus on creating a gift together. When a child feels like he has an end result to show off, it’ll keep him motivated through the ups and downs of learning a new skill.
Invite grandparents to the school play
Holiday plays at school are classic grandparent entertainment. This year, invite grandparents to attend by making them VIP guests to your child’s school performance. Offer a ride and make an evening or afternoon out of it, inviting the whole family back to your place or out to a restaurant to celebrate the star performer and the holiday season. Be sure to photograph or film the event to share with grandparents who are unable to attend and for grandparents to rewatch for a dose of holiday cheer. If your child’s grandparents need extra help getting around, talk to school staff beforehand to see if you can reserve seating.
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Volunteer as a family
Help your children team up with grandparents for a holiday charity effort. Make it an effort throughout the holiday season, such as creating cards for residents of a nursing home. If you’re only together a brief portion of the holidays, choose a specific event, such as volunteering at a soup kitchen. Play on your kids’ strengths and their grandparents’ level of activity. Ask kids to help brainstorm ideas, such as contributing to a toy drive or hosting a neighborhood bake sale to raise money for families in need.
Share a special craft
Make a holiday memory book. You don’t need to be an expert scrapbooker to help your kids and their grandparents create a holiday memory book. Use what you have available, whether it’s online tools or crafts you have around the house. Ask your kids to interview their grandparents, taking notes or filming the encounter to preserve stories of their grandparents’ childhood holiday memories. Help your kids translate those stories into a picture book or journal about memories and family traditions. At Christmas, ask your children to share the end result with their grandparents.
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