Plan to make the most of your Thanksgiving week with meaningful, fun time with your family!
Don’t Text Your Way Through Thanksgiving!
We know you are looking forward to the Thanksgiving break! But after the initial greetings and food have been consumed, you might find yourself bored and spending hours texting your friends who are doing the same thing!
But not this year! You only have one family and memories are precious, so make the most of your time with them during National Family Week (November 20-26).
The week of Thanksgiving is National Family Week and even though it’s tempting to ignore your crazy uncle in favor of texting your friends, playing video games or hanging out with your headsets on, make time this week to appreciate your family.
Your parents work hard all year to make sure you have what you need. Your grandmother is always on your side, and those little cousins look up to you! So during the week of November 20-26, make an extra effort to spend time having fun hanging out with your parents, foster parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, grandparents ... and anyone else who fits your family description.
Here are five ideas to make the most of your time with family during the week of Thanksgiving!
- Learn your personal history. Do you know when your ancestors arrived in the U.S.? Do you know the origins of your last name? How about why you’re the only family you know that has sauerkraut with their Thanksgiving meal? "Interview" your older relatives to learn more about where you came from.
- Take unique family photos. Don’t save all of your best pics for your Facebook profile. You probably have access to a digital camera, even if it’s just on your cell phone. Pose your family and take some creative shots. You can make a digital photo album to distribute as a gift later on.
- Play with the little kids in your life. Go outside and play tag, let them dress you up in costumes or introduce them to one of those icebreakers you do at your Boys & Girls Club. Younger kids love spending time with ‘big kids’ like you and you’ll be surprised by how much fun "duck, duck, goose" or TV tag can still be. Hey, even play with the adults in your life -- a little flag football, a game of hoops or some other fun game will get them up, active and get them some needed physical activity to burn a few calories!
- Organize a Wii or Kinect tournament. If you're from one of those families who love some friendly competition and you have access to a Wii or Xbox Kinect, get the whole family involved. All ages can enjoy some bowling or tennis fun without leaving the living room.
- Cook together. Thanksgiving is all about food. Volunteer to help make some of those favorite family dishes. Inexperienced cooks can still chop and stir while the more "seasoned" chefs can volunteer to prepare an entire dish for Thanksgiving Day or even give mom and dad a break by cooking dinner some other time that week.
Above all, have fun with family! Don't miss out on memories! Make the most of it!