Christmas Table Games

In 2014 I threw my very first Christmas for my x's family. Obviously I was super excited so I decided that we would play a few games. The games I picked were physical and challenging as my x's family were quite competitive and loved a good game. And I have to say, it was the best Christmas, full of laughter!

In 2015 I threw my second Christmas. This time for my own family. I had set up similar games but come game time, no one was interested! They all had full bellies and just wanted to relax in the sun. 

So this year I am making sure that they will participate in the awesomeness that is Christmas Table Games. They can't refuse to play because all they have to do its sit there and have fun! Onto the games.

1. As each guest walks through the door, they will pick a line out of the Santa hat. The aim of the game is to say their line out loud, in conversation, without getting caught. I will give the players 2 hours to read out their line. If they are caught or don't say their line, they don't win a prize. But if they're successful, they win a prize!! I've tried to make the lines not so obvious, but maybe a little awkward to say. So only the best actors will win. The lines I have gone with are:

• Do you understand what I'm saying?
• I'd love some McDonalds right now.
• Yee Haw!
• Ask a silly question and you'll get a silly answer.
• Santa doesn't like liars.
• That's my seat.
• Then my computer stopped working.
• The electricity suddenly went out.
• Was that thunder?

2. The second game sounds easier than it actually is. Each person needs to come up with three statements about themselves. One truth and two lies. The person to their left has to guess which statement was the truth. If the guesser gets it right, the player loses. If the guesser gets it wrong, the player gets a prize! Good luck!

3. My favourite game of all time! Basically you wrap a pass the parcel, adding sting every few layers. A pass the parcel is a prize wrapped in many separate layers of wrapping paper. The person going first (I chose the youngest player) will put on a pair of oven mits and choose a number between 1-6. The person to their left will have a single die. Once your all ready to go, the person to the left will roll the die quickly while the person wearing the oven mits, tries to unwrap the parcel. If the die roller rolls the number the unwrapper has chosen, they must yell stop! The parcel and die is passed to the left and the game continue the same way until the parcel is fully unwrapped and the prize is revealed.

I hope you enjoy these games with family and friends. Merry Christmas!

xx

DIY Personalised Money Boxes - Advent Calander

These are super easy and cute. I honestly cannot remember if I saw these somewhere on Pinterest once upon a time or if I made them up myself, so for that reason I am not claiming that I came up with the idea! Plus, I'm sure someone would have done this before.

You will need:

- A shadow box photo frame (make sure this is a box type frame and not just a deep frame with the glass sitting flush against the picture. Because obviously then there would be nowhere for the money to go, but of course mummy brain got me and I almost made this mistake!)

- A picture the size of the frame (I copied an image off Google then had it printed)

- Marker

- Ruler

- A drill (or some sort of tool to drill the slot in the top of the frame for the coin to enter)

That’s it!!

Take the back off your shadow box. With a marker and ruler, draw a guide line along your frame where you want your coin slot. Don't forget to make the slot big enough to fit your largest coin! Carefully drill your slot following the guide line you have drawn. As you can see I have not done this as I don't own a drill so I am waiting to borrow one. But I plan to use a small drill piece to drill small holes along the drawn guide line. Then i will run back and forth with the drill bit along the slot to open it up. Clean up your frame, insert your picture, place the back on the frame and you’re done! Super simple and cute.

I got my frames from Kmart (Australia) for $6. I plan to use my personalized money boxes for my kid’s advent calendars this year. Along with a small chocolate, they will receive $1 each day for 25 days. Then on boxing day we will go out and they can each buy a toy with their $25!

Merry Christmas, I hope you enjoyed this DIY.

XX

   

DIY christmas: glitter branches

So these are literally what the title says. Branches/sticks with glitter on them. But they look AMAZING! I have a theme going on in each room of our house as each room is so different. Our kitchen is rustic, red, white and provincial. Our lounge is red, gold and very traditional. And our bedroom is silver, white, black and glamorous. So these silver glitter branches are going into our bedroom :)

So how do you make them? I bought wood glue for this project but I've seen people use spray glue and similar things. Then I went on the hunt for silver glitter and I actually couldn't find it anywhere in the small town that I live in. I did however find something that was labeled glitter, but it looks more like cut up tinsel almost. Its basically big flakes of glitter. And it came out surprisingly awesome! Then I went for a walk through our garden and gathered up some sticks. I got more then I needed so I could arrange the ones that turned out best in my vase :) Using a paint brush I painted on the glue to a section of my first stick and then sprinkled the glitter over. I had a plate underneath to catch all the glitter that didn't stick so I could re use it. 

So I just continued this until all the sticks were finished and then let them dry for a few hours. Im sure they were dried well before then but I had mummy duties to attend to!

So here they are looking fabulous in our bedroom!!

Xxx