Five Family Fun Activities to Try the Day After Christmas

Traditionally the activity most people do the day after Christmas, also known as Boxing Day, is go shopping. If you're like me, shopping with three kids under five when that's all you've done for the last two months seems most unappealing. In our house, the focus at this time is twofold: finding activities that (a) "bring down" the kids, and (b) don't cost anything (we still have all of those Christmas presents to pay off.)

Here are five activities we do in our house the day after Christmas:

(1) Make decorations for next Christmas: We get a fair amount of Christmas cards each year, which I love. But unless they've been specially made, there really isn't much use hanging onto them. We make cool tree decorations for next year out of old Christmas cards. All you really need are scissors, glue, glitter and different shaped cardboard tubes (such as toilet paper or paper towel rolls or even the cardboard that decorative ribbons are wrapped around.) Not only are the kids entertained for awhile but you're helping the environment by recycling and your tree will look fab next year.

(2) Create bird feeders: Cut a bagel in half (flavor doesn't matter) and spread either peanut butter, margarine or butter on it. Then you can sprinkle nuts, seeds, oats and/or crushed up granola over top of the spread. Once you tie some yarn around the bagel you can take them out and hang them on a tree. You can also hang up those Christmas cookies you've eaten tons of or fruitcake nobody usually eats. Those make great bird treats too. Just be sure to hang them high enough that the neighborhood cats and dogs don't get to them first! (Something we learned the hard way.)

(3) Go outside and play: Okay, this one is obviously weather dependent but with the exception of frigid cold days with high wind chills, I always get the kids to go outside-even for just a little while. For those of you who live where the snow falls, I found a very cool winter kit called Sno Art that you can find at Grand River Toy Company for about $16.99 CDN. It's like sidewalk chalk for the snow. It comes with a couple of snow mold shapes, snow crayons and paint. If you don't have or can't afford the snow kit, take out different sized containers and create snow castles; go for a sled ride; make snow angels or just let them go out and eat a few fistfuls of snow. The fresh air does wonders believe me.

(4) Create a Christmas scrapbook for the grandparents: Take pictures you captured of the kids during the crazy Christmas unwrapping and activities and get them to tell their version of what happened through pictures and coloring. You can use some of those Christmas cards, old magazines or even just markers and crayons. Let their imaginations go wild.

(5) Give away old toys: One thing we do each year is go through our old toys and see what we can give away to other needy children. This not only helps to make room for all the new stuff the kids get but it also keeps reminding them that just because Christmas is over, we can still practice the spirit of giving to those who don't have what we do.

So, there you have it. That's our simple list of fun family stuff to do the day after Christmas. Why face the droves of mall shoppers when you can stay home, save some money and have tons of fun to boot.