Our entire family loves Christmas and parties and games — and Christmas party games. In this post series, I’m sharing a dozen of our favorites:
It’s best if you spring today’s activity on your friends and family unaware.
We make it easy with these handy labels. Just stick one unobtrusively to the bottom of every dinner or plate before guests arrive, then when it is time to eat, let folks go through the buffet line without drawing attention to that hidden surprise.
Once everybody’s plate is full (but before they finish eating and start throwing disposable plates in the trash), announce that you’ll be having a “Twelve Days of Christmas” sing-a-long after dinner and that they’ll need to check underneath their plate to learn what part they’ve been assigned.
When it’s time to sing, each guest stands up long enough to sing only the line printed on his/her plate. The first time we every played this game at a party, we were the unsuspecting guests, and Doug wound up with “a partridge in a pear tree” and had to sing it solo for all twelve verses. That was really funny!
Things can get a little mixed up, especially when you’re dealing with a large crowd, but it’s always great fun and draws a lot of laughs every year we’ve done this.
So get your friends together… and sing your hearts out!
While standing in line for Chick-fil-A on August 1, I ran into a hair stylist who told me JCPenney was giving away free back-to-school cuts all month long for kids in grades K-6. She didn’t know whether this were just a local promotion, but my Google search indicates it is valid nationwide. What a great deal! I usually give all my guys haircuts at home, but maybe I’ll take a break this month and let the professionals do it. You can follow this link for more details or to schedule an appointment.
We’re working on lesson plans for the new school year at our house, which for me means lots of list making and chart printing. I try to share as many of these as I think may be useful to my readers. I’ve recently added a bunch of new calendars to our free printables section, including monthly pages for 2013, an academic calendar for the coming school year, and a 2013 year-at-a-glance calendar. Happy planning!
While we were running errands yesterday, I stopped by Barnes & Noble so that my kids could turn in their summer reading logs. In addition to the free books they earned through B&N’s summer reading program, they also brought home this flyer:
The 30% off one kids’ book or toy makes this a great offer to begin with, but add to that all the free cupcakes and 5% cash back on kids’ stuff purchases (in store or online), and it’s a deal too good to pass up. I signed our family up electronically this morning. Follow this link to do the same, or visit your nearest Barnes & Noble to register in person.
Posted in Announcements, Flanders Family Post, Freebies, Reading
Tagged barnes & noble, children, children's books, coupon, cupcakes, discounts, kids club, reward program
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Today is the second Friday of July, so that makes it Cow Appreciation Day! All customers who show up at Chick-fil-A dressed as a cow today will be rewarded with free food. Folks wearing full cow costumes receive a full meal. Partial cow attire earns a free entree.
Our little Rebekah made cow costumes for our entire family the first year we “herd” about this promotion, and we’ve been donning them (with minor alterations and improvements) every year since that time. It’s just one more of our family’s quirky traditions, but always lots of fun. So grab your horns and udders and moooove on over to your nearest Chick-fil-A. Maybe we’ll “spot” you there!
Our kids love getting to build and paint projects at Home Depot’s free Kids Clinics. The workshops are held year-round, on the first Saturday of every month from 9 AM – noon. The projects are designed for ages 5-12, but our local store allows younger children to participate with the help of a parent or older sibling.
Lowe’s offers a similar program, also free of charge, through their Build and Grow workshops held mid-month, usually on second and fourth Saturdays. Pre-registration is required. Check your local store for time, schedule, and other details.
Posted in Flanders Family Post, Freebies, Home Schooling, Traditions
Tagged building programs, children, free events, home depot, kids workshops, loses
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Kids can eat free all day on Mondays at On the Border this summer, and you can get free kids meals at Traditions on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings now, as well. View the whole list by clicking here. Many of these offers are good nation-wide, so if you don’t live in Tyler, call your local chain to see if they’re participating.
Posted in Announcements, Freebies, Saving Money
Tagged kids eat free, on the border, restaurants, traditions
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Our kids love the opportunity summer provides to read whatever interests them and be rewarded for doing it. Take advantage of the following programs to inspire your child to curl up with some good books throughout the summer and on into the next school year:
Barnes & Noble:
Chuck E. Cheese:
Kids can earn 10 free game tokens from Chuck E Cheese by reading every day for two weeks. These rewards are available all year long, with a limit of one rewards certificate per day per child. You’ll find charts for helping your kids establish other good habits, as well.
Local Public Libraries
Many Public Libraries offer all sorts of programs aimed at fostering in kids a love for books and reading.
Summer programs often include book clubs with prizes, weekly story times, guest lectures and performances, craft days, tea parties, and fun family-friendly films.
For those of you who are local, you should check out all the great programs being offered by Tyler Public Library this summer. Others can follow this link to find a library near you.
Scholastic Summer Reading Program
Sylvan’s Book Adventure
Design Your Own Book Club
You might consider hosting a “Family Reading Club” during the months of summer to foster in your children a continued love and preference for reading, especially if they’ve grown too old to participate in these other programs. You can print reading logs for each of your kids, keep track of minutes or pages read, and determine your own prizes. Follow this link for more great ideas for making summer reading fun.
Pizza Hut awards free personal pan pizzas to school children who meet their reading goals. This program is also open to homeschoolers. Enroll by Spetember 1 for the upcoming school year by filling out this form. Pizza Hut also sponsors a summer break reading challenge: Kids in K-6 grade who read a minimum of five books over this summer can enter for a chance to win a “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” prize package.
Braum’s Book Buddy Program
Six Flags “Read to Succeed” Program
This programs awards K-6 students (including homeschoolers) a free ticket to the amusement park for reading just six hours, but the deadline to sign-up is March 1. That’s rather late for school year planning, but extremely early for summer programs, so make a note on your calendar to check back in January for the 2013 program.
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