Celebrate the festive season and ring in the New Year with holiday cheer by adding some of the activities listed below to your post-divorce holiday traditions. Here is your Post – Divorce Holiday activity checklist
1. Be Adventurous
Organise a Christmas scavenger hunt. Instead of leaving presents under the Christmas tree, why not leave clues? Hide your children’s presents somewhere around the house. Then, leave fun and silly clues for them to read and figure out while they hunt to locate their presents. If you’re recently divorced, this new tradition may help to offset the sadness that may surround the holidays because one parent isn’t there anymore. Capture these moments by video or Facetime the parent who can’t be there for Christmas to participate in the hunt by helping the children to decode the clues.
2. Be Creative
Add some arts and crafts to the mix by participating in an ugly Christmas sweater competition. The rules are simple. Every member of the family gets a plain sweater which they get to decorate as awfully as they can. Each sweater must be decorated in private so that another family member can’t tell who designed which sweater. Then during Christmas Eve, the competition begins and you bring out the sweaters to discover who was the most talented in creating the ugliest Christmas sweater ever. Next, once everyone has voted on the winning sweater, the designer is revealed. The greatest part of this game – the winner of the best ugly sweater gets to choose which member of the family has to wear their creation on Christmas day showcasing it in all the photos!
3. Be Charitable
Some children of divorce are lucky enough to celebrate two Christmases and get every item they had put on their Christmas wish list. However, other children of divorce are not quite as lucky. Why not teach your children the importance of giving back during the holiday season? Get your children to gather up their old toys and donate them to a local toy drive. Or donate some time together as a family to a local food drive or soup kitchen and lend a hand during the holiday season to those less fortunate.
4. Be Budget Savvy
Getting a divorce can be financially burdensome. So, why not opt to engage in some low-cost family fun instead?
1. Get your chef hats on and try some experimental baking: decorate a gingerbread house, make some Christmas-themed cookies or cupcakes, etc.
2. Get some physical fitness in and take advantage of the winter weather: (e.g. build a snowman, go sledding, make snow angels, etc.
3. Get your vocal cords ready for some modern-day carolling: host a Christmas music-themed karaoke party with your kids, their friends and/or invite extended family or neighbours to join in on the fun.
4. Get your blankets ready for a movie marathon: e.g. curl up with hot chocolate and popcorn to watch all the classic Christmas movies you can.
5. Get ready for Santa: get suited up in your ugly sweaters for your annual Santa photo or make your own ornaments for your tree decorating session.
5. Finally, be merry!
by Pooja Sihra
Pooja is a guest blogger for Grayfords. Pooja is an international, post-graduate LLB candidate studying at City University London. She received her BA (Hon.) in Law and Society/Sociology in 2009 as well as a Master’s in Public Policy, Administration, and Law in 2013 from York University in Toronto, Canada. Her interest in family law developed after navigating the challenges of acting as an estate trustee without a will in a family matter.