Green Daily

Here is another suggestion:

For the last 8 years my family (Parents, brother, sister, myself and spouses, leaving the kids home) have what we call "Family Day." Instead of buying stuff we think others want, we spend the whole day together doing many different activities. We start early and end late. The whole day is packed. We try doing it on a Saturday, usually in January when many things are going on. We have the best time and it really brings us the true meaning of Christmas. Our grand total for the day usually is around $100. So it saves everyone money and we have memories forever.

Now if you have young kids, I bet the old fashion presents would be more appreciated at their age. We started it when I was in high school and I am the youngest, so I was about out of the whole, "I want ..." It is a great way to get your family together and we each take turns planning the day. Since half of my family lives on the other side of the state, we take turns with the location too.

Our day usually starts with a breakfast and ends with a dinner and movie. We also drive from activity to activity together, and this is important. Many memories are made when you are all together in a car, so rent a van if need be. Below are other activities we have done over the years. We try to do activities unique to our area and things you normally would not do when we can.

Bowling, Put-put (indoors), painting pottery, gun range, theater, go garts (indoors), feather bowling, Adult arcade, IMAX, laser tag, whirly ball, etc...

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