Thank you Goliath Games for sponsoring this post. Pick up your favorite game today to enjoy quality time during the holiday season and beyond!

Turn off the tech, and tune into fun with these Mom-approved play date hacks! A list of fun games that make it easy to share holiday quality time with friends and family.

Quality time ideas using Games

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5 games and corresponding food ideas for a super fun holiday break; making quality time with friends and family an easy endeavor!

Less tech, more fun

So my kids go to play therapy once a week (side note: this is something I totally suggest to all parents because it’s a great way for your kids to have someone besides their own parents be an advocate for them/ be on their side. Plus it means guaranteed one on one time with someone listening and talking to them while also playing with them). At their therapist’s office she has a bookshelf piled high with kid games. Every week they are so excited for which game they will pick that day.

I remember as a kid how fun games were with my siblings. We didn’t have television and therefore overexposure to screentime wasn’t a concern.

These days it is all too easy to overexpose our kids because screens are so accessible and there is much by way of educational learning they can do on said screens. However, it is also highly important for kids to have real life fun.

Anyway, last week after therapy; the therapist mentioned that my kids tend to quote alot of movies. She suggested that over the break we try zero screen time for the first couple days and minimal screen time for the last, and instead spend some quality time playing together.

I loved this idea and when I discussed it with friends they were on board too.

Hence our holiday game days…

Kickstarting the break

To kickstart our tech-free holiday break I hosted a little party on the first day of break. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram then you probably saw the fun happening via my feed and live tweet during the party. We played five games and had a buffet of finger foods.

I wanted to make my kids part of the planning so the week before school let out we took an evening and had some fun painting pictures to correspond with the fun Goliath Games and Pressman Toys games we would be using at the party. Then I took photos of their paintings and shrunk them down to size online. We used miniature versions of their works of art to make the invites, the food labels, and the toothpick toppers.

You can make your own, or click on the words above to print your own.

Doggie Doo (Goliath Games)

This was hands down the biggest hit among the kids at the party. It’s no wonder this hilarious game has 120 million views and counting on you tube.

Basically, you feed your cute doggie, and squeeze the leash (and listen to spazzy colon noises) until…plop! Out pops the mess-free food pellet! Except now it’s coming out the opposite end and is Doggie Doo. Haha!

Not kidding, my house was full of high pitched giggles and squeals while this game was being played.

Shark Bite (Pressman Toys)

If you decide to get this fun game for your kiddos, then be ready for a REEL good time!

In Shark Bite; the players take turns rolling the die and fishing for the colorful sea creatures using the fishing rod. However, the sea creatures are inside the shark’s mouth which adds that much more suspension and excitement to the game because you never know when the shark will bite!

The party children were on the edge of their seats for this one and ended up going back to playing it again and again throughout the day.

And as a parent the best part was that this game doesn’t take batteries!

Giggle Wiggle (Goliath Games)

Giggle Wiggle is a cute caterpillar with several hands to spare. A fun and active challenge that will have kids laughing (and dancing ot it’s music) as they raced to place their colored marbles from the caterpillar’s bottom row of hands all the way to the top as he wiggles and giggles to the music.

This game was so cute and the kids all loved their “catepillar juice” as they played!

Pop the Pig (Goliath Games)

You may have noticed from the food pictures that we had little slider style hamburgers with pig toothpicks holding them together. These burgers were entirely inspired by the Pop the Pig game!

In this cute game (Also battery free I might add) players take turns rolling the die, feeding the pig, and pushing down on his head. Each pump makes his belly grow bigger, bigger and bigger until…POP!

Pop the pig is actually one of the games my kids had previously enjoyed at their therapist’s office (a fun game that also teaches numbers, colors and counting: win win!) and therefore they were super excited to share the game with their friends.

Catch the Fox (Goliath Games)

Oh my heck y’all, this fox game is hilarious! We had neighbor kids coming back asking to “play the game where the game where the foxes pants fall down” all week.

Goliath games says “Uh oh – the Fox is in the hen house! This greedy fox is snapping up the chickens and stuffing them into his pockets. But when there are too many chickens, his pants will fall down and the chickens will escape! Roll the die to see how many chickens to add into the fox’s pockets, and push his head one time. Before you know it, the fox will lose his pants and the chickens will roll everywhere!”

And that is exactly what happened! Haha! His pants would get sucked into his feet and the fox would be standing there in his chicken boxer shorts while little chicken rolled everywhere and all the kids were racing eachother to gather the most chickens for their “hen house”.

I have to say that this game design was super innovative and smart (and again used no batteries- such a plus in my book!).

Quality time made easy

You guys our game day was a complete success! I’m thinking these holiday break game days are going to be a new tradition!

I had kids at my house and in my backyard playing games all day long and when their parents said it was time to go there were loads of moans and groans.

My own kids have been playing the games all week long though. It’s been a great way for me to get them to do their chores too,

“Hey guys if you clean your bedrooms and the bathrooms I will let you each pick one game to play!”

Hahaha! Sometimes I amaze even myself with my parenting skills and genius ways to get a clean house and spend quality time together. LOL. Kidding! But not really…

Christmas and Birthday Children’s Gift Ideas

So if you’re looking for some fun gift options for birthdays and Christmas this year (or just for a day of fun together), then I highly suggest any of these five games.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.