While a trip to a tropical resort makes for a nice winter holiday, it’s not in the cards for all of us this year. However, there are many ways to have fun with the entire family even if you happen to be staying at home. Here’s a list of 10 winter holiday activities to help keep your spirits up and fight cabin fever over the winter holiday.
10 winter holiday activities
1- Snowshoeing or Cross-country skiing
According to
Harvard Health Publications cross-country skiing and snowshoeing activity burn calories at the same rate. A 185-pound person will burn about 355 calories in 30 minutes. You can rent or buy the equipment and hit the local parks or a sky hill. Both are low-cost hobbies and lots of fun year after year.
2- Bowling
Bowling used to be driven by bowling leagues. While there are fewer bowlers today, there has been a
shift from a blue color to a white color clientele. You might want to give it a try.
3- Swimming
Swimming is another healthy activity regardless of your level of proficiency. You will burn as many calories doing a breaststroke as you would if swimming fast freestyle. Get your summer swim trunks out and it will seem like you are in Hawaii or some other warm locale while you’re in a warm indoor pool. You’ll feel like you’re on vacation without any of the stress from traveling.
4- Tobogganing
Because you have to climb back up the hill, you will burn a lot of calories here too. Tobogganing is a low-cost activity and it is a lot of fun for the entire family. You don’t have to go to an expensive facility for this one either. Practically any hill will do. Remember to make safety a priority during any of these activities.
5- Winter bike ride
This isn’t for everyone, but some people ride their bikes all year long. They usually make a few equipment changes, like adding mudguards, cheap/old wheels and wider tires to make the bicycles function better in winter conditions.
6- Check out a climbing gym
If there’s a climbing gym in the area, you might want to climb the walls there instead of climbing the walls in your own home. It’s a terrific way to fight cabin fever and it’s great for skill development. Climbing gyms have come a long way - some companies spend millions of dollars on carefully designed facilities that cater to climbers of all levels.
7- Take the kids on a five senses walk
Here’s a fun way to get the entire family outdoors and help build an appreciation for nature. Pick one of the five senses for each outing. You could even keep score and offer a prize to the winner. Here are a few ideas for a five senses walk:
Hearing: Listen for sounds and call out what you hear. You could mimic the sounds and identify the source for added fun.
Touch: Describe anything you can touch - trees, moss, rocks etc.
Sight: Pick an object and play a game like
bug where the person who sees a Volkswagen beetle first, yells bug. The person with the most sightings wins the game.
Taste: This one could be a bit of a challenge while you’re out in the field, but you could save it for later you get back home.
Smell: What do you smell while on your walk? You could turn this into a game as well by having whoever detects a new odor first call out the name and then try to identify the source for extra points.
Indoor winter holiday activities
Because you can’t be outdoors all the time, we've come up with a few fun things for you to do indoors too. Most of these are low-cost as well:
8- Go to the library for books, tapes, and movies.
9- Take a trip to the museum.
10- Play indoor games like card games, scrabble, puzzles, board games, or organize a treasure hunt if you have younger children.
You don't have to spend a lot of money to have a memorable winter holiday. Spend some quality time with friends and family and make sure you get outside and enjoy the great outdoors. Sending you our best wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season from Stickerbeat.