Gift Guide: Game Night For Everyone On Your List

family game night - christmas gift guide for everyone

Some of our favorite gifts to give (and receive) are games. This year, we are spending more time indoors with our families than (perhaps ever) before, so it’s the perfect year to give the gift of an entertaining “Game Night.” It’s the gift that keeps on giving all year long. Get the whole family together for night full of laughter and friendly competition. It’s budget-friendly fun, and we more of that this year! You don’t need to spend an enormous amount of money on the newest video gaming box to entertain your kids. Instead, spend time together playing a game. Those memories are often the most priceless ones.

We’ve rounded up some of our personal favorites*. We hope you enjoy them, too!

christmas gift guide, game night for the whole family

1. Flipside: This is one of our favorite gifts to give, and one of our kids favorite’s to play. It’s awesome! It can go anywhere, and all ages can play. Sometimes we get addicted as adults, and want to get to that next level. Think rubix cube meets fast-paced lights and a timer. You can play individually or as a team. There are a couple game modes to choose from.

2. Crazy 8’s, Go Fish: Sometimes a deck of cards is all you need for good old-fashioned fun. This set has something for everyone, and you can stuff the decks into stockings.

3. Uno: You can’t go wrong with this classic card game. Try to be the first to get rid of your cards before your opponents try to pin you with a Wild card or a +4. The more players you have, the longer it lasts. Ages 7 and up will like to play this one.  This UNO Attack takes it up a notch if you are ready to mix it up.

4. Yahtzee: This is a classic. We played when we were young. This is a great price at under $10, and fun for the entire family. See if your lucky, or have dice skill to get a Full House, three of a kind, or the ultimate 5-of-a-kind, known as Yahtzee. Kids have the opportunity work on their math skills as they count dice, too. Our kids, ranging from age 7 to 12 love this game.

5. Star Wars Monopoly, Mandalorian: Our boys are big Star Wars fans. We have a Star Wars Monopoly that is either unavailable online, or more than $75. So, if we can’t get that same version, this Mandalorian version will work. Who can resist that adorable baby Yoda, the Child?

6. Kanoodle: This is an all-time favorite. It can travel anywhere, requires zero wi-fi, kids have to use their brains and it’s so much fun for ages 7-99. This makes an excellent stocking stuffer, or birthday party gift. We always like to have extras of these on hand to give as gifts. The price is right on this game, too, for under $10! With just 12 puzzle pieces, challenge yourself to follow the puzzle book (with 200 challenges) with a couple pieces shown, then complete the puzzle.

7. Guesstures: This is another Christmas gift for our family this year.  It’s a fast game of charades the whole family can play. We played it when we were younger, and hope our kids love it like we did. Get ready for lots of laughs.

8. Guess Who: This game is good fun! Our kids have loved this since age 4! The object of the game is to ask Yes or No questions to determine who the opponents person is. Kids will learn strategy with this one.

9. Code Names: Spy agents on opposing teams provide their team with code words to guess words on the board. It’s engaging, and fun for ages 10 and up. The rules seem somewhat overwhelming at first, but the more you play, the more fun it is. There is a Disney variation of this game, which our kids really liked.

10. Clean Slate: This is a new discovery for us. We like to get our kids a new game every Christmas, so shhh, our kids are getting this one for Christmas, along with Taboo, Kids vs. Parents.

*This post contains affiliate links, which means we may make a tiny commission with purchases, at NO additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting our family blog. 

Reflection and Being Gratefeul Despite the Circumstances

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We interrupt the usual DIY, cutesy post today to keep it real with y’all.

Just like everyone, life behind the scenes (or blog) is as real as everyone else in the world and we have good days and bad. With Thanksgiving coming up we’ve had time to reflect and feel like sharing. We hope you share your stories of gratitude {the loss and pain that go with it, too} with us, too. Send us an email at hello@jsorelle.com.

No one ever said life was easy. We just didn’t know it was going to be so hard.

As we look at the big picture, yes we are alive and life is good. We all have a place to call home, wonderful and supportive parents, beautiful children, 2 out of 3 amazing husbands, love and each other. At the end of the day, it’s those little things that matter.

But that doesn’t mean we haven’t cried everyday, felt anxiety paralyze our bodies, mourned, felt like we were hit by a bus, prayed on our knees and worried until we lost sleep.

In just one year, we have mourned the loss of our grandma, come to grips with our grandpa’s Parkinson’s diagnosis, tried to make sense of a family member who we loved that lived a double life and deceived and hurt us beyond what our wildest dreams could have imagined, learned the pain and heartache of a divorce first-hand, been shocked by the loss of a dear friend and family member, and heard the stop-in-our-tracks, heartbreaking diagnosis of ‘childhood epilepsy’ of one of our own from a hospital room.

To be honest, some days it’s been hard not to hate and it feels impossible to forgive.

We are not complaining because we know there are stories of hardship and pain that are unfathomable, and for those of you who are in the midst of it, or through it, our hearts go out to you.

A wise friend once said, “When someone’s asks how I am, if I’m good, I say, I’m in between problems…because life has bumps in the road, and in between the bumps, life is good.” In between our ‘bumps’ this year, we have watched our children laugh and grow, witnessed the joy of a 1-year-old take his first steps, help our parents celebrate their 37th wedding anniversary, held each other close, felt the unconditional love of family by our side, laughed until we cried with friends and celebrated the pure joy of a pregnancy announcement (followed by morning sickness).

So are we grateful for his year? Yes. Do we wish it went down differently? Hell, yes. But we will take each breath, step and hope we can muster because at the end of the day, that’s all we have! We have grown closer to God this year and pray we’ve reached our heartbreak limit for the year.

After all this, what we know to be true is that everyday we have a choice. Do we wake up with anger in our hearts, scour at the world and the people who hurt us, hold on to life the way it was? Or, do we wake up with grateful hearts, accept life and who we are, choose to smile, remain humble and kind? We choose the latter {most days}, and that will save us. We will not take love for granted.

We’ve discovered that love, faith and family can get us through it…it doesn’t hurt to have awesome sisters by our side either.

We hope you find gratefulness in your heart this Thanksgiving. Lord knows we’ll be crying, praying and giving thanks as we go around and talk about what we’re grateful for at the table this year.

Keep us in your prayers, and we’ll do the same for you.

Thanks for listening.

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