Festive fun to help you stay fit
The holiday season is perfect for enjoying some quality time with family and friends. By choosing pastimes that are more active, you’ll get your hearts pumping while having fun together. Some ideas to get you moving:
- Fun in the snow. When friends and family with kids come over, stage a snowball fight, set up a snowball target practice, build a snow person or an ice fort. Afterwards, chase the chills away with a cozy bonfire.
- Help others. Volunteering your time at a food bank is an active way of giving back to your community.
- Get on board. Traditional board games are a great way to spend time together as a family without watching television. Why not broaden your repertoire with more active games like charades?
- Exercise more than thumbs. Parents know how much kids love video games. Some systems now simulate activities like baseball and tennis, so kids become active participants.
- Pick your own. If your holiday tradition involves a real Christmas tree, why not take a hike around a tree farm and cut your own?
- The great outdoors. Tobogganing, skating, cross-country skiing and downhill skiing are all great ways for people of all ages to be active in the winter air. Consider building your family party around one of these sports.
- The great indoors. Sometimes, bad weather gives everyone a case of cabin fever. Have a stock of unusual games ready to keep young bodies occupied. For example, create an indoor bowling alley with empty water bottles and a grapefruit.
- Take a hike. Rekindle an old tradition — the after-dinner walk. If you start now, it will become a heart healthy habit that will help combat the effects of holiday overindulgence.