Summer is here, and most people in India are eager to peek out beyond their masks and get back to holidaying, soaking up at their favourite beaches, reconnecting with friends and family, enjoying nature, playing at the park, or shopping at the coolest malls in town. Well, life isn’t opening up yet as the pandemic looks like hammering our plans for all of 2021.
So, here's the deal! Make a practical list of things to do this summer for true joy and happiness while staying cuddled up at home with your family. Need some ideas to start with for your list?
Here are our top ten ideas collected from colleagues, friends and family. We hope these will brighten your summer of 2021.
- Family movie night: Watch an award-winning movie together with a generous helping of popcorn and snacks. Pick your choicest movies from Netflix, Amazon Prime, or British Council's Kanopy.
- Family game night: Have a weekly game night and choose from a variety of high-energy games like the Puddle Jumper, Chocolate Unicorn, Ball Drop or the Elephant March. Look up the web or simply think outside the box and create your own.
- Karaoke night: Unleash your inner rock star with a karaoke night or sing along with a family member playing the guitar. These are a great way to gather the family in a memorable night of wholesome, musical fun.
- Family dance party: Host a family dance party with a playlist of eclectic music and show your kids that you too can boogie-woogie. Double the joy by inviting your friends via Zoom.
- Dawdle through family albums: Browsing of family photographs is a great way to spend time together. Gather your family in one room, giggle, laugh, compliment and swap stories over the most embarrassing and conspicuous moments.
- Crack a puzzle: Solve brain teasers and puzzles to keep your brain in shape and even challenge your family with these mental exercises. The puzzles are designed to give your problem-solving, reasoning, and concentration skills a workout. And they come in varying degrees of difficulty, so pace yourself and have a fun family time.
- Set-up a family cooking challenge: One of the finest ways of bonding with the family. Spend some time together in the kitchen and whip up some tasty, healthy recipes. Looking for recipe ideas? Check out the healthy food and recipes by Christine Bailey.
- Declutter your house: Make a list of things you want to declutter. Organise that unbelievably enormous jumble in your drawer, that closet, in your garage, in the kids’ rooms and recycle those piles of paperwork. Do it nicely, calmly and methodically.
- Book reading sessions: Get each member of the family to read a book of their choice and get together every week over tea to share what they liked or disliked about the book. Choose a book from the digital collection.
- Learn something new: Learn to play a simple musical instrument like the ukulele using a host of online video tutorials or try your skills at photography, learn a new management skill, a new language or even sharpen your English language skills by enrolling for a short course.