Happy Happy New Year Everyone!
The holidays were joyful and messy, with lots of time spent blowing off deadlines and work and trying to be fully present with the people I love most.
My guys were off school this week and I found myself pulled between the desire to jump head first back into the work I love and being fully present to have fun with the dudes I love. It seemed a bit odd to post about playing more with one's kids, while ignoring mine in order to do so.
I haven't posted in far too long here, as the holiday season was my most busy time putting together TV segments on top toys for the holidays. I had SUCH fun with every single segment, but they were kind of attention hogs. So it feels just dandy to be back posting on the Hoo-dee blog and reconnecting with all of you here.
One thing I did work on over the last week was a running list of ways to add more playfulness into our everyday.
Like many of you, I struggle with carving out real FUN and lightheartedness into the way-too-jammed-up goings-on of modern motherhood.
I created this list over the last few days whenever something struck. There are plenty more to add, and I will as the year progresses. But here are the first 52 ways we can all easily re-ignite our playful spirits in 2013. Add your own to these suggestions and keep it in plain view..."out of sight, out of mind" sums up a lot of my life unfortunately. I plan to print it and post it on my fridge (which serves as an extension of my faulty memory).
Cheers to you all and here's to a brilliant and boomtastic new year!!
xo
52 Ways to Ignite Your Playful Spirit This Year:
1. 5 minutes after you wake up in the morning, SMILE. Large. You’ll feel like a complete dork. And awesome.
2. Wake your kids up with a ridiculous song. The more sappy and annoying the better.
3. Finger Paint. With or without your children.
4. Buy a pack of Bubble Yum and have “biggest bubble”, “sloppiest bubble”, “bubble that looks most like the Virgin Mary” bubble blowing contests with your kids
5. Keep everything you need to make cupcakes at the ready and whip em’ up on a random Wednesday for no reason at all.
6. Take a hip hop class with a bunch of good girlfriends…after a (little) glass of wine.
7. Ditch the book group and start a game group instead, meet every other month at different couples' homes and whoever hosts, picks the game.
8. Plant a massive batch of sunflowers in your back yard at the start of summer or buy em’ and stick them in a vase on your kitchen island.
9. . Buy 20 silly and romantic cards at once, hide them in your night stand. Every now and again mail one to your husband at work, stick one under his pillow, or tape it to his steering wheel.
10. Pick one of your favorite toys from childhood…jacks, a jump rope, a hula hoop, your roller skates, and take 25 minutes and PLAY again. Then go back to folding the laundry.
11. Teach your kids to do under arm fart noises. I dare you not to pee laughing.
12. PLAY with a dog. Your own or the shelter’s.
13. Put on those wellies, your cutest rain slicker, and run up and down your sidewalk in the pouring rain.
14. Go and see stand up comedy with your husband. Nothing bonds like a mutual
belly laugh.
15. SKIP. Anywhere, anytime.
16. Sing John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt around a fire.
17. Buy a bongo drum on ebay and then just put it in your living room. Trust me.
18. Roll out butcher paper on the table before dinner now and again, lay out crayons, and colored pencils, say nothing and watch the magic. (Not just for the little kids!)
19. Buy some piece of ridiculousness from Victoria’s Secret. And then casually unveil it to your man on a boring Tuesday night in March.
20. Wear an industrial strength bathing suit and go the heck DOWN THE WATER SLIDES!
21. Invest in a trampoline, or find a friend who has one. *Bonus: wait til the kids are in bed, grab your husband, and jump in the dark!)
22. Buy a Polaroid camera and use it. Often.
23. Introduce your kids to the movie BIG. (beware of the one boob-touching moment)
24. Read out loud. To your kids, your husband, or your elderly parents.
25. Never pass up the opportunity to play with play dough. Never.
26. Wear RED lipstick.
27. Speak in a British accent at breakfast time every once and a weird while. ‘A bit o’ coffee with your crumpets my dear?” Ello’ chums! Er’s your porridge!” “chip chop cheerio!”
28. Whistle while you work
29. Get more sleep.
30. Buy yourself a set of good multicolored, fine tip markers with which to make your to-do lists. Picking a color each morning is more fun than expected.
31. Pick a day and completely “F” your to-do list. What??? I meant “forget”.
32. Organize several Thursday night “Mom Movie Nights” for your most fun mom pals, including a silly cocktail, lots of blankets and pillows, boxes of movie candy and a flick ya’ll love and your kids and husbands always veto.
33. Wear bold pops of COLOR now and again!
34. Tell a friend, relative, or co-worker how much you like them and WHY.
35. Schedule a one-on-one outing in SHARPIE on the calendar with each of your kids. If you can, make it an overnight. Jumping from bed to bed in a hotel room is encouraged.
36. Eat more lollipops.
37. Invest in a silly knit cap and wear it with pride.
38. Run. Not to lose weight or lift your boo-yeah, or complete a 5K. Run down a hill, or around the playground, or with your dog. Run for fun.
39. Make one new friend. Step outside of your comfort group and seek a new playmate.
40. Install a bell on your bike and use it to say “hoo-dee-hoo!” to people you pass.
41. Learn to do a cartwheel. If you know how…do more cartwheels
42. Visit a museum. Not as a Chaperone for a school trip, or so you can show everyone on Facebook how educational of a mom you are. Go for yourself. And don’t even post about it. Gasp!
43. Play more music at home.
44. Do one thing you think you simply can not do.
45. Use fun drinking straws at home. You’ll end up drinking more of that water everyone always recommends and they look festive on your kitchen counter.
46. Invite a family for Sunday Supper. Keep it simple and relaxed.
47. Keep a stack of hula hoops at the ready this summer.
48. Watch less TV. When “Real Housewives of Toronto” is the next in the line-up, you know it’s time to click “off” and finish that great book on the nightstand.
49. Champagne toast every full moon. My pal Ann does this and I think of her every time I see that big fully formed ball in the night sky. Cheers!
50. Bike to your errands whenever you can.
51. Learn some stupid jokes and tell at least one a week. Your kids will roll their eyes and secretly love it.
52. Do more fun and exciting things in private. When we aren’t worried about looking good for instagram, FB, twitter, and the likes, we’re more inclined to really be present with the folks right in front of us.
