Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday full of fun, feasting, family and football.  But it can also be a time to start new traditions meant to increase your family’s thanks and encourage giving.  You can use Thanksgiving as a springboard to cultivate a deeper sense of gratitude and awareness of the needs of others.  Here’s some simple and even fun ideas to get you started.

More Thanks

1. Make a blessings box.  Pass out lots of slips of brightly colored paper to your family and guests at the beginning of the day.  Ask them to write one thing they are thankful for on each slip of paper, and then write something else on the next one, etc.  It can be silly, like “I’m thankful for SpongeBob cartoons” or it can be serious, as in “I’m grateful Aunt Betty is feeling better”.  But it should be specific.  Then place all the pieces of paper in a gift box, mix them up and read them after turkey dinner.  If you need incentive to get the kids thinking, you could offer a small prize like a candy bar to whoever comes up with the most items.  The object, of course, is to inspire your family to count their blessings.

2. Create certificates of appreciation. Use your computer software to set up official looking certificates and print them.  The certificate should say something like,  “Every Thanksgiving our family tradition is for each of us to choose one special person to whom we would like to express our appreciation.  This year, I have chosen you to thank because…. There should be blanks on the certificate to fill in the person’s name, date, and why they have been chosen.  For example, your daughter might decide to thank an old teacher for inspiring her love of reading.  Or your son might want to show gratitude to his best friend’s father for taking him along with them to the baseball game.  It should be someone outside the immediate family.  After Thanksgiving, they can mail the certificates or present them in person.

3. Thank the troops. There are websites that will tell you how to send holiday cards and letters to the troops stationed overseas.   Take the time to let a stranger in the military know that you support and appreciate their sacrifice.

4. Report a job well done. Have you received consistently good service from someone throughout the year?  It could be your hair stylist, a waiter, a patient store employee who seemed eager to answer all your questions?  Every Thanksgiving, make a list of those people.  Jot down a quick note that outlines the attentive care you received from that person, and then send it to their supervisor and also a copy to them. 

5. Start a family gratitude journal.  Beginning at Thanksgiving dinner and continuing on to mealtimes throughout the year, ask each family member what they are grateful for that day.  Write down all the comments.  It’s a great way to collectively focus on the positive.

Extra Giving

6. Invite someone to Thanksgiving dinner.  Is your elderly neighbor unable to make the big 200 mile trip to her family’s gathering, but would be able to travel across the street to your house?  How about your single friend who just lost her mother?  Don’t assume that people have Thanksgiving plans.  Instead, ask “what are you doing for Thanksgiving?”  The holidays are a rough time to be alone, so make sure that no one that you care about spends Thanksgiving that way.

7. Make a video with highlights of the day for someone who couldn’t make it.  If there are circumstances preventing a family member from joining you on Thanksgiving, document it for them.  Whether you use a camcorder or the movie mode on your digital camera, take footage of the festivities.  Include special messages from each person there.  You can edit it in Windows Movie Maker, burn it onto a DVD and mail it to them, so they don’t feel left out.  If you have a teenager, this could be a project they would enjoy.

8. Love thy neighbor.  Ask each family member to think of one specific thing they could do for a particular neighbor.  For example, I could mow their lawn, rake the leaves, shovel snow, give a ride, babysit, run an errand, bring over cookies or just spend some time visiting with them.  Then encourage them to put that into practice.  Just imagine how nice your neighborhood would be to live in, if everyone on the block adopted this tradition!

9. Issue the not so random acts of kindness challenge.  While you’re eating pumpkin pie, call upon those around the table to come up with ideas for nice little things they can do for others.  Here are some suggestions.  You could donate books you’ve already read to the library or toys you’ve outgrown to the homeless shelter.  If you see litter, you could pick it up and put it in the trash can.  You could let someone cut in front of you in line or put a quarter in an expired parking meter.  You could pick a flower from your garden and give it to a friend.  Make a list of those ideas and in the coming months, see how many little acts of kindness your family can accomplish.

10. Sponsor a child from a third world country.  Thanksgiving is a great time to begin.  As your family is giving thanks, why not reach out to someone less fortunate? 

So, go ahead and dig into those candied sweet potatoes, watch the parade on TV and listen to grandpa reminisce about the good old days.  Then go beyond the turkey and make this holiday the most memorable Thanksgiving of all.  By adopting some of these new family traditions for counting blessings and reaching out to others, you’ll be putting the thanks and the giving back into the holiday.

Christmas as a child was always spent building up to the big day when you would wake early, rush to the tree and start shaking the boxes underneath it that mysteriously appeared during the night before. In years gone by we got excited about our 16-bit state of the art Super Nintendos and MegaDrives, only for the unpacking and plugging-in to create a divide between the gamers and non-gamers in the house. This has largely remained the status quo whenever a new console or game was given as a gift, but surely the ideal would be for the whole family to gather round and enjoy it together?

These past few Christmases have bucked the trend with the release of SingStar and Buzz games on the Sony PlayStation 2, not to mention the success story of the Wii. In each of these cases it seems that the main barrier to non-gamers, namely the complicated control systems, has been bridged by innovations in user inputs. For SingStar anyone can pick up the microphone and start singing – the main problem lies in whether they can sing in tune!

What was seen as a haven for gamers became an accessible forum for budding singers who had their sights set on the pop music industry. Practising alongside their idols, every singer is comfortable with a microphone in their hands and the success of SingStar proves this.

It was this innovation that led to the creation of a new input to accompany the Buzz series of games. For anyone that has ever watched a quiz show and thought they’d be able to do better, now is their chance. Buzz, with its simplified controller and multiple rounds of random questions based on TV game show formats, has allowed all the family to gather around the TV and be a part of the entertainment. It is not uncommon to see parents revelling in the delight of triumphing over their children in an arena normally renowned as belonging to the kids. Since the original music quiz version there have been another seven Buzz titles (with more in the pipeline) including versions specifically for younger children, realising the goal of inclusive gaming across generations.

Not to be out done and taking things one step further, Nintendo developed their most recent console with this ‘gaming for the family’ idea at the core of the project. The end result was the release of the Nintendo Wii with its distinctive controller and advertising campaign all new to the video game market.

We’ve all seen the adverts that focus on lots of people of all ages, genders and nationalities playing, especially family groups all enjoying the game of choice, but the focus is not on the game anymore, it is on the people playing. This is no gimmick; the Nintendo Wii has outsold its Sony and Microsoft counterparts and bares no sign of losing popularity any time soon.

On the internet you do not have to look far before you come across forums extolling the Wii for bringing new avenues of joy to family get togethers. From pensioners to youngsters, the intuitive controls have brought the whole family to the video game arena and it’s been such a success that one chain of retirement homes in the US has implemented the Nintendo Wii games system into the everyday life of residents after a grandchild brought in their new toy to show their grandma!

It’s important to know various Halloween family activities and things for family to do on Halloween. Halloween is one of the most fun holidays not only for children, but also for other family members. With Halloween comes, a variety of interesting family ideas for Halloween come into my mind. Planning great Halloween family activities is essential to make sure that this Halloween is fun for all the family members.
If you can’t figure out what to do with your family on Halloween, don’t worry. Here are some interesting Halloween family ideas:

1. Supernatural spots:

If you are really courageous, you probably like scary things. Visiting a local haunted house is a great way to enjoy the Halloween with family and get scared at the same time. You can quickly find local haunted old houses, railroads, and supernatural spots by doing an online research. It was one of those fun things to do for Halloween that no one should miss it.

2. Trick or Treat:

I can still remember how fun it was to go trick or treat with families on Halloween. I looked forward to this day for months. When Halloween arrived, we would always get a group take a lot of pictures. I used to stay out all night long going from house to house getting candy and showing off our Halloween costumes.
If you are looking for something to do on Halloween with families, you can’t miss it. It’s always a fun time!

3. Halloween Family Decoration:

I always enjoyed going up to the houses that were decorated on Halloween. Get your yard ready for all the trick-or-treaters. And put on scary outfits, fill garbage bags with leaves, hang up spider webs on your house and make a few fake head stones. It is really easy to do the Halloween family homemade decoration and it won’t cost much.

4. Halloween Family Party:

Not everyone likes to let their kid go trick-or-treating. A Halloween themed party is a great way to bond with your family and to get them into the spirit of Halloween. Halloween is the perfect holiday to dress up silly, make and eat some good food and socialize with your families and friends. Serve some Halloween inspired cocktails, finger foods, and candy. At a family Halloween party, set up trick or treat stations throughout the house and allow children to trick-or-treat.

5. Halloween family fest.

Many movie theatres around the country host a special all-night horror fest on Halloween,they usually begin around midnight. So get together some friends, load up on popcorn and soda, and get ready for hours of horror.

6. Visit an old cemetery

What could be more terrified than an old, gloomy cemetery? Make sure you have the courage to try it because you never know what would happen and what you might see!

7. Create a Halloween Flash Slideshow:

Whatever your plan is, never forget to capture these scared moments and spooky scenes, these are all the memorable moments of life.
It’s a Great way to create flash photo albums with the Halloween pictures you took.
Halloween Flash Slideshow sample

You can easily create the Halloween Flash Slideshow with flash slideshow software, and upload the flash album on your blog or website, share with your family and friends even the visitors to your site.
Tell your special Halloween story and bring them into your Halloween world.
Celebrate and whatever you create, Happy Haunting!

Tips:
1. You can edit photos and music by click the “Edit photo” and “Edit music” button above storyboard on Browse tab.
2. The duration time for each photo can be revised by double click the default value under the photo in Browse or Template Tab or right click the photo by revising the “Photo Properties”.
3. You can put your flash album to your blog, MySpace or websites for sharing with your friends.

• How to make Cool Halloween Slideshow