Activities for a Holiday Houseful

If you're hosting a houseful for the holidays, you're probably planning all the details like extra towels and pillows, but have you taken time to think about entertainment? Be sure to relax from your hosting duties a little and enjoy yourself with some of these activities perfectly geared for your holiday crowd. 1. Play Minute To Win It. Using stuff you can find around the house and a stopwatch, play Minute To Win It games like picking up paper bags with only your mouth or stack three golf balls on top of each other. Be prepared for hours of howling laughter. Find more party ideas here on the official site. 2. Watch old family movies. When is the last time you pulled out all the old family home movies? Break out the movie projector or the VCR, dust them off, and enjoy a walk down memory lane. Everybody will love it. 3. Have a taste test. Purchase four or five different brands of chocolate bars or microwave popcorn or root beer and conduct a blind taste test. Give everyone a sample of each and have them score their tastes. Gather the scores and declare a winner in each category. 4. Have an indoor snowball fight. Purchase an inexpensive ream of white butcher paper and count off into two teams. Each team gets half the ream of paper and 20 minutes to tear it apart and make it into snowballs. Once time is up, let the snowball fight begin! 5. Build forts. There's no better way to get in touch with your inner child or the children in your home than with good old-fashioned fort building. Gather blankets, chairs and flashlights and build a temporary home for the youngsters (and the young-at-heart). 6. Roast marshmallows. Gather around the fireplace or even a few candles and roast marshmallows together. Plop them into a steaming cup of hot cocoa for even more fun. 7. Go caroling. A houseful of guests makes a perfect choir. Grab your coat, hats, and singing voices and stroll the neighborhood singing your favorite Christmas carols. Can't carry a tune? Then carry your stereo and play it louder than your voice. 8. Have a movie clip party. This is a fun one for everyone in the house. Gather your crowd together and using a laptop or iPad or even a fancy cell phone, give everyone a turn to share their favorite movie scenes via YouTube. 9. Have a generational dance off. Pit young against old with a dance off. Teach each other dances from the respective generations and have a dance off. Teams vote players off one by one until only one dancer is standing and declared the winner. 10. Build candy cars. Using Twinkies, frosting, and handfuls of various candies, have your crowd build individual holiday cars. It's a fun alternative to gingerbread houses that you can display or have for dessert. Most of all, remember to take a moment to enjoy being together. That's what the holidays are all about.