By: Veronica Cisneros

Mrs. Cisneros, a wife, mother of three and Licensed Marriage and Family therapist, is the founder of Empowered & Unapologetic, a program to help women identify who they are outside of all the roles they play.

You could say this year looks COMPLETELY different than any other year! With COVID, school plans changed, vacation plans changed…EVERYTHING changed! I have to say, one of my first thoughts as a mother of three kids (besides how to keep everyone safe and healthy) was how the heck am I going to keep everyone entertained while we’re all stuck at home?! In the past, when the time came to pick a fun, family activity, everyone would look at each other at the same time and say, “I don’t know!” I know we weren’t the only ones! Now, we found the coolest way to make that decision easier!

If you follow me on social media, you’ve seen my family’s bucket list wall. We created this wall because we were SO tired of doing the same thing every weekend. You can only go out to eat and watch movies at home for so long until it becomes repetitive. So, whenever someone has a fun idea pop into their head, we write it down and stick it on the wall! It’s SUCH a lifesaver! Even though our typical plans this year didn’t end up happening, we were still determined to make the most of these weird times. Our usual bucket list items like Disneyland, checking out cool food trucks and going to the fair were scratched. But we didn’t let that stop us! We swapped out those ideas for some fun at-home activities and things we could safely do away from any other people!

Being in Southern California, things still aren’t back to normal and we are still required to wear masks and social distance when we go anywhere. I think these COVID-friendy, family activities will come in handy for the rest of the year!

Need some ideas, ladies?! Today is your lucky day because I’m going to share some of our bucket list ideas with you! We’ve actually done all of these since the beginning of the pandemic and had so much fun doing them as a family!

Safe, Socially Distant, Family Activities:

1. Foam twister
2. Cooking competition! Pick one ingredient and make a meal
3. Fly a kite
4. Grab a kid’s mattress, a helmet and slide down the stairs
5. Spa day
6. Bubble day
7. Water gun fight in the backyard
8. Nerf gun war, wear a  life vest and goggles to make it fun
9. Marvel movies all day
10. Disney movies all day
11. Go to a park and have a picnic dressed as your favorite movie character
12. Create a drive-in movie theater in your backyard
13. Night outside, gazing at the stars
14. Bike riding
15. Hikes
16. Build a huge fort in your living room
17. Paint competition using your toes as paint brushes
18. Geocaching
19. Family game of kickball
20. Glow in the dark dance competition
21. 4 square
22. Chalk drawing competition
23. Quarantine olympics
24. Camp in the backyard

DO MORE FUN STUFF WITH YOUR FAMILY! I believe this is the best way to reconnect with your loved ones after a busy week of working from home and distance learning. I understand we are all emotionally drained. Your kids are too! Unplug your phones for the day and spend time together! Some of our favorite things we’ve done from this list have been: watching Disney movies all day, having a picnic at the park dressed as our favorite movie characters and building a huge fort in our living room! I hope this list inspired you to make the most of spending more time at home. Let me know if you end up trying any of these activities! Take a picture, post on your social media and tag me @empoweredandunapologetic!