A vacation without travel, theme parks, parties, shows and activities. What is a family to do during a Covid Winter Break?
by Elaine Wong, SchoolKismet.com on December 11, 2020
You can still go out. There are still things to do, despite the Safer-at-home order.
Go to the park! Most local parks have remained open . On September 30, the county allowed playgrounds to reopen—however, whether or not they open is ultimately up to each individual city or county parks department.
Beaches are open. That means you can surf, swim, bike, walk or run, as well as sit, sunbathe or picnic with members of your household. Bike paths, piers and boardwalks are open again.
Drive-in movie theaters are a safe way to watch movies and have fun! There is a 10 pm curfew but as it is getting dark around 5 pm, there is still lots of time to watch movies. Bring the popcorn! Mission Tiki, Vineland, Paramount, Electric Dusk , Roubidoux , Van Buren and many other drive-in movie theatres are open. This is just a sample of a few of them.
Take the kids on a Drive-Thru Holiday Light experience. There are still outdoor 2020 Holiday Drive-Thru lights, events, experiences and festivities. This is just a short list of cool Holiday Light Spectaculars around SoCal: (in no particular order)
The Elf on The Shelf’s Magical Holiday Journey,
South Coast Botanic Garden’s GLOW,
WonderLAnd Holiday-themed Drive-Thru,
Holiday Festivities At The Original Farmers Market,
Holiday Road: A Drive-Thru Experience (King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas),
Waterfront Wonderland At Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel,
Santa’s Speedway Christmas Lights Drive-Thru Spectacular,
Six Flags Magic Mountain Drive-Thru Experience,
Dodgers Stadium drive-thru Holiday Festival,
Candy Cane Lane (Lubao & Oxnard Streets in Woodland Hills),
Spectacular Light Show in Pasadena (upper Hastings Ranch),
Christmas Tree Lane (Fresno – between Shields Avenue and Shaw Avenue),
The Los Angeles Christmas Market (corner of Fairfax and W 3rd in Los Angeles across from The Grove),
The Bite LA Holiday Drive-Thru (Legg Lake at Whittier Narrows Recreation Area in El Monte.)
Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade and Ring of Lights,
Newport Beach Christmas Cruises with Newport Landing,
Christmas in Color At Raging Waters,
Maccabees: A Chanukah Drive Thru,
Christmas on the Farm (Underwood Family Farms),
Festival of Lights At the Mission Inn (Riverside),
Reflections at Descanso Gardens,
Happy Place The Drive-Thru at Westfiled Century City,
WinterFest OC: Nights of Lights OC (OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa),
Holidays in Your Car At Ventura County Fairgrounds,
Christmas Train At Irvine Park Railroad,
Dana Point Harbor Lights & Boat Parade,
Hikari: A Festival of Lights (Tanaka Farm),
Santa’s Village 65th Christmas (Northwoods, SkyPark),
Other fun activities: Golf courses, tennis and pickleball courts, equestrian centers, BMX bike areas, community gardens, model airplane areas and archery, trap, skeet and outdoor shooting ranges are open, as well.
Or if you don’t want to go out, you can still do fun family things together at home.
Board games! Board games improve math, geography, history, finance, critical thinking, and increase bonding.
Watch movies! Have your kids seen all the classics “Ferris Bueller’s Day off”, “Lord of The Rings” trilogy, “Monty Python ” movies, “E.T.” etc.? Expose them to the pop culture of thrir parent’s time.
Read books out loud! Even grown kids appreciate being read to. When I read “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens out loud to the kids, I realized how poetic it is and it started a great conversation about the French revolution with the kids.
Cook or Bake! Kids love hanging out in the kitchen with their parents. It helps with their math (measurements), chemistry and is simply fun to do. My kids love baking Christmas cookies.
Play video games WITH the kids! Bond with the kids.
Have the kids do chores. I know this isn’t popular with parents or kids. It is often more work getting the kids to do chores than it is for the parents to do the chores themselves! Doing chores teaching kids life skills and it is fun when everyone is working together.
Decorate the house for the holidays!
Go through old photos together. Often we are so busy taking photos that we don’t look at the photos we have taken. Maybe make a photo album together.
Take advantage of this time together and make it memorable. Happy Holidays! Have fun!
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