Sunday, December 11, 2022

January Family Box

 I'm getting ridiculously excited about this one and figured I'd share what I've got with you in case you have any desire to do it also! As I explained in the big grand post, January is supposed to be about cleaning, organizing, and menu planning. The way things have gone down, I've narrowed it down to mostly menu planning with just a couple other things thrown in there about the others (I purchased an ADHD cleaning book, so.... :) )
Ok, so for the menu planning part, I have a giant binder- like the 3" kind and pockets for each month. I'm just going to fill it with regular binder paper because I'll need to be able to tear pages out for when I go shopping. I designed some basic menu pages (you can buy other people's versions on etsy! Like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1304186673/modern-minimalist-weekly-meal-plan?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=menu+planner+printable&ref=sc_gallery-1-2&pro=1&sts=1&plkey=352b7d75235501eec1d77688a8bc429abe9a230e%3A1304186673 


Anyway, we want this to be fun and family friendly, so I made up a few games. Some I mentioned in the other blog post, some that we've just added tonight. But in case you want them, too...


Game 1. Dart Board. There are 3 Dart Boards per round. One is PROTEIN. One is VEGETABLES. One is STARCHES/BASES. I was a little creative in the last one, including things like waffles, chow mein noodles, and crackers (along with regular stuff like rice, tortillas, etc). We'll throw a dart at each one and it's then the responsibility of whoever's turn it is to make a meal out of it. It's going to be great fun. We may get some strange creations, but who knows, maybe we'll discover the next favorite.


Game 2. Favorite Characters. I'll post this one here so you can use it if you want. Have each person pick their favorite character from their favorite book. Then use this chart to decide the menu item.


Game 3. Pinterest Dice Game. You'll need a screen with Pinterest on it and a set of D&D Dice, like my children are obsessed with.

Player 1 Rolls a 6 sided dice.

Player 1 then counts to whatever number was landed on.

While Player 1 counts, Player 2 scrolls through pinterest. When Player 1 stops counting, Player 2 must stop scrolling and leave the screen as is.

Player 2 then rolls the 10 sided dice. Whichever number is landed on, that row is chosen (unless #10 is rolled, at which point Player 1 gets to pick the row).

Player 1 then rolls the 4 sided dice. Whichever number is landed on, count down from the top of the screen to that many numbers. The number chosen is the menu item. If the number rolled is higher than the amount of options in the row, Player 2 gets to choose the item in the row.


Click the link- if it's good, that's the menu item. If the link is no good, start over from the place where the screen was last left.


Game 4. Phone a Friend

I'm still working on this one as far as visuals, but I've grabbed an incomplete deck of cards from my box and on each one will attach the name and phone number of a friend we know that also cooks dinner. You pick that card, you get to call (or text) the person and ask for the recipe of what they are eating that night. We may have a bonus friend where each person with texting capabilities sends out a mass text and whichever person answers with a recipe first wins that time slot (and recipes that come trickling in later will be used elsewhere on the menu)


Game 5. Restaurant Menu

This will just be a menu. Of the our favorite dishes at our favorite restaurants. The at-home version, you know?


Game 6. Appliance Roulette

Ok, I'm not actually calling it that because I don't have a roulette wheel, lol. I'll just make a spinner with our different appliances (let's be honest, I'm just dying to use the fancy cookwear husband won at his Christmas party). Spin it and find a meal using that thing. At our house, this will include toaster oven, instant pot, steamer basket, Ninja blender, waffle iron, stove, oven, and microwave.



Game 7. Family Cookbook: Guess Who

This one will feature family recipes. Still working on the details of how it will go. Perhaps like a Guess Who board. It'll be fun and I'm sure it'll come the rest of the way to me in the middle of the night.

Game 8: The Usual Suspects

Think Clue or something similar. The things we eat all the time, but with suggestions to mix things up a bit. Like instead of just Mac and Cheese, you could choose the option to add ground beef, taco seasoning, and some salsa for Taco Mac. Or instead of just Hot Dogs, maybe this time is Pigs in a Blanket. Boom, baby.


I hope some of you enjoy!!