11 COVID Friendly Holiday Activities
Christmas is looking a lot different for everyone this year. I was lucky enough to be able to travel home thanks both to all my classes being moved online for the remainder of the year and having covid testing available to me on arrival. I had to do two covid tests (one at the airport and another a week later once that one came back negative) putting my total up to 5 covid tests this year with a total of 7 swabs 👀. Even though I was able to come home we aren’t able to do lots of our normal Christmas traditions because of the restrictions that are in place. So I have put together a list of activities that are covid friendly so that we can still celebrate and have fun while staying safe.
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Activities to do at home
All of these activities can also be done over video call if you aren’t at home with family, or want to do something with friends.
Christmas Charades
You can make up your own holiday themed clues or buy a pack like the one below. The pack comes with cards that have a holiday term and a time limit for guessing. My mom actually bought this for us a few Christmases ago for something to do on Christmas eve. 
Christmas Trivia
My family is really into trivia games. My Dad actually records episodes of Jeopardy and then we’ll sit around watching them together and trying to guess the answers. I haven’t tried this Christmas Trivia pack before but it looks like fun! It might be something new for us to try out this year.
Holiday Baking
My mom and I always do lots of baking over the holiday season. Our go-to Christmas cookies include whipped shortbread, soft ginger cookies, and decorated sugar cookies. Last year I made a whole bunch of mini gingerbread cookies and decorated them with swirls and polka dots.
Holiday baking doesn’t just have to include Christmas cookies. Before I came home my flatmate and I made a holiday cake. I also love making different gingerbread creations, last year I made a gingerbread TARDIS.
Games Night
Get out your favourite board games or card games and put on some holiday music and have fun! Although we have quite the collection of board games we usually play either monopoly or cards against humanity.
If you are playing over video call you can also play lots of games online, including covidopoly 😂.
Cheese and Movie Night
This was another thing I did with my flatmates a couple of times before we left for the holidays. The first time we did a wine and cheese night (well just cheese for me because I don’t like wine😂 ) with a simple cheese plate. Then on our last night, we did up a full charcuterie board with meats and cheese and some cranberry brie bites and put on a Christmas movie.
Christmas Paint Night
This is also an easy one to do over zoom. If you have someone in your group thats artistic you could possibly try convincing them to lead the painting … I however am far too lazy for that so you can also just go onto youtube and search “holiday paint night”. There is a bunch of different tutorials to choose from. This one looks super cute and easy, but there are also more complex ones.
I also love this adorable little snowman.
Gingerbread House Decorating Contest
My brother and his girlfriend started dong this last year. They each get a gingerbread house kit and have a time limit for decorating. Afterwards they post their houses on social media and get their friends to vote for the best one.
Although the gingerbread house kits come with candy we usually buy extra to really put them over the top. If you want to be really extra you can also make your gingerbread from scratch!
Virtual Events
A Christmas Carol
This is definitely a big Christmas tradition for me, when I was younger my uncle often took us to the live performance of a Christmas Carol at the Citadel. Even when we didn’t go to see the play live we would watch the movie at home. This year the Citadel Theatre is selling streaming passes to watch their production of A Christmas Carol this year. The passes cost $40 and are available to anyone in Canada. Once you purchase a pass you can watch as many times as you want within a 48h period between the 15th and 31st December.
The Nutcracker Ballet
Another one of my holiday favourites is the Nutcracker Ballet. I still have a miniature nutcracker that my mom bought me one of the first times we went to go see it together live. This year you can find a few different ballet companies that are streaming the performance online. Some of them cost but there are a couple that are free to watch like this one.
Driving
Christmas lights tour
This one is super easy, just jump in the car and stop at Timmies for some candy cane hot chocolate to enjoy while you drive around and look at everyone’s Christmas lights displays.
If you are in the Edmonton area you can still visit candy cane lane this year. If you have never been, Candy Cane Lane is a neighborhood that goes all out on their Christmas decorations. This year there’s no walking the route but you can still drive through.
Another option in the Edmonton area is the Castrol Raceway Magic of Lights Display. This isn’t something I have done before but my mom has tickets for us to go one night. Proceeds from tickets help to support Canadian Tire’s Jumpstart program and Santa’s Anonymous.
Christmas scavenger hunt
This is something we started doing two or three years ago. We started out using the card set that I have linked below. The cards each have a different clue on them and a fun little doodle to go with it. We just shuffle up the cards and then split up into teams and divide up the cards. Then we hop in cars and drive around trying to find the things on the cards. The first team back to the house after finding all of their clues wins! (pics or it doesn’t count). Last year we started making our own clues to try and make it harder.
One of the nice things about this one is because teams are in their own cars you can get together a bigger group to play, while still staying safe 🙂
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