Hello friends, are you enjoying the New Year? Or are you just happy it’s not 2020 any more?! This month has been super cold, so we have been rather fond of creature comforts and indoor pursuits. Our January 2021 family favourites list is a big fun mix of strange and new things our family have loved in our hibernation.
We loved these 11 family favourites in January 2021
From films to games and snacks, these have kept us going in good spirits.
1. Family Film: Soul (Disney+ subscription)
As a family who spends more time at the cinema than at the park in the winter (maybe I exaggerate!), we are really missing our Saturday matinees in Lockdown. It was thrilling to have the next best thing – a new Pixar film straight to Disney+.
Soul is about a musician who dreamed big and always wanted to be a performer, but ended up being a school-teacher. On the brink of finally fulfilling his dream, he has an accident and is transported out of his body. With the help of an infant soul, he then goes on a journey to get back inside his body.
Sounds kinda… weird, right? That’s what I thought. But trust me, and trust in Pixar. This movie will punch you in the heart and tickle at your brain for days to come. It’s perfect for the world we’re living in right now; it’s about passion and life and being human. And it’s really funny too! My boys, who are 10 and 14, loved it. I would recommend Soul for age 8 and up with an adult, only because the main idea might be a little too complex for a younger audience (i.e. the afterlife).
2 & 3. Family Board Games: Mysterium Park and Bank Attack
Santa’s sack must have been considerably lighter after leaving our house – the kids got loads of new games! We’ve played through everything more than a few times (on Lockdown we’ve had plenty of opportunity!). And because we couldn’t pick just one game, these are our two favourites in January.
If you’ve ever seen A Christmas Carol, it won’t surprise you that Charles Dickens was fond of ghost stories at Christmas time. This was also typical of his Victorian contemporaries, ghostly winter tales were quite common. I have long been fascinated by this idea of spooky and festive, so it felt fitting for us to try a ghostly game over the holidays.
Mysterium Park puts you in a Tim Burton-esque circus where someone has been murdered in one of the attractions. (Don’t worry, there isn’t any blood or gore, it’s all artfully drawn). As a co-op game, the players take either the role of a ghost who witnessed the murder, or one of the people trying to find who did it. The ghost cannot speak, but communicates only with cards, which have abstract pictures on them. The aim is for something on the card to be matched to something in one of the pictures of the attractions. After the ‘ghost’ player deals their chosen clue cards, the other players work together to piece together the clues and identify the victim and venue over three rounds.
It’s a fairly simple game to learn and totally brilliant for an atmospheric evening of team play. We like to set the mood with flickering candles and plenty of circus-style popcorn.
Looking for something easy to learn, but which takes complete concentration and total teamwork? This one’s for you. In Bank Attack, all players are looking to succeed in a heist. The game consists of a bank vault and a voice which quick fires commands.
Each player takes a role (ie Money Man, Look Out, Explosives Expert etc). There’s a selection of tools for the job, like goggles, map, torch, explosives and so on. Everyone needs to listen out for their instruction which might mean Look Out needs to get the map, or Money Man needs to give the Explosive Experts the torch.
At some point you need to push the button on the vault and if you’ve all done it in the right order, the safe opens bit by bit until you’re successful.
Unless you’re not. And the sirens go off and you are nicked!
It’s fast-paced and takes good listening skills, and we end up in peals of laughter when it goes wrong. This is a fantastic game for totally switching off from the outside world. Your mind is so absorbed in the action and the tasks, you can’t think about anything else.
We find this game oddly stress-relieving, and I think you will too.
4. Video game: Minecraft Dungeons
My 10 year can’t get enough of this video game! In Minecraft Dungeons you play through a story level looking for treasures of different worth. At the end of each level, you battle a boss and, if you win, you collect a chest. There isn’t the crafting and mining you get in traditional Minecraft. It’s a straight crawler game, so it’s easy to jump in and play even if you haven’t played Minecraft before (what kid hasn’t, though?).
There are plenty of different ways to play, different weapons to choose from, and the skill level required is perfectly pitched at challenging and rewarding.
What we like about it best about Minecraft Dungeons is that it plays brilliantly as a co-op (team) game. You can have up to 4 players either couch mode (in your home) or online with friends. Jackson is obsessed with it. It’s rated for ages 10+, but I think age 7+ could play this fine with a parent or older sibling.
5. New beginnings: a fresh new bullet journal is a January 2021 favourite
The new year isn’t new without a new diary. We usually have a massive family wall calendar on the kitchen door to mark out where the kids, my husband and I are on any given day. This was useful back in the days we used to be all in different places, but now, we are never in different places! I see these faces every single hour. Of. Every. Single. Day. At home!
So, we’ve now got a much smaller calendar for the wall, which looks a bit forlorn and basically just has birthdays and the odd doctor appointment.
Perhaps it’s because that calendar is so bleak, I’ve reached for something more colourful for myself, which is a bullet journal. Armed with many spools of cute and eclectic washi tape, I’m going to attempt to keep my weekly and yearly goals on track. I actually use the app Notion for specific scheduling, and I have A5 exercise books for each of my freelance jobs. So this bullet journal is a more tactile space for mind mapping and provoking deep thinking. Hopefully, my ‘thinking’ goes beyond what we’re having for dinner tonight.
I bought mine from Flying Tiger Copenhagen, but you can find similar bullet journals on Amazon.
6. Book (for me): Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
My throat swells up whenever I talk about this book. I gravitated towards it when my heart was feeling quite tender, as the title sounded soothing. But Tiny, Beautiful Things is only soothing in the way that brutally honest advice from a wise friend is a salve for unspeakable horrors and gut-wrenching decisions.
Generous, tough, witty (sometimes in the best, irreverent kind of way), Cheryl Strayed was an anonymous agony aunt at The Rumpus. She responds to her readers with life experience, spinning the most fascinating (and sometimes heart-shattering) stories of the people and events in her life that gave her wisdom and clarity. She’s crazy smart and crazy funny, too!
Did you make it through 2020 a bit broken? Have you ever felt paralysed with indecision? Do you dare to feel hope again? Read this and I promise you will learn as much about yourself as about Cheryl Strayed.
7. Home Décor: parrot lamp
Shorter days have meant less light in our living room. With all the time we’re spending indoors, I thought we should brighten it up. This gorgeous parrot lamp from Dunelm is bringing us so much happiness this January! The shade is a perfect green, lined in gold and the two birds are elegantly carved. Definitely recommend if you want to add some fun to your décor. There’s a cool monkey variation too.
8. Home décor (kids): teddy bear sheets
By far, the children’s favourite Christmas present, more than games, more than chocolate even, was their new bedding. This teddy bear set from Dunelm is like being enveloped in soft, warm hugs. The only problem now is getting them out of bed!
The collection comes in plenty of colours, and the duvet cover is even reversible so you get even more options. We chose the soft grey and yellow for our 10-year old son and the dark blue and grey for our teenager. Both are so super snuggly and easy to wash that I’m considering a set for myself!
9. TV: Bridgerton (Netflix, subscription)
Downton Abbey meets Gossip Girl, anyone? Bridgerton is the show everyone’s talking about, so perhaps it is the most obligatory viewing for Lockdown 3. And for good reason. The costumes are sumptuous, the dialogue is spectacularly fantastical, and the settings are the stuff of dreams. The whole thing is entirely unreal, but that’s what I love about it. Get me out of reality and into a corset please! Dinner with The Duke of Hastings wouldn’t go unappreciated either…
10. Sweets: Candy Kitten mango
This is on 14-year-old Julian’s favourites list, and I must concur, they are delicious! Candy Kittens are free of palm oil, plus they’re vegan and utterly scrumptious. Not much more to say, except they don’t last long in our house. This month we tried the new tropical mango flavour which I think has the edge on Wild Strawberry. And they’re a bargain price on Amazon right now.
11. Treat yo’self Mama: Aromatherapy Associates De-Stress Mind Shower Oil
And lastly… a recommendation for you ladies: the Aromatherapy Associates De-Stress Mind Shower Oil. Treat yo’self Mama because you deserve it! A friend gave me a little 3ml bottle of in an advent calendar, and Oh My Days, it has 
changed my world. When it ran out, I had to immediately order a full-size bottle. It’s a bit on the pricey side, but a little goes a long way, and it is genuinely worth it. The smell is like a luxury spa, and the best part is the scent lingers a long time after you’ve had a shower. I’m obsessed with it for my dry winter skin (goodbye flakey legs! Not that anyone’s seeing them lol).
I hope you enjoyed this round-up of our January 2021 family favourites.
Comment below what you are loving this month, and share it with our community. I love a good recommendation from you!
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