Thinking back to the shambles of 2020, it’s easy to focus on the things we wouldn’t ever want to see again. (I’m looking at you social distancing, toilet paper shortages, travel bans and zoom meetings!) But despite the global pandemic dominating pretty much every area of our life, we found a lot of things to be positive about. More time at home meant family board game marathons, binge-watching together, and staying (slightly) cleaner and more organised.
In fact, there are so many fantastic new things we are now doing differently, I’m going to break this post into 3 parts. So here is the first part of the 16 new things our family did in 2020 that we love and have carried on doing in 2021.
2020 things we LOVE in 2021
1. Game Olympics
Invented by our then 13-year-old, a Board Game Olympics was the first thing we did in lockdown 1.0 of last year. We held a series of gaming tournaments and kept a competitive leader-board until the very end. When it was over, we had a winner’s party to celebrate. And then we treated ourselves to (what else?) a brand-new game to play.
We have so many games, sometimes the old favourites are played less and less, or sadly they get forgotten. The Game Olympics reminded us of the games we used to love (and the ones we sort of love to hate too!). This was a great idea from 2020 that we’ll do again in 2021.
If you want to learn how to do this yourself, check out this post.
2. Drawing on Thursdays
If you read my blog post about cosy January, you’ll know that our family started doing a weekly drawing session. It’s not hard at all, so if you’re like me, and have almost zero drawing ability, don’t be afraid. Anyone can do this, trust me!
Every Thursday afternoon, we pick a quick YouTube video and learn to draw something new. In 2020, we did all Disney characters, from Mickey and Minnie Mouse to Rapunzel and Pascal. The videos are easy to follow; I really surprised myself with what I could do!
We will definitely be carrying on drawing in 2021, perhaps with a different theme like Star Wars or Kawaii animals. You can find anything to draw on YouTube, and I encourage you to sharpen those pencils and have a go.
Bonus: you can pop those lovely pictures up on your fridge till next week.
3. Movie marathons
When the weather turned a bit colder towards the end of 2020, we had more time indoors than usual. So it was a no-brainer to turn to TV for entertainment. But, to maximise our viewing satisfaction, we started to plan our watch time with intention.
I’ve always wanted to see all of the Marvel films in the right order, so we found a list online and started working through them. Most of the movies in the series are on Disney+ and a couple of them we had to rent, but they’re all easy enough to get a hold of. It was really fun to spot Easter eggs we hadn’t noticed before. And it is satisfying to better understand how all the spinoff stories come together in the end.
We loved this so much, that my husband’s come up with a Wednesday night tradition for 2021 – dinner and a movie. (Ok, so it’s not a trailblazer, haha!) He is amazing, though, at whipping up towering plates of burgers and fries. And then we all pile in front of the TV to watch a film together. It’s a great little pick-me-up for the middle of the week.
Now that we’ve finished the Marvel series, we want to work through all the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beast Films. But you could try any movie franchise like Disney/Pixar, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, X-Men, Die Hard, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Fast and Furious… you get the idea!
4. Routine meals & delivery services
In 2020, our relationship with the grocery store was quite tricky. In lockdown 1.0, it was a strange, post-apocalyptic destination. Would you even find pasta, flour and eggs?
In lockdown 2.0, queues were down, supplies were more reliable, and it was our only excursion for the week, so it almost felt like a treat.
Lockdown 3.0 (which felt like lockdown 300) had rumours of a super-strong mutant virus, which put us off going out altogether. Fortunately, delivery slots became more widely available, and we switched to virtually all online shopping. Either we book a delivery to our door or arrange a click and collect from the shop.
The thing I now notice about online food shopping is that in some weird, psychological twist my husband feels empowered to take over the task. Gone are the hours I spent mulling over new, exciting meal plans for the week. I stopped searching for fresh recipes online, stopped looking at special offers and weighing up how many different vegetables the kids could be persuaded to eat. (If anyone can overthink a task, it’s me!)
My husband has a list; he sticks to the list.
Now, the downside of this new way of shopping is that we pretty much have the same weekly meal plan that I made at the beginning of Covid-19. And that can sometimes get a little boring to be honest.
However, lack of variety aside, the benefit of him doing the online order is that I have so much extra time.
It’s extra time I get to spend with the kids. I also have more thinking space for actually doing work (like writing this blog!). Sometimes I might jump in with a dinner suggestion or two, but otherwise, it’s his thing. I’m amazed at how much of my life this took up before, and I don’t really mind too much having a solid meal rotation.
It’s working out so well for us, we’re both happy to see it continue throughout 2021. If you have a small shop and need your groceries in an hour, you could try Sainsbury’s Chop Chop service. A link to their app is here.
5. Family sports
OK, so I know what you’re thinking. Either: A) heck yeah sports! Or B) ohmygodnoway sports. Hear me out. I’m in the latter camp. I have two older boys. But I don’t like getting sweaty. I don’t like being knocked to the ground. I need to be fairly close to a restroom if I’ve had any amount of coffee in the last 2 hours. So on paper, I’m not great sports material, let’s be frank.
However, in 2020, what else was there to do other than to visit the park?? If your kids are older and they don’t play in the playground anymore, then I have the sports solution for you.
First up: table tennis. We play singles, we play doubles. Requires minimal movement. Sure, you’ll be hopping around, diving for that ping pong ball, but it’s nothing like running up and down the football field while your 10- and 14-year-old are bearing down on you to swipe that ball. We even bought a folding table to play indoors when it’s too wet or windy. I highly recommend it.
Second: frisbee. Top tip: Watch a few YouTube videos. Pick up a technique and stick to it. Buy a decent frisbee. This is such a simple and relaxing activity; either just toss it between yourselves, or invent a football-style game if you appreciate a cardio activity. This can be a great family sport and we’ll carry on in 2021. If you’re feeling extra, bring a portable blue-tooth speaker out and a few beverages with you. Summer nights were made for this kind of vibe.
Third: biking. Obviously, you need bikes. I genuinely didn’t know how much the kids would enjoy biking together until last
year, and that’s something they’ll take into the rest of 2021 as well. One of our new favourite weekend activities is to pack the kids’ bikes in the car. Then we head over to the Olympic Park in London to rent Santander bikes for my husband and me.
We can spend the whole day zooming around, fresh air in our faces. And maybe we’ll pick up a takeaway coffee and brownies when we get tired. Other times, we take their bikes to a country park. The boys ride up and down the trails, while my husband and I walk along behind. Sometimes we take a picnic and a pack of cards. Having his bike makes being outdoors much more appealing for my youngest child, who usually prefers to be at home.
So that’s the end of Part 1: 2020 things we love in 2021. If you enjoyed this, join me next week for part 2! If you’ve not yet subscribed, please do. You’ll get a free newsletter on Fridays with the newest posts and family fun ideas straight to your inbox. Sign up with the pop-up box or just DM me your email address.
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