When I first set out to write a winter bucket list a few years ago, I was basically tired of feeling like the cold was keeping us from making the most of our weekends as a family. I am one of those people who totally hibernates in winter and happily did so pre-kids. (I really should live somewhere warm because I hate to go out in the cold, but that’s a debate my husband and I are still having). When we were living in New York City and didn’t have kids, I legit hibernated the entire winter when I wasn’t at work. With all the delivery options, you don’t really ever need to leave your apartment if you don’t want to. You can basically order everything you need to survive the winter. But now that we have kids, the cabin fever is real, and we can’t just keep them cooped up inside all day. They need to leave the house and do stuff, or we’ll all go nuts. Enter: My winter bucket list, which is a list of wintertime activities we can do as a family that we can reference over the next few months.
I love having a winter bucket list of activities because we aren’t good at planning out our weekends, and then we end up being lazy and watching Elemental or The Grinch (for the 1000th time), eating my favorite healthy french toast recipe, and fighting over the fact that we’re not doing anything while poor James, Brooks and Charlotte run around and end up fighting or getting hurt or bored. It hasn’t helped that cold and flu season has been savage this year and kept us cooped up and sick quite a bit. But I want to make the most of every season we have with these kiddos and after spending too many days cooped up inside due to illness, I have decided we need to plan ahead to make sure we’re making the most of our weekends until spring gets here. I know we’ll be glad we made the most of this time with the kids and doing activities is a fun way to make memories that we’ll always treasure as they get bigger.
Sadly, when I started researching winter activities for toddlers, I realized that almost all of them are centered around the holidays like making Christmas cookies, decorating the tree, etc. and there weren’t a ton of ideas for things to do post-holiday during the never-ending winter doldrums. So I have created a different kind of winter bucket list filled with activities you can do from December through March (since let’s face it, winter isn’t really over until April usually). (And here are our favorite holiday activities with kids.) Hopefully this helps you survive the next few months as well. We can do it!
Build a Snowman
Visit the Natural History Museum: NYC is not too far away and this is such a great museum. Also love the one in Chicago (where I’m from).
Movie: I highly recommend going to the theater to get out of the house, but you could also create your own at-home theater if you just don’t have it in you.
Children’s Museum: For anyone in the Fairfield, CT area, we go to Stepping Stones Museum in Norwalk,and actually just got a membership there because it’s so fabulous.
Visit the Aquarium. We like the Norwalk Aquarium for any locals.
Indoor painting: I hate the mess it makes but the kids love it
Bake our favorite healthy muffins. (And learn some new recipes.)
Learn to use our slow cooker. (We literally haven’t touched it since we got it for our wedding. Any amazing, healthy recipes we need to try?)
Have a Super Bowl party: Basically, just to have an excuse to make all my favorite appetizers and junk food. So excited to finally do this this year!
Bake and decorate cookies or cupcakes. It doesn’t have to be the holidays to bake!
Go sledding. Hopefully, we’ll get enough snow to do this this year.
Shovel snow. We discovered our kids like to help rake leaves this fall, and so we’re going to bundle them up and have them help with snow.
Take kids skiing. We signed up James and Charlotte up for ski school at a local mountain not too far from our home so we’ll be doing that some weekends. I’d also love to take the kids out on our own on weekends we have nothing planned, and try out some other local mountains near us.
Ice Skating. James plays hockey a few days a week, and we put Charlotte on skates over Christmas and she loved it, so we’re going to plan a few family ski days during open skate at the rink hear us.
Escape to the beach for a weekend. We’re in desperate need of an escape from this cold. Not sure if schedules will allow, but if it does, I would love to take the kids on vacation in February or March somewhere warm.
Beach walks. Even if we don’t make it to a warm-weather destination, I love going for walks along the beach in the wintertime, and now we live close enough to do it any afternoon it’s nice enough.
Have a DIY taco night: Andrew and I both love Mexican food, but there aren’t that many great Mexican restaurants in our area and we don’t get to hit up our faves in the city that often anymore. I’d like to start making our own and perfecting our own recipes. We already have guac on lock, so it’s just figuring out how to make some good tacos and fajitas (my fave).
Go to brunch somewhere new. We always hit up our faves, mostly because they’re kid-friendly enough, but I’d like to try someplace new this winter.
Big Apple Circus. I’m not sure we’ll make it this year, but I’m keeping it on the bucket list, because it’s just such a quintessential experience I’d love the kids to have.
Disney on Ice. This is another bucket list activity we have on our list to do with the kids.
Clean out the house. I am a big fan of taking advantage of these cold, dark days to do some spring cleaning. From the kids’ clothes to their toys and our own closets and hall closets, I want to clear out the clutter and get ready for a fresh start.
Tackle home projects. There’s no better time to get some of the painting and other projects done. We need to work on our powder room floor touch-ups, a new stair runner for the entrance, organizing the playroom, installing window treatments, and painting some spaces.
Play paddle: Paddle is a recent discovery that has really helped changed the winters for me. I like to do a weekly women’s paddle game that I can easily just sign up for and includes wine, making it all the better. Andrew plays all the time and he loves that he can do it at night with the guys and not get crap from his wife for not being home to help with the kids because it starts after they go to bed (and I love being able to watch my shows in peace). We’re going to try taking the big kids out on the court a few times this year as well.
Organize all the family photos. I’m finally going to convert all the family photos from my iPhone to actual photo books. It’s a great winter activity that I can do during naps or while waiting for doctor’s appointments thanks to Chatbooks.
Family game night (or day). I said we’d do this more, and we haven’t at all. James got a bunch of games for his birthday, and I think he’s finally at an age where we can play. It’s a fun alternative to movie night where we can connect with the kids.
Bowling. Hoping the kids are old enough to try now.
Puzzles. I actually enjoy doing these with the kids.
Sleigh Ride. We did this in Park City and 10/10 recommend.
Indoor Swimming: We have the kids in swim lessons on Saturday mornings, and it’s really nice to see them continue to progress with their swimming and to get a taste of the water at least for an hour. It’s a good way to burn some energy and water safety is really important to me, especially since I’ll have three of them to watch at the pool. They also do open swimming at a local indoor pool by us that I’m going to try to take the kids to.
See the holiday lights. Before the holidays are over, I’d like to hit up some of the really cool neighborhoods to see the lights.
Day trip to towns nearby. We haven’t spent that much time in all the towns around us so I want to spend more time exploring our surrounding nabes and maybe even getting back up to Litchfield for some antiquing.
Hit up the mall. Our local mall is actually pretty cool. It has a Camp store, arcades, bowling alley, and plays movies and has entertainment. I don’t love malls, but when it’s bitter cold, it’s a nice place to walk around for an hour or two to get some energy out.
Any I should add to our list? Let’s help each other get through the winter!
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