My husband and I need some advice and some ideas to liven up this get together please?

Both sets of parents live in FL now, they hosted the family parties. Now it's up to us ';kids'; to do it. The problem is we don't really click. We get along w/ my sister but we don't get along w/ her husband. Same w/ my brother-in-laws. We get along w/ one brother but not so much w/ his girlfriend. And the other brother and wife are so boring and we just have nothing in common with them it's hard to carry a conversation!





It's our turn to host this get together to do a gift exchange for the kids. My brother-in-law hosted it last year and needless to say it was boring and unenjoyable. What can be done to make this as painless as possible? I was thinking about doing something along the lines of a ';kids'; party. (there will be 3 toddlers and 3 teens) But not sure how to go about it. Advice? Ideas??





Looking for ways to make this enjoyable for all.My husband and I need some advice and some ideas to liven up this get together please?
have you trimmed the tree yet? if not, have a tree trimming party and make food! actually, make dessert, everyone can agree on dessert! invite santa claus, that'd be cool for the kids. heck, kids of all ages. have santa pass the gifts out. and dang it, have an open mind, and quit complaining about how 'boring' your family is. some people don't even have boring family. they're all alone. or they have an abusive family, which is far worse. be grateful you have a family to share this time of joy with, period. happy holidays.My husband and I need some advice and some ideas to liven up this get together please?
Have all the all adults bring a gender neutral gift....(could be a gag gift,) if you want and do a gift exchange. For the teens and toddlers, you could have little goody bags to give them before they go home.





The older kids seem like a good age to do fun games such as twister, charades, Pictionary etc....we have a game that gets everybody talking and getting along....it is called Apples to Apples, so that might be a good one to get for the day. The teens and adults could all do the games, it will be a good ice breaker anyway.....





The toddlers might enjoy doing a craft, such as decorating sugar cookies or making a gingerbread house....you could also get Christmas coloring pages off the Internet and give each child a new box of crayons...make sure they are the washable kind though! If all else fails with the toddlers, make sure you have a couple movies they could watch.





I ALWAYS stress about my in-laws, and usually when it is all said and done it wasn't as bad as my imagination thought it would be. Try to enjoy the day.
What about having a come and go party instead? Just have it where they can come from a certain time to a certain time,that way nobody is feeling like they HAVE to stay and either ';entertain'; or be ';entertained';? This way the little ones ';hopefully'; won't get bored and can go home and take a ';nap'; and the Teenagers can get the heck out of there and go do something that they want to do,like hang out with friends. A good time would be from 11am to 2pm,that way everybody eats together and would make it a ';light'; lunch,opens gifts,then you and hubby can ';relax'; and put it off on the Parents in Florida next year,they got out of it easy this time,bet they have more fun than you do .......Merry Christmas
Euchre Tournament...3 tables takes the time up for 12 people. The toddlers are on their own. Drink up!
Oh so your parents and his parents are getting together great. you should take them to you guys favorite restaurant.