It’s indisputable & undeniable; games are inherent to who we are. Today we’re describing the most popular family games around this house… all linked to below.

This post contains affiliate links. Go here to read the full (ultra fun) legal disclosure about that.

I love playing games together as a family, because it’s a great excuse to all huddle around a table and enjoy hanging out together.

Phones get left to the side. And we all have each other’s full attention.

Games leads to laughter and conversation that often would never happen any other way.

If you’d rather, listen in to a recent podcast all about this topic right here:

Our family must own well over 50 games, and don’t even get me started about decks of cards. We have drawers full of various ones. We don’t include standard card games in this article, like Rummey, and Hearts, and Presidents (all favorites over here as well) but this book gives directions for those and 98 other games to get your decks of cards into full-force use.

And, no, you don’t need to own 37 different decks. Cause who would do that? cough. cough.

The Most Popular Family Games in our House

It’s hard to choose which ones are our favorites. Obviously, we go through seasons that our choices would change, and of course new games are always entering the scene around here. But after great thought and heated debates we compiled this list for you of our favorite games.

Azul–This game is not only my current absolute favorite, but it’s also drop dead gorgeous. If aesthetics matter to you in a game this will be your lifetime favorite. While Azul is a little more quiet/contemplative than i like in a family game, there is definitely still room for a nice conversation while you play this game. I should mention that I did a lot of research on this one before purchasing it for my daughter and new son-in-law on their first Christmas. (Yes, in this family games are very important. It was a given that the newlyweds needed a closet full of popular family games to start off their new life together.) I learned that there are other versions of this game that are far less appealing, so definitely stick with this version right here. Oh, and bonus for a newlywed couple, it’s a great game for just 2 players. Negative for a family of 6, who often has extra friends over on game nights, it only allows for 4 players. So we’ve decided we’ll soon be getting a second copy so we can double our playing capacity. We love it that much.

Tetris–From the fun asthetics of this game to the multiple levels of play, there’s so much to love about this game. While there is thinking and strategy involved, it’s also a game that allows for plenty of connection time and talking while you play.

Cover Your Assets–Don’t let the simplistic nature of this card game that fits in a little box fool you. It’s fast paced and addicting. And it’s perfect for this competitive family. (We also own a cute limited edition of this featuring Crumbl cookies, but I don’t think you can find it anymore, which is fine, Cover Your Assets is more to-the-point and more competitive.)

Brain Games–Don’t let this name fool you either. I was worried it’d be only for brainiacs or only all about optical illusions. I was totally wrong, on both counts. And we’ve never played this without loving every minute of it.

Skyjo–Don’t let the weird name fool you. This is one of my favorite games these days. In fact, it’s the favorite of everyone in our family. I love it because you can totally talk with each other and enjoy your conversation while you play. There is enough “chance’ involved that you just laugh and keep talking (and the game keeps moving) if you choose wrong. Yet there is a decent amount of strategy, so it’s a perfect balance really.

Cabo–This simple card game, played with an average deck of cards– is one we come back to often. Find the rules here.

Qwirkle–I think one reason I love this game is that it’s truly great for all ages. Well, they recommend 6+ but I’m certain younger could thrive at this game and yet it’s one of Bill’s absolute favorites. I also love that it makes me examine the playing area closely and think outside of my usual “box,” yet we seem to be able to hold great conversations while playing this family favorite. But a few members of our family are extremely tactile kind of people and I’m sure this game would be a favorite of theirs even if it wasn’t so fun to play.

Phase 10–A great game for all ages, this has been played in our house as long as I can remember, and we still truly love it. Phase Ten is a great game for a long, gray, rainy day. Or it’s a great option if you’re in the mood to challenge each other to a long-standing competition… it’s easy to just play a round or two and pick the game back up right where you left off night after night.

Code Names–I love this game because it really makes you think outside of the box but I never suggest this as a game option if it’s a night I want to just soak up each other’s company or if we’re with new friends we really want to get to know. With Code Names, you’re thinking hard all the time and there is no extra talking at all. But it is a really fun game of thinking.

WhooNu–THIS is the game I always pull out when we’re playing with new friends because it’s a fun way to get to know each other. Yet it’s also a tried-and-true favorite, popular family game in our house. It always will be. Your friend likes chewing bubble gum more than making snowmen? Who knew!

Taboo–Taboo came out when I was a teen, and I’m super glad it’s still around, because it will always be one of my favorites. But if you can find a version from the 1980s you will love the battery-powered buzzer more than today’s little squeaky thing. Or you’ll hate it. If your husband is in charge of it and won’t. stop. beeping. it. non-stop. It could go either way.

Fact or Crap–Full disclosure… this one wouldn’t have made my list, but my teen daughters stood over my shoulder and insisted I add this one. If your friends and family would enjoy making random guesses on stupid things you could never be expected to know you too would love this one. But the real joy sets in once in a while when you indeed know a random fact and you feel “pretty freakin smart,” to quote Kayla, like when the “dendrochronoly” card came up for her and she knew the definition by heart from 8th grade science while everyone else thought she was a brilliant scholar of all things tree-rings.

Wits & Wagers–this is a game of randomly betting on useless information that you really have no idea about, yet somehow it’s one everyone loves around here.

Imaginiff–I wouldn’t say this one is top on our list of popular family games, but suprizingly we always enjoy it when we bring it out. I do feel like there aren’t really enough cards after you’ve played it a lot. You’ll start recognizing the cards and maybe even remember how someone chose on that same card in the past. I really like the way the game works though, that you get more points the more that others guess your guess. So there’s a bit of strategy involved in choosing the right answer.

Dutch Blitz–this game has been around way longer than I have yet it’s super fun. It’s a nice fast-paced game with never a need to wait a turn. It is total chaos as everyone works at the same time to build sets in order to get rid of all the cards in their hand first, but it’s fun chaos. We own this option, which includes an awesome expansion pack so 8 people can join in on the crazy chaos all at once.

Five Crowns–This card game works well with a small or larger group and it’s good for a wide age range to all enjoy playing together. It’s strategic but not too hard, so the family can enjoy talking while playing. Bonus: it’s a sneaky way for kids to practice addition skills.

Sequence–my father-in-law gave us a homemade version of this back before I even knew you could buy this game and it’s been a staple in our game closet ever since.

Then, last but definitely not least…

Cranium Turbo Edition–we just recently discovered this game. Apparently it was first made 20 years ago, but we seriously had never heard of it. (I have no idea how this happened.) We have played a slew of varieties of Cranium games, and while we’ve liked them for different reasons, in their own right, you may have noticed that none made the list. They seem to grow kind of wearisome and tiring after playing them a handful of times. And if you’ve played one Cranium game you’ve played them all, in some fashion… or so we thought… Then we tried this one. There are so many things to love about this game! I’ll name just a few:

• There seems to be an unlimited number of players. Super fun if you have a big crowd and want some pretty mindless, super fun entertainment.
• There is such a great variety of activities! 16 to be exact, and 6 of these you won’t find in any other Cranium game. I think the ones that makes us crack up the most are the Puppeteer cards, kind of a charades on people-as-a-puppet steroids.
• The electronic timer with music and lights is unlike any timer we’ve seen in any game and it seriously makes us break out in goofy dance sometimes it’s so fun.
• With 1,000 game cards I can’t imagine we will ever get sick of this or see repeat cards.
• It comes with many fun options of cards we can design ourselves for our own personalized game.
• We’ve never played this without laughing uncontrollably time and again.

Honorable mentions

The Bible is Funny is kind of like a PG-rated Cards Against Humanity and we crack up every time we play it.

Inklings (an oldie, I can’t find it online anymore), Scattergories, Balderdash, and the silliest game my daughters love to still drag out and play, like they’re 8 again? Mall Madness.

Then there’s Carrom–kind of a table-top version of pool, using your fingers and circular playing pieces instead of pool sticks and balls. This one doesn’t come out often (probably because it is stored in the barn attic, just because of the size of the game, so it’s just not as convenient to grab when game mood hits. But when it does come out, it’s played for days on end.

Our favorite games when the kids were younger…

Blink

Hi Ho Cherry O

Hungry Hippo

Trouble

Sorry

Connect Four

Uno Attack

Battleship

Rummy Roots

And the girls loved these favorite single-person “games,” for lack of a better word:

Tangrams

Rush Hour

Then there are these adorable games that my girls would have LOVED when they were younger, if only they existed then!

The Uno Moo Game (Look at that cuteness! Complete with a BARN!)

Zingo (Bingo with a Zing? Yes, please!)

Here are some other links that might interest you:

9 Perfect Things to do on a Long Winter Evening, many of which are good to do as a family in every season.

The secret to making the perfect (giant!) cookie that makes every game night just about perfect.

Four Questions Successful Parents Ask Themselves

When Parents Feel Like Failures (and why it’s okay to fail)

Now it’s YOUR turn! Please help me find our family’s NEW favorite game by recommending YOUR favorite game(s) in the comments! I can’t wait to hear!

Listen in to my thoughts on these family games in this podcast episode:

Aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands. I Thessalonians 4:11

The post Popular Family Games first appeared on Souly Rested.

If you’d like to snag some of my favorite kombucha recipes and learn more about this amazingness, go here to access that goodness immediately.

How to Assemble a Kombucha Starter Kit

As Christmas neared last year, I realized just how much I’ve been talking up this glorious homemade, fermented, gut-friendly, probiotic drink. Suddenly friends and relatives were texting me or pulling me aside and whispering that they need to know what exactly this kombucha effort entails because they have a friend, or a daughter, or a mom whom they wanted to give a gift of kombucha.

Of course a DIY kombucha “starter kit” is a perfect gift for all kinds of reasons, all year long, for yourself or for someone you love. So I’m always happy to oblige when someone asks for advice. I’ve tried many kombucha products over the years, and I can confidently recommend some great ones.

If your friend would like to learn all-things kombucha with an expert by her side, she will love this!–Go here to find out more, or read on for more details.

My favorite kombucha I’ve ever made? That’s easy. I fill you in on all the details right here.

—  DISCLOSURE: this post contains affiliate links. These links take you directly to all the products I use and love for making kombucha right here in my own kitchen. —

How to Give the Gift of Kombucha

It starts with the SCOBY.

First off, you can’t do a darn thing without a wonderful specimen of good bacteria, aka a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast). I’ve looked around and read up on SCOBYs and of all I’ve found, this one is my favorite. This scoby grew double in size seemingly overnight, and makes some fantastic kombucha. These SCOBYs are grown with love and great attention. That’s important.

They’ll need a fermenting vessel.

Don’t let the sound of it intimidate you… you can really use any glass or stainless steel container you want for this. You can even, I guess, use a bowl, but I prefer glass jars like this 1-gallon jar and this 2.5-gallon jar. You won’t be using the lids on any of these options, because your scoby needs oxygen at all times. You’ll cover your jar with a piece of breathable fabric, held on with a large rubber band or a piece of tied string or twine.

I’ve seen lots of folks using this 1-gallon jar or this 2-gallon jar–but note that most (if not all) jars you find like this, with the pretty built-in spigot, are NOT going to have a stainless steel spigot, which means you should never bottle your kombucha out of one of those spigots, but pour your kombucha into a pitcher to bottle from. So if you can’t use the spigot, you really don’t need it.

Now this option–my favorite option of all–DOES have a stainless steel spigot. The entire container is stainless steel. I love it for my continuous kombucha brew, on my kitchen counter.

SIDE NOTE: never use a metal fermenter for kombucha. Kombucha is acidic and metal will leach into your drink–no thank you. But a high-grade stainless steel is perfect.

I explain more about my 4-gallon vessel in the fb live video linked below, but I don’t use the lid when I’m using it for kombucha (just cover with secured fabric). Even so, I’m excited about the lid because my other purpose for this vessel is to try my hand at maple wine making next summer, so then I’ll transfer my kombucha to a few 2-gallon containers while I try out the fermenting vessel for wine. Win-win, no?

You can give a preassembled kit.

For the fastest, simplest way to get started, and a great gift-giving option, you can purchase a starter kit like this one. Then you can add a few of the items below to make it extra special.

Gift this Master Class on Kombucha.

I’ve included all the details in one place that I learned after years of mistakes, confusion, success, and deliciousness. The Simple DIY Kombucha Master Class, filled with 12 modules of insights, offers every detail needed to make the best kombucha. Every time.

And just wait till you see the crazy awesome free bonuses that you’ll be giving when you gift this master class! I’m seriously jumping-up-and-down excited over here y’all. So go here for the full scoop.

And don’t forget the extras they’ll love.

You won’t find many of these items in most kombucha starter kits, but most kombucha brewers will want these.

A strainer like this one for taking out the fruit and/or small scoby chunks before drinking. Mind you this is not necessary. For added health benefit, feel free to eat and drink every last bit. I just don’t like drinking chunky kombucha. Plus, my chicken love when I feed my kombucha fruit to them. Check out my Instagram stories for insights into my kombucha, my chicken, and all kinds of crazy stuff going on around our New England homestead. Follow on instagram here.

A stainless steel funnel like this is handy, but not always necessary, if you plan on using larger-mouth second ferment bottles. But for maximum carbonation, you’ll want narrow necked bottles. Of course, with the nifty built-in strainer, this funnel could meet 2 needs in 1.

A set of ph strips like these will help a kombucha brewer have confidence that their brew is at its best. I like these strips because they measure in 1/2 a pt. increments and range from 0-6. By the way, I conserve my test strips, using only 1/2 or even less of a strip every time that I test my kombucha. They last a long time!

Thermometers—This set of 3 thermometers is nice to stick on your fermenting vessels. Knowing the temperature of your first ferment helps you have a better estimate of how long until it’s ready to move into the second ferment.

A way to keep things warm–While this is totally unnecessary, it will help your kombucha ferment a lot faster, and aid in carbonation, if the fermenting vessel is kept at a regular, warm temperature. You can wrap a “brew belt” like this around your vessels, or even a strand of twinkle lights, or set your kombucha on a regular-old heating pad like this one. While I find it worthy of mentioning that many folks swear by these products to keep their kombucha brewing well, I should also say I’ve never tried any of these methods. I let my kombucha run its course, on its own, and so far it’s done fine.

Bottle cleaning aids–While rinsing them with hot water as soon as you empty them is the best way to clean your second ferment bottles, it’s helpful to have a nice brush like this one, or cleaning beads like these right here work wonderfully to get little bits of fruit and herbs out of the jars.

Maple syrup—this is one of my favorites. (Use code SOULYRESTED to save on your first order.) While you can grow a scoby that is fed on maple syrup (find out how to do that here), you can also use maple, frozen fruit, fresh fruit, jam, jelly, and juices, to jazz up the second ferment of any batch of kombucha. So feel free to gift any kind of fruit or syrups as part of a kombucha gift.

Would you like to know more about how I have substituted maple syrup and maple sugar for most of my refined sugar choices in our kitchen? Go here for many articles on that topic and go here for a few recipes you’ll love. Then subscribe to SoulyRested and enjoy a plethora of resources and recipes in my Subscriber Library.

Then there’s the tea & bottles.

Tea — While you can include any black, green, white, or rooibos tea and it will make a delicious kombucha, the choices do extend beyond that. But there are so many variables in tea leaves that could harm your scoby or deter your brewing. So if you want to brew some amazing kombucha, check out these special kombucha blends that my friend CeAnne, over at Farmhouse Teas, has assembled for you. This lady knows her teas, and she brews kombucha herself, so she’s an expert at this y’all. (Use code SOULYRESTED to save.)

Second Ferment Flavors– This isn’t a necessity. You can brew your kombucha and drink it without doing a second ferment, but if you want teas to flavor your second ferment, these teas are wonderful. (Use code SOULYRESTED to save.)

Bottles–These are for the second ferment, so if you want fizzy carbonated kombucha you want good bottles with a tight seal. Thin necked bottles help build the carbonation better than wide-mouthed, but I have no trouble getting wonderful fizz with my mason jars.

While I like filling 1/2-gallon mason jars with my flavored second ferment, you can certainly use quart jars too.

But the best bottles for a newbie kombucha brewer are defintely ones like these 16 oz bottles or these 33 oz bottles. The swing top lids with seals help ensure a nice carbonated drink. My friends at Great Fermentations sell a 12-pack of swing-top bottles, as well.

Add in something fun.

Scroll down for some fun add-ons to make your gift extra special… kombucha-themed tshirts, mugs, and even a journal for the recipient to record favorite recipes.

Don’t Forget–the Master Class is the icing on the cake.

Whatever specific items you decide to package up as a perfect gift for your friend who wants to start making this homemade, fermented, gut-friendly, probiotic drink, you’ll want to include access to the Simple DIY Kombucha Master Class all about everything anyone needs to know to make perfect kombucha. Every time. Sign them up right here.

Check out my 3 kombucha brews going on at once & let’s talk about why I drink this amazing stuff in this fb live.

Or let’s talk about why I LOVE making continuous brew in this youtube live.

Or on instagram, check out my Kombucha Highlight.

“Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared… for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 

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Other Info You’ll Love:

How to Bake with Maple Syrup (seriously. You need to know this!)

Popular Family Games that are perfect for gift giving!

All my Favorite Tools in my Farmhouse Kitchen (the things I wouldn’t want to live without)

Talk to me!

If you have any kombucha questions, leave a comment below. And please tag me on ig to show me your amazing kombucha gift that you create at @souly.rested.

 

Find out why SoulyRested was considered to be one of the Top 20 Must-Read Homesteading Blogs of 2018 and then one of the Top Homesteading Blogs of 2019 as well.

 

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

The post Give the gift of kombucha yumminess first appeared on Souly Rested.

So today we’re putting our two heads together for one SWEET, maple-infused list of gift-giving ideas. But first, my favorite? I LOVE THIS SWEET GEAR!

I’m guessing by now you’ve heard from some reliable source–like say Time Magazine–that maple is the new pumpkin. From what I’m reading, we’ll be seeing maple-flavored everything  more and more. Which is just fine by me. In fact, I say what on earth took so long?

Maple creates an amazingly warm sweetness when used in baking. Take my favorite donuts ever, for example. When I switched up the donut recipe and added some maple, well there is no will power strong enough. At least not in THIS house.

Maple has so much to offer.

Yes, maple has far more to offer than just sweet, warm, deliciously subtle undertones…

— Maple has less calories than refined sugar. (Crazy, I know. But true.)

— It offers a low glycemic index–meaning, in moderation, it can be an ideal sweetener for those who suffer from diabetes.*

— It’s loaded with antioxidants that support the body’s immune system.

— It supports heart health.

— And it’s chocked full of beneficial vitamins and minerals.

Hmmmmm, all of that and yet we still choose refined sugar to sweeten our food and drinks. What does refined sugar have to offer us? That answer is a really short list: Calories.

In fact, I bake with maple syrup.

I love using maple in my kitchen so much, I put together a handy conversion chart to help you replace refined sugar with maple syrup in everything you bake.

So do you have a few people on your gift-giving list who might enjoy the warm flavor of maple, while reaping the amazing benefits of this all-natural sugar? Boy do I have some gift giving ideas for you!

DISCLOSURE:This post contains affiliate links.

For the Sweet Baker

Anyone who loves to bake will love trying some new maple recipes. Especially if you tell them how and why maple is such a fantastic alternative to refined sugar. Print out the Maple Blueberry Cake recipe you’ll find in my Resource Library, my Baking Conversion Chart you’ll find right here, and a copy of Sweet Maple. (Go here for info on many ways you can order my book–I’m so excited about this y’all!) Present the SWEET gift to them in  a beautiful cast iron skillet (I love the selection at Lehmans, right here).

You could even add a pint of maple syrup, and this beauty of a dish filled with blueberries for a gift they will never forget.

 

DISCLOSURE:This post contains affiliate links.

For the Sweet Tooth

Make them some amazingly yummy maple popcorn and wrap it in assorted sized tins or one like this. Include popcorn kernels and maple syrup, so they can make it themselves next time, along with a print out of the Maple Popcorn recipe from my free eBook, A Sweet Taste (available in my Subscriber Library). Even better, wrap up a copy of Sweet Maple as part of the gift… there are some great popcorn recipes in there as well. Add an air-pop popper and they’ll have all they ever need for the best popcorn ever.

Or get them some maple sugar you can find on Amazon. The sugar that will bring great joy to their coffee, tea, and cookies. And their own copy of Sweet Maple will teach them how to make more maple sugar when your generous gift runs out.

If you truly have no idea what to get them, try a maple syrup sampler, and a copy of Sweet Maple, because who can resist the joy of being a syrup connoisseur?

Or give the gift that I’ve always wanted… the makings of amazing, all-natural Maple Cotton Candy whenever you want it! Go here for a great cotton candy machine. (Note: make sure the model you choose has temperature controls, like this one does, or you will find your cotton candy tends to burn easily.) Then include a note card with directions: “Make your syrup into granulated maple sugar. Mix 1 part maple sugar to 4 parts pure cane sugar. Mix well and let your sugar combination to sit for a week or longer to ‘marinate.’ Use mix to make delicious maple cotton candy with no artificial colors or flavors.” And throw in a copy of my e-course on Making Maple Sugar if they aren’t yet experts at that.

Of course, any maple fanatic would always love a gift of this delicious maple syrup.

For Someone who Loves Sweet Clothes

There’s sure to be a few sweatshirts or shirts the maple fanatics in your life would love right here, in my online shop of Sweet Gear.

For a Sweet New Parent or Grandparent

There’s always the adorable baby onesie for the child or grandchild of a maple addict.

For the Wannabe Sugarmaker

If you know a maple addict who may want to try their hand at making some maple sugar, they may love my e-course on how to make maple sugar. Let me know you’re ordering it as a gift and I’ll send you a sweet Gift Certificate you can wrap for the recipient.

If you have some friends or family in your life who would love the challenge of harvesting and bottling their own golden sweetener, from a tree or two in their backyard, then read on.

My favorite sugarmaker put together this list of great items for you to choose from that will help your special someone get to work tapping some trees.

And by the way, a sugarmaker is not limited to tapping only maple trees! See the complete list of tappable trees here.

Pair up a few of these items with Sweet Maple, and the recipient will be an instant expert at marking and tapping trees, collecting precious sap, and boiling, bottling, creaming, and granulating the most amazing all-natural sugar known to man.

I’ve compiled the best of my favorite syrup-making resources in one place and any of these items would make a perfect gift for a newbie sugarmaker.

After you check out this list of fabulous gift ideas, consider wrapping up any combination of these must-haves for any newbie sugarmaker: a few taps, a few feet of tubing (or a lot!), and a few buckets, or this handy combination of 10 taps and tubing. a mini getting-started kit like this one. A big pan and propane stand (or a cord of wood). A candy thermometer. A reusable filter. A hydrometer along with a hydrometer test cup (they’ll need both together). mason jars.

And all sugarmakers love “fancy” syrup jars.  Here’s a link to a case of 8 oz. pretty glass bottles. Or, if you want a roomier option, these are 12 oz fancy jars. Honestly, I like having both sizes on hand, so I have some small ones to send home with folks who I just want to give a nice little gift to. The larger ones I save for extra special friends and family.

Just for fun

Do an amazon search for “maple syrup [fill in the blank with “mug” or “shirt”] and you’ll find all kinds of ideas, like this bumper sticker, t-shirt, and deck of playing cards.

 

 

I’d love to connect!

To find me in some other neck of the woods, just click any (or every!) icon below:

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From my favorite sugarmaker and me

I hope that between my husband and I, we’ve come up with a few ideas that make your gift giving easier, more exciting, and a little more unique this year. And, from my favorite sugarmaker and myself, we wish you a truly blessed holiday season.

 

The post Gift giving ideas for the maple fanatic in your life first appeared on Souly Rested.