4 Ideas For A Fun Family Night In | Nixplay

Can’t Go Out? Here are 4 Ideas for a Fun Family Night In!

Who says you can’t have tons of fun from the comfort of your own home? Sure, going out can be exciting and provide you with a much-needed change of scenery, but given the current climate and safety precautions people are taking, staying in is becoming more and more common- especially among families. With all the adjustments taking place, such as students adapting to remote learning and parents getting used to working from home, it’s nice to have a night in to look forward to at the end of the week. With a little creativity, there are plenty of ways to make a family night in feel like a family night out. Keep reading to gather some ideas on how to make your next family fun night a success.

1. Camp Out, Living Room Style

Camping in the great outdoors is an old family tradition for many, but why not create a new one by bringing the campsite to your living room? Pull out those sleeping bags, pitch a tent and get your favorite scary stories ready to tell around the fireplace or a faux campfire. Speaking of campfires, is there even a point if you don’t have s’mores? With all the prep work you’ve been doing to make this family night in perfect, grabbing the ingredients to make these tasty treats may have slipped your mind. Have no fear, with an app like goPuff, you can order all the fixings needed to make the perfect s’more, and maybe even an adult beverage or two. You can even  have them delivered to your living room so you don’t have to miss out on any of the fun! Not only is camping out living room-style a great way to spend quality time with your family, but it also guarantees you’ll avoid any stormy or rainy weather – as well as hungry bears ransacking your tent after you’ve fallen asleep! 

2. Get Creative in the Kitchen

Going out to eat, especially if you have a larger family, can be quite costly. It may also be tough for everyone to agree on where they want to go based on different tastes. A family night is the perfect time to gather around your favorite cookbook and get creative in the kitchen with your crew. Whether it’s making an old family recipe like Grandma’s famous chocolate chip cookies, or trying something completely new like sushi from scratch, the kitchen is a place where memories are made. Assigning each family member a task ensures everyone is included, as this makes the final product that much better. It’s likely you’ll have many laughs and may even make something totally inedible, which is why it’s important to keep a frozen pizza or two handy just in case! But however your culinary creation ends up, it’s still a bonding moment you’ll remember for years to come.  

3. Take Game Night to the Next Level

Sure, board games and card games are fun and will keep your family entertained, but why not take things to the next level by creating a scavenger hunt?? This will take a little extra prep work but it’s sure to make a lasting impression on your family. It’s totally up to you when it comes to how creative you want to get, but the more thought you put into it, the more exciting it will be. Begin by creating clues based on areas in or around your home. Be sure these clues are tailored to the ages of your family members. For example, if you have little ones, you’ll want to make things more basic, but if you’ve got teens or adults participating, you’ll want your clues to be a bit trickier. You can break up into teams or make it every person for themselves. Either way, whatever prize you choose should provide the winner with bragging rights for a while, or at least until the next hunt! If you’re looking for inspiration on how to plan your family scavenger hunt, check out this article.  

4. Have a Dance Party

When in doubt, dance it out! This idea may sound crazy, but you’d be surprised at how much fun you can have while dancing. Cutting a rug has many benefits that stem beyond breaking a sweat. Not only are you getting some cardio in, but you’re supporting your mental health as well. Dancing helps to boost your mood and is one of the most inclusive activities you can partake in. A dance party at home provides you with an opportunity to learn about other cultures as well. For example, you may want to explore the world of salsa dancing or learn the Viennese waltz. There’s also nothing wrong with getting down to a little hokey-pokey every now and then. Whatever your interest, moving your body to music is a great release for everyone in your family. If you want to invite a couple of friends over to include them in the fun, check out these social-distance approved dances on YouTube. 

These ideas are just a few of the ways in which you can take advantage of this time together – and with a little creativity and some help from the internet, the possibilities are endless!

Want to make sure it’s a night to remember?

Regardless of the current climate and safety precautions, we’re taking to protect our families, staying home doesn’t have to mean being stuck at home. There are so many fun activities you can plan for family members of all ages and priceless memories to be made. Want to make sure these precious moments can be looked back on for years to come.? Don’t forget to get snap-happy with your camera when spending time with those who matter most. A few pictures and videos can make the world of difference when creating memories, and a Nixplay digital photo frame is the best way to savor them forever.

Organize and digitize your photos with Nixplay
Organize and digitize your photos with Nixplay

Caren Osborne’s Latest Photo Organizing Project

It’s been a tough few months for everyone, but things are finally starting to reopen, and people are moving around a bit more. I drove down to North Carolina recently to spend ten days with my daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren. The drive was a bit surreal as there was no traffic, so I made it all the way from eastern Connecticut to Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 10 and a half hours! I had a wonderful visit and, while there, I found a beautiful new home close to my family. For the next few weeks, I will be putting my business on hold while I organize, pack up and move.

digitized photos

Organizing and Digitizing my Late Husband’s Photos

My latest photo organizing project has been going through my late husband’s photos. There was a box stored under the pool table (that we don’t use) labeled “Rick’s photos”.  He and I had started going through it a couple of winters ago, but never finished. With his passing, I now wanted to take the time to sort and organize all of those photos to preserve them for myself and his family. It turned out that a lot of the photos were actually his mother’s and sister’s, so I put those aside and gave them to my sister-in-law to sort through herself. For my husband’s photos, I organized them by date when I could and the rest by subject – such as vehicles (he was into classic cars and restoring Jeeps and trucks), family, boats (he had a lot of those over the years too), pets, and photos of the two of us.

After I finished sorting and organizing the photos, I then digitized them so that they can be preserved and treasured for many years to come. To give our families the chance to re-live their memories, I’ll also be putting them into a Forever account so they can view them and add their own comments. I wish I had the opportunity to finish organizing the photos with Rick, because I’m sure there are some wonderful stories that go along with many of them. More emphatically than ever, I advise everyone to take the time to record the stories that go along with each photo – before they’re lost forever.

organized photos

Using a Nixplay frame to digitize and display photos

After spending some time looking back at all these special moments, , I went through the digital photos on my computer and phone, and identified all the special ones of Rick over the years. I have been very diligent over the past 15 years in organizing my digital photos, going back to the ones I took with my digital cameras, by date and subject, so it was easy to find the ones I wanted to pull out.

My next step in this photo organizing project was to go through my traditional paper scrapbook albums that I have created over the past 22 years, pull out the special photos of Rick during our many adventures, and digitize them to add to my collection.

Finally, I’ll be creating a few collages from the scanned photos to be used as memorial boards for his funeral and adding all of our photos to my Nixplay digital photo frame which will be on display after the funeral at our house for family and friends to view. My goal is to eventually create a book celebrating his life to be able to preserve his story for myself, his daughter and his grandchildren.

Organize and digitize your photos with Nixplay >>>

labor day- freelance jobs

4 Fun Hobbies That You Can Turn Into A Business

There’s a saying that goes, “if you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” While that’s the dream, the reality is that we’re not all as passionate about our jobs as we’d like to be. And even if you’re lucky enough to be able to do what you love for a living, there will still be days when work feels like, well, work.

Fortunately, there are plenty of hobbies that you can monetize to earn a little extra–something we could all use during these trying times. Try these on for size:

Baking

If your friends and family have always raved about your baking, why don’t you take that as a sign to start selling your goods? When you already have the recipe for the perfect chocolate chip cookie, apple pie, or carrot cake, you can join online selling groups around your neighborhood to promote your goods. You can also try asking local cafes and restaurants to sell your products.

Gardening

With everyone filling their homes with plants, there’s never been a better time to take up gardening. If you’ve got a green thumb, you can cash in the fad by sourcing low-maintenance indoor plants, repotting them, and selling them online. Soon, you’ll be making the kind of green your wallet loves.

Design

When you’ve got the design chops, use them to your wallet’s advantage by offering your services at competitive prices. You can create logos for up and coming brands, artwork for homes, marketing materials for small businesses, and even stylized portraits (which make for adorable gifts). There are so many things you can do, and you just have to be great at marketing your services in order to succeed.

Making Drinks

Got a knack for making the perfect cup of joe? Make the most of your brewing skills by selling your coffee to your neighbors working from home. Cold brew coffee is very trendy right now, as well as boba drinks.

Nixplay Labor Day Sale Up To 25% Off

Nixplay respects your hustle, and we salute everyone working hard to earn an honest income during these unpredictable times. We’re celebrating the American Worker with our Labor Day Sale: Get up to 25% off on selected frames, only until September 6!

September is Save Your Photos Month

September is Save Your Photos Month

Every September, Photo Managers, photo retailers, software companies, and service providers collaborate in teaching people how to preserve life’s irreplaceable photos, videos, and documents.

Why do you take photos?

If you are wondering why this is important, ask yourself: Why do you take photos? How would you feel if you suddenly lost them? Can you easily find an image of your daughter’s first birthday or a picture from your high school graduation?

If you are like most people, your reason for taking photos is to remember your life’s everyday events. I always say we are a people of stories, and the way we tell the stories of our lives today is through photos. And when our pictures are an unorganized, chaotic mess, sharing those stories becomes a tough job.

What do you see?

What do you see when you look at this photo? An elderly woman?

I see the woman whom my family affectionately called Aunt Izzie, a German immigrant who came to the USA after World War II. She came here as an indentured servant, working for a family that was cruel to her. It took her four years to pay for her freedom. Only then was she able to marry my grandfather.

Listening to her stories of surviving the war—the hunger, the fear, the incomprehensible losses—impacted me deeply as a young child and likely contributed to my lifelong fascination with stories and photos. It is vital that my children, and someday their children’s children, know these stories and understand their family’s history.

I know most of your photos and stories aren’t about war heroes and tragic losses. Neither is mine. They are mostly a collection of ordinary moments of vacations, celebrations, love, and loss. But these moments are worth preserving too, as they form the threads in the colorful tapestry that is my family’s story.

I have made it my life’s mission to help people around the world preserve their most treasured memories. This is why I founded The Photo Managers: To educate others about the importance of preserving their photos and videos.

Over 40 Free Virtual Classes On Photo Preservation

We hold Save Your Photos events every year to help motivate you to save the photos and stories you care about. In the past years, we had in-person events, but this year, we are going all virtual due to the pandemic. We are thrilled to offer over 40 pre-recorded classes designed for a busy lifestyle. Every week, beginning on September 1, we will release the courses that apply to one of the five key photo organizing elements.

Register for your free pass and choose the classes that interest you. The free pass offers access to all of the classes. Click here to get your Save Your Photos Month Free Pass.

Classes are available through November 1st, 2020. We’re looking forward to seeing you there!

stay close to siblings

4 Sweet Surprises Your Siblings Will Always Appreciate

When it comes to your siblings, distance truly makes the heart grow fonder, especially when you’ve always been so close to them growing up. It wouldn’t hurt to surprise your siblings with something to express how much they mean to you and how much you miss them. Here are some ideas:

A New Book

It would be nice to give your siblings a new read that they would appreciate. Maybe there’s a biography that they’ve been eyeing for a long time, or perhaps you can get them the latest release from their favorite author. Maybe there’s a coffee table book or a graphic novel that just has their name on it. It’s a great way to let your siblings know that you’re thinking of them.

Flowers or Plants

Truly, the best time to give flowers is when it’s least expected. After all, who wouldn’t be delighted with a surprise bouquet? Surprise your siblings with a colorful arrangement to show them that you’re thinking of them. Another option is to send them plants that they can add to their homes.

Food

The best way to anyone’s heart is through food, and this rule applies to your siblings as well. Have one of their favorite dishes delivered to them, just because. If you live nearby, you can make it yourself and give it to them personally (but make sure you follow all the necessary safety protocols!). Plus points if it’s a dish from your childhood–they’ll love the dose of nostalgia!

A Nixplay Frame

When everyone’s working and studying from home and physical distancing is encouraged, we have limited means to stay connected with your loved ones. A Nixplay Frame will help you stay connected to your siblings easily and safely. All you have to do is plug it in, upload your photos and 15-second videos, and share your favorite content with your siblings. It’s the most fun, easy way to stay close. Get your favorite Nixplay Frames at up to 25% off during our Labor Day Sale, only until September 6!

Photo by Jeremy Cai on Unsplash

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