One tradition in my family of 36 first cousins, 10 second cousins, 18 aunts and uncles, 2 siblings, 2 parents, a husband and 2 children is to have Christmas Bingo instead of trying to buy everyone in the family a gift. It is virtually impossible to find a meaningful gift for everyone, so we’ve turned Christmas into meaningful time spent together instead, which is really what Christmas is about for us.
Choosing a Bingo Board
My family is a traditional Mexican family, so we play Mexican Bingo, known as Loteria. It is the same concept as Bingo, except we have pictures instead of the letters and numbers. One thing we have done in my immediate family is to create our own Bingo cards with pictures that mean something to us. We have a family board where we took pictures of ourselves making sad, happy, or mad expressions and then arranged the pictures on individual boards. I made cards corresponding to each so we have “happy mama,” “sad dada,” “mad Aiden,” “surprised Eric,” etc. It is so much fun when the kids see their pictures and their expressions.
For a Christmas board, I think it would be fun to put pictures of the apostles, angels, saints, and the Holy Family to reinforce the real meaning of Christmas. If your family is less religious, then you could use Santa, snowmen, or elves. Either way it will be loads of fun.
Christmas Bingo Prizes
Every person that wins a game will get a prize. Every family member should bring 3 to 5 novelty prizes and wrap them before coming. Each winner can pick a prize or have it picked for them. Prizes should be small and fun. Bracelets, little cars, flashlights, first aid kids, notebooks, etc. Once I got ketchup and mustard bottles, and my brother got a tube of hemorrhoid cream. Our family is very funny.
Set a limit on how many prizes a person can win. It should be no more than 4 or 5 times (depending on how many people and prizes there are) so as to be fair.
Sore Loser Money Pot
There is never a guarantee that everyone will win at Bingo, and feelings can get hurt. For this reason, we have a sore loser money or gift pot. What we usually do is have everyone that walks in the door buy a raffle ticket for a dollar. The more you buy, the bigger the money pot. Once all the money is collected, have someone divide the money into equal parts and put it in little envelopes. Those who did not win anything have the chance of walking away with some cold hard cash. The older kids and adults love this part of the game. Those who won tons at Bingo will not be eligible to win money. Those who didn’t win anything can write their numbers down on a piece of paper and turn in their raffle ticket for a double chance to win.
If you don’t want to do a money pot, make a pencil pot, eraser pot, cookie pot, or other gift idea and raffle those items off. You can decide whether you want people to pay for their tickets or not with a gift pot.
Remembering what Christmas is all About
I think Christmas should be a joyous time spent with family and friends, and not a race to the financial bottom. Too many people go into financial ruin during the holiday season because of the culture of consumerism that plagues our lives. I feel we all have the power to change this aspect of our lives and make Christmas be a time for loved ones and to commemorate the birth of Christ.
