 |
| by MelnicIncao |
Summer already seems like a distant memory, even though we haven’t had any real winter weather yet. Though it’s quite mild out there, evenings begin around 4.30pm when the dusk falls, and it can feel quite a long time to be cooped up indoors before it’s a reasonable time for you to go to bed.
So what do we do with our dark winter nights? Do we find solace in programmes such as The X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing? Yes, probably, they’re both pretty entertaining, and if you have access to satellite TV, there are always some great series to get hooked on such as The Knick, but there’s only so much TV that you can watch and enjoy. We need other diversions to get us through these longer evenings.
All this, of course, assumes you have your baby or older kids in a neat, predictable routine where you’ve got a peaceful house from around seven in the evening. Assuming that’s the case, here are just a couple of ideas of how to avoid cabin fever in the winter months.
The internet opens up a myriad of different entertainment choices. For instance, have you ever played online bingo? It’s one of the easiest games on the planet and, thanks to the existence of so many different bingo sites such as Winner, Cheeky or Tidy Bingo, you can play it whenever you want. Games run on a 24 hour schedule and so there’s always one about to start. What’s more, they only cost a few pence at a time to play, unless of course, you choose to play the freebies, which cost nothing to play! As well as being a low stakes game, online bingo also gives you access to socialising with other players in the bingo chat rooms, so you needn't feel like you’re spending the evening by yourself, even when you’re home alone.
Another way to fill up those evenings is to get creative. Christmas is only just around the corner, after all, and if you just do a quick google search on home-made Christmas decorations and presents, you’ll be overwhelmed with a choice of different activities to throw yourself into. Some of them require quite a lot of skill, but there are also plenty of projects for the first-time Christmas crafter. Examples include making Christmas placemats and decorations for the tree. Something that you can get a kit for is making your own Christmas crackers – you can handwrite the jokes and pick customised gifts for the friends and family who will join you for Christmas Day.
The evenings are also a good time to do a big of batch cooking and baking – as long as you’ve got the freezer space to cope with it. Preparing meals like lasagne and moussaka take time as they’re a little bit involved and you might not have time to make these dishes during the day when the kids are under your feet. Double up the recipes and put one in the fridge and one in the freezer.
Of course, how you spend your winter evenings will depend on how much energy you have left at the end of the day, but hopefully the ideas above will help stop you from going stir crazy from watching too much TV!