FREE photo gift tags, FREE Elf on the Shelf Printables, thoughtful Teacher Gifts, Ornaments for Kids to Make, Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake, Vegetable Beef Soup, Candy Cane Sugar Scrub and so much more are all featured at Family Fun Friday.

From my family to yours – Merry Christmas! I wanted to pick my top six this week but there were so many great ideas, I’m featuring 16 bloggers this week. If you like Family Fun Friday, help this blog party grow by giving it a +1 on Google+. Thanks so much!

We had an wonderful week last week with over 200 link-ups. Ahhhhmazing! To celebrate I am giving away a copy of “Just Make Ice Cream” written by Marillyn Beard. This cook book features the “nourishing” ingredients that make delicious ice cream Our winner is Cathie from ToddlersthroughPreschool. She shared a craft for creating cupcake liner Christmas Trees. Congrats Cathie!

If you all link up 200+ posts again I have more prizes to give away. You all share so many wonderful posts – thanks for linking up!

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT for BLOGGERS: From now through New Years I will HOST Family Fun Friday but not include any features – I want two week’s worth of posts to choose from for our Kick-Off in January. I want you to link your MOST POPULAR POSTS of 2013. Let’s highlight the best. Your post can be on anything as long as it’s family friendly and fun. The round-up of YOUR best will go live on January 2 – our first party of 2014 wooo-hoo!

If you enjoy the features on Family Fun Friday please leave me a comment, I would love to hear from you! If you see things that you like here – please PIN them on Pinterest! If you PIN these lists it will help this blogging party grow. To PIN a specific blogger’s post please click through and pin directly from their site. Thanks so much!

If you’re a mom keep reading because we have some wonderful fun ideas to inspire you with your little ones and family. My blogging friends are linking up craft ideas, fun in the kitchen, preschool & homeschool ideas, and ways to spend time as a family. My blog is growing but I need your help, please like my facebook page or PIN a button and help spread the word about HappyandBlessedHome.com. Thanks so much.

Subscribers – our Learn to Read preschool Alphabet Letter series will be on hold over the holidays as we’ll be spending time doing Christmas crafts, baking, and creating new family traditions. I look forward to continuing our alphabet letter series in the New Year. This week I posted about my favorite charity – Compassion and their Child Survival Program. If you are looking for a wonderful charity to give to this year, please consider Compassion.

I also redid my Farm Animal Puppets and created some FREE Nativity Puppets. It includes the farm animals you would find the the manger scene. Great for storytelling and inspiring the imaginations of young children.

I still have some FREE Advent ornaments that you can download and craft at home. It’s a great kid craft. And it can be used to teach little ones about the true meaning of Christmas. Merry Christmas!

MY GIFT TO YOU: I decided to make my Christmas FUN for Preschoolers FREE. Yup – just type in coupon code: FREE to get your FREE copy. It was on sale for $1.99 previously, but as my Christmas gift to you its FREE. You can dress a snowman, decorate a Christmas tree, count reindeer and so much more. Click the link to read more. Christmas Fun for Preschoolers. MERRY CHRISTMAS! I feel like Santa Claus 🙂

Thanks to all my blogging friends for linking up last week at Family Fun Friday. I have a special YouTube Video for you at Thank You All My Blogging Friends! So many great ideas, crafts and things to do! If you link up, you permit me to use your pictures/ideas as part of future posts and/or social media. Now on to some fabulous posts for moms.

Featured Bloggers:

New Family Traditions for Christmas

There were so many wonderful ideas shared at last week’s link-up that I couldn’t feature less than sixteen bloggers. Just some wonderful tips for creating new family traditions for Christmas. If you like this list I hope you’ll PIN it on PINTEREST. 🙂

Creating Family Traditions for Christmas

1. Katie over at Paradies Praises shared a wonderful family tradition that she and her family do every December. Check out her post on having a Slumber Party under the Christmas Tree.

2. Eva Lewis from Multitasking Mummy guest posts over at Rediscovering Families and write about The Importance of Father Son Time. A great reminder of what an important role father’s play in the lives of their sons.

3. 30+ Family Christmas Game Ideas is a great post if you’re looking for ideas for games to play as a family. It’s written by Phyllis over at Grandparents Plus. She always has great ideas for Family Fun.

4. In a similar fashion, Amy from Some of the Best Things in Life Are Mistakes shared some Super Fun Christmas Ideas found on Pinterest. Her post has a bit more to do with decorations and treats!

5. There were some really amazing FREE printables linked up last week too! Elena from Cropped Stories created these Free Customizable photo gift tags. Gorgeous!

6. Cheryl from Moms and Munchkins shared some FREE Elf on the Shelf Printables. You’ll have fun with these printables.

7. And I love the theme behind the post Six Acts of Christmas Kindness also on Rediscovered Families.

8. Carly from Africa to America shared a wonderful post on Musical Activities inspired by the Nutcracker. My mom loves ballet and I was introduced to the Nutcracker at a young age. Carly – thanks for sharing this post.

Things you can Make

9. Rachel from Kids Activities Blog shared some adorable Christmas Dough Ornaments that you can make with your kids. Complete with recipe and instructions you can use this post to create a new family tradition.

10. I also liked how these Baking Soda Ornaments turned out. Amy made these with her kids over at Serving Pink Lemonade.

11. Sara from Brainstorm in Bloom came up with a great list of ideas for Thoughtful Teacher Gifts

12. Lucy from Coffee with us 3 shared some precious Nativity Ornaments for Kids to Make. A wonderful way to feature the nativity this Christmas.

Inspiring Recipes for Holiday Meals

13. I love the lettuce wraps from PF Changs so I just had to share this recipe for Peanut Asian Lettuce Wraps from Beth at The First Year Blog.

14. I’m on the hunt for the perfect chocolate cake recipe so this Hot Chocolate Bundt Cake is perfect for my chocolate cake making experiments. This one is also a recipe created by Beth at The First Year Blog.

15. Where I live the temperatures hover in the 30’s so this Vegetable Beef Soup by the Seasoned Homemaker looks like the perfect meal.

16. You can’t eat this next recipe but I there isn’t a woman I know who wouldn’t enjoy a Candy Cane Sugar Scrub to have on her bathroom counter this Christmas. Check out this fun post over at One TIPsy Chick.

Thanks again for all your wonderful ideas! I hope these Family Friendly and Fun ideas inspire you. Button Code:

I pray you are blessed by this effort to share ideas on having Family Fun.

In His Grip,

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I link up to a bunch of parties every week. Click on Link Parties and you can add your party or find one to visit every day of the week. Feel free to add your link party too – if you host one.

P.S. Bloggers – If you’ve been featured and would like to add a button to show off how awesome you are, just grab the code in the text box below. You’ll want to retype the quotes too if you’re having trouble getting it to show on your page. 😉

LINK your Family Friendly & Fun Ideas:

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If you are having trouble linking, please leave your link in the comments section and I will manually add it. Thanks!