Make weekends special and explore new activities together

Spending your weekends with your loved ones can be an extremely reviving experience. Even in unusual times, weekends feel like short holidays to escape our everyday life. Your home is a perfect environment for this escape, because staying at home means staying close to your loved ones.Valuable leisure time helps you recharge for the upcoming weekly challenges. During the weekend, you can mostly do whatever you feel like and enjoy the time together - longconversations, trying out new recipes, working on your fitness, cleaning or simply keeping intouch with your friends. In times like these, the most important thing is to help and support each without neglecting the most important part: fun!Your time is now! Why not start the project you always wanted to realize with your family or roommates? New experiences broaden your horizon, support your creativity and mental balance, and experiencing them together strengthens your bond.We’ve collected some ideas to make your weekends together more fun:

Not being able to travel doesn’t mean you’re not able to experience the taste of the world, just bring international cuisine to your kitchen! Try to prepare a full-day menu with typical food from any part of the planet and learn some foreign words on the go. How about a classic English breakfast? And don’t forget about vegetables: fry some juicy tomatoes and fresh mushrooms, spice them up with salt and pepper and keep them warm inthe oven until served. The only thing missing now is a fresh glas of orange juice for everyone.For your lunch, let’s keep it easy but creative. How about a One Pot Pasta? As the name suggests, you only need one pot, which makes for virtually no clean up. As simple as it sounds, the possibilities are endless and you can even use some of the fresh leftovers from breakfast. Afterwards, parents can treat themselves with a freshly brewed espresso, while the kids enjoy their favorite “dolce”.

When it slowly gets dark outside, prepare to travel to Asia and create a Thai dinner. Because who doesn’t love a good curry? All you need is a bunch of vegetables, chicken – or tofu for vegetarians – some coconut milk and curry paste, and add some rice if you like. This might be even be a fun opportunity to playfully teach your kids how to use chopsticks. For quality family time let your children be part of the cooking process. Depending on their age, have them cut vegetables, mix ingredients together or just lay the table. For each dish, they can get creative and decorate with what they imagine is suitable for the culinary experience and country they are in right now.

It’s not only food which can instantly beam us to another country. Organize your trip at home, where each member of the household presents their favorite country: where have they been or

what’s still on their bucket list? Present popular sightseeing locations, hidden jems, traditional food, famous residents. Share your favorite photos and personal travel memories or wishes. Imagine your adventure and shape your ultimate dream trip! Every family member can chose their own presentation style: dress up in a historic costume and play the role of a tour guide, use the family printer and some glue to recreate your favorite city. Or even open up a Pinterest board with your favorite moments and memories from the last family trips. Why not extend this idea and decorate each room in the style of one country and experience your ultimate dream trip within your own four walls.

When was the last time you played a board game? Now’s the time to switch off the TV andmobile devices and start playing classic games. Alternatively, get creative and create your own game – how about “City, Country, River”? All you need are some pencils, sheets and a clock. The other great thing: you are neither bound to a maximum number of players nor toyour imagination. First, pick categories which everyone can agree on. They don’t have to be geography only. Popstars, sports, plants or food can also serve as overall topics. After everyone has written down the categories on their own sheet of paper, a random letter is selected. In a certain amount of time, all players try to find a suitable example for each category starting with this letter. When the time is up, everyone puts their pen down and gets points: 10 if he or she is the only one with this answer, 5 if more than one came up with it. After a predefined number of rounds, the player with the highest overall score wins.

Thanks to our digital age, games don’t need to be played right next to each other. Why don’t you start a round of Charades with your best friends via video call? Games like these also let us exercise in front of the camera while offering fun (and sometimes malicious joy) foreverybody. If you want to boost the level of difficulty and learn from each other, just play Charades in a foreign language.

Upcycling is a sustainable way to create something new from something that is already in your household. Maybe you find a dusty shelf in the cellar, old picture frames in a box, used clothes in the wardrobe or a collection of old glass bottles in the kitchen. Together with your family or roommates consider which new function the item could have and draft a rough sketch of your upcycling idea. Here is some food for thought: plant herbs in an eggshell, use empty glass bottles as vases, turn old pallets into shoe racks, craft unique tablet or smartphone holders from logs or use your old CDs or DVDs for cool disco effects inside your living room. As you see, only your imagination sets the limits.

Lounging on the sofa all day? How about a short combined exercise and cleaning session for the whole family? Because cleaning your home can not only be a daily routine, it burnscalories as well. You can squat while wiping dust, have a cardio workout during vacuum cleaning and train your arms whilst bringing out the garbage. Combine it with a cleaning challenge. Who will be the fastest and who the cleanest? Define different cleaning tasks and develop a rating scale. For a reliable cleaning result, Bosch offers you cordless, battery-powered handstick vacuum cleaners. Flexible to use, they make vacuum cleaning even easierduring the challenge. After this special cleaning as a team you might all feel better and your home shines.

It doesn’t have to be extraordinary: even usual and routine weekend activities can be fun withyour loved ones. Think outside the box, be creative and make the best of it. Stay together andsupport each other!