Is it just us, or does it become apparent every Christmas that we like the idea of playing Monopoly considerably more than we like the actual experiencing of playing the game itself? Okay, so it does possess at least a modicum of classic charm, but that’s massively outweighed by the fact that it’s actually pretty dull, hopelessly luck-oriented, terminally repetitive and unbelievably long-lasting.

Sometimes, we find ourselves wishing for a slightly more exciting family activity to indulge in over the festive period. We thirst for a little more variety, and we only want to do whatever we’re doing for a maximum of about two hours… Here are a few ways in which you could make your festive family time funner this year, without passing Go, collecting £200 or boring yourselves to death:

Go Quizzing!

There’s nothing like a spot of quizzing to unite the family in festive fun. Find a good pub that’s completely family friendly and make sure you visit on a quiz night. Track down a SpeedQuizzing event if you want to make the proposition more appealing to the little ones, thanks to a twist of technology – find out more at speedquizzing.com. Everyone wins at a decent family pub: there’s plenty behind the bar to keep the older generations in high spirits, whilst pool tables and touch screen quiz games offer a great opportunity for family fun.

Christmas movie bingo

All this game takes is a few prizes, some classic Christmas films and some pieces of card. Score out a 3×3 grid on each piece of card, write a typical Christmas movie scene, object, quote, song etc. in each square and watch a few great Christmas flicks. First to a row or a full house wins a prize! We advise letting the kids win…

If you’re playing adults only Christmas movie bingo, it shouldn’t take too much imagination to figure out how to turn this into a merry little drinking game – brandies at the ready!

Video games

Suggesting you crack out the video games on Christmas might seem hopelessly contrary to the traditional spirit of the occasion, but hear us out… Whether you played Pong in the 1970s or eagerly unwrapped your SNES or SEGA Megadrive in the 1990s, the vast majority of us will have fond memories of playing early consoles in the (upsettingly) distant past. Why not bring out some classic titles and educate the new generations? Space Invaders, anyone?