Norwalk, CT  November 12, 2007 -- One of the true joys of the holiday season is the wide number of reunions that spring up all across the nation, reports Todays Escapes (SM), a premier recreation and entertainment savings program offered by Adaptive Marketing LLC. As families and friends converge to reminisce, catch up and make plans for the future, it's the perfect time for fun and frivolity as well.

These annual gatherings offer a regular snapshot of each family and each circle of friends. In ideal circumstances, the gatherings grow every year, with new faces joining familiar ones to give thanks and raise a toast to another year well-spent. As heart-warming as such toasts are, they're usually not long enough to last the whole day (thank goodness); savvy hosts and hostesses know how important it is to spice things up with some games and other activities.

For folks who are hosting their first holiday gathering, and for others who'd like some additional ideas to pass the time enjoyably, TodaysEscapes has a few tips on how to keep the family parties entertaining:

-- Touch football. The Turkey Bowl is a tradition with roots in every town in the United States on Thanksgiving Day. While younger, hardier lads might want to engage in tackle football, touch football (or flag football, if flags are available) is a safer bet to avoid a detour to the emergency room on the way to the dinner table. Simply find a plot of open land, mark off the boundaries with cones (or jackets or scarves or ...), pick sides, and kick off. Just check with the chef first to make sure the game won't intrude on cooking or, more importantly, dining schedules.

-- Stuff a scarecrow or two. An ideal kid's activity, all that's needed are some old clothes, some newspapers or leaves, and a pumpkin or two. Just set the clothes down on a porch or against a tree, and have the kids stuff them until they expand. Then help the kids carve faces into the pumpkin and prop them up on top of the shirts. Not only will this offer the youngsters a creative outlet, it's also a good way to clean out the closet, notes Todays Escapes.

-- Name that tune. All that's needed is a CD player, a few dozen CDs, and a couple of pens and pads of paper. Pick one person to be the host, then split everyone else up into two teams. The host cues up a song and plays a second or two of it. Each team then writes down what they think the name of the song is. If both teams fail to name it correctly after the first round, the host plays a slightly longer clip and keeps doing so until one team correctly names that tune. The first team to correctly name a predetermined number of songs has first dibs on the food line.

-- Fictionary. Who says learning can't be fun? Fictionary can expand vocabularies while leaving folks in stitches. Just pull out a dictionary, and give everyone a pencil and a pad of paper. One person picks a word out of the dictionary that no one's ever heard before, spells it out for everyone, and writes down the real definition. Meanwhile, the other players write down their own, made-up definitions. The person who chose the word then reads all the definitions out loud, and everyone votes on the correct definition. Whoever votes for the real definition earns a point. Anyone who receives a vote for their made-up definition also earns a point, as does the person with the funniest definition. The person who earns the most points in a round gets to choose the next word.

The holiday season is always a joyous time to begin with, and with a few games and activities to keep kids of all ages entertained, it's easy to kick up the fun another notch or two, notes TodaysEscapes.