Katinka's Games Christmas Gifts Guide

Christmas is here and the Parents and Guardians are busy, looking for the best Toys of the Season to present to the Young ones.

One big issue with most of the heavily marketed products is that they have a very short shelf life. Would you like to spend your $$$ on Toys which are thrown away after just a few days?

If you are looking for better options - this is just the right place for you. Check out the best Games and Puzzles, they provide a wholesome playing experience for the Kids and in fact the whole family, in some cases!

Board Games are no doubt a great way to spend some quality fun time with Family and Friends. Be it Christmas or any other time of the year, it makes sense to have a few Board Games at home which provide stimulation to the Neurons.

Featured in the Image ~ Christmas-opoly: Monopoly designed just for Christmas. I love those reindeer and Santa playing pieces :)

Best Board Games for those dark months: Halloween, Christmas and New Years

Board Games are fun, no doubt about that. Most of them are affordable - you just need to find some time to spend with your kids. Check out the options below and select the option which suits your kid and you the best.

The Settlers of Catan - One of the most popular board games around. Suitable for kids aged 10 and up, adults will like it too!


An award-winning strategy game where players collect resources and use them to build roads, settlements and cities on their way to victory. The board itself is variable, making each game a different from the next.

For 3 or 4 players.

Scrabble Crossword Game - a classic educational board game

Educational? Sure - it teaches both vocabulary and simple arithmetic ;)

Rory's Story Cubes


This is not really a board game. It's a game of dice and story telling, a bit like role playing I guess. Still - a lot of fun for those winter nights. Better than watching TV on Christmas I'm sure.

Peaceable Kingdom / Stone Soup Award Winning Cooperative Board Game - For families with kids aged 5 and up, 2 to 4 players

Players work together to "cook" a soup by making matches of ingredients. They'll learn memory and social development skills with no reading required.

Qwirkle Board Game

Qwirkle (try that on your scrable board) is a bit like domino's, but then better. Match colors and shapes - for a precious three year old, all the way up to grandpa.

Qwirkle is a Board Game which is simple, yet challenging. The good thing about this multi-award winning strategy game is that it can be played by kids, teens, and adults as well.

What Makes Quirkle Special?

The first cool thing about Qwirkle is that it is simple enough to be enjoyed by the young ones. The Game comprises of over one hundred wooden blocks, which have different shapes drawn on them.

The aim is pretty simple - to match the colors and shapes. It can be played by 2 or 4 players, and the player with the most points wins.

On the surface the Game looks pretty simple, however - it does require tactical maneuvers and well-planned strategy. No need to say - the level of difficulty will depend on the skills of the opposing player.

Perhaps it is this combination of Simplicity and Logic which has made this Board Game so popular. I will definitely recommend Qwirkle if you are looking for a Board Game for Christmas Family Fun.

An award-winning and best selling Board Game in the United States and Germany. Cool clean Family Fun this Christmas and beyond.

Recommended For ~ Children Over Six Years of Age

Qwirkle Board Game for Christmas
Board Games are no doubt a great way to spend some quality fun time with Family and Friends. Be it Christmas or any other time of the year, it makes sense to...

Monopoly Junior

Monopoly Junior is designed for the kids who are not old enough to play the longer and more complicated regular versions of the Board Game. The design of the Board is similar to the adult versions, however - the amusements are in Juvenile Theme. To keep the kid theme clean - instead of Jail we have Rest Rooms for the players to cool their heels.

The amount of money involved is smaller too. What's more it takes just around 30 minutes to finish the game! I am sure the young ones won't get disinterested while playing Monopoly Junior.

What's more, it is also enjoyable for adults to play along. The main simplification in this version of Monopoly is the money: instead of different currencies, all you have are $1 notes. So all your child needs to know how to do is count. However, there is also only one type of 'chance' card, no houses or hotels and only one die.

On those long winter nights, especially between Christmas and New years...

As a kid we often played family games after dinner. Whether it was monopoly or risk, bridge or something else. I think we played these games most especially on those long winter holiday nights. My grandfather was a ferocious bridge player. I was better at monopoly. My brother used to get angry when he lost. I guess he was always ambitious that way. Glad it's over though.

Whether it was fun or not: it was family, it was adventure at the dinner table. Weird how games can matter so much!

Give your children some family memories like that, instead of having them poor over their xboxes.

Best Eid ul Fitr Games for Muslim Kids and Family
This is dedicated to Islamic Games for Eid ul Fitr, Eid al Adha and other Muslim holidays. No doubt these games can be played all the year around with ...

As many of you know, I make a living as an online publisher. This involves writing about stuff that interests me, like the spiritual path and karma, spiritual book reviews and so on. However, to make ends meet, I also do product recommendations.

That is: I recommend products, and you - the potential customer - get to have less of a chore finding them. It's a win-win, especially since I get a percentage for each sale. The deal is this: follow a link on any of these pages and buy something, and you - without any extra cost to you - are sponsoring me to keep on going. 

I've started out of course with spiritual gifts, but there are also calendars, laptops, iPads, Harry Potter gear etc. It's all stuff I have bought or would buy if my house room and pockets were infinite. They're not and that's OK. 

As you click through you'll notice that some of the gift pages are on this site, some are on other sites I've set up, and some are on squidoo - a free platform that donates 5% of all the income they generate to charity (and sometimes more). See also my new gifts blog.