COVID Christmas friendly games and gifts for our autistic family

I find buying things for my autistic kids quite challenging at the best of times. Family are always asking what they can get for gifts and it's hard Anthony often has limited interests and is shy about expressing an opinion (in case it's wrong) and David... well David's communication is very limited.   Jane likes everything.  Everyone has someone that's hard to buy for and this year is more challenging as we've got to think about COVID and keeping people safe.   

So what kind of things can be a bit more COVID friendly?  Well, this means we don't share things (obviously the complete opposite to what we usually promoting at this time of year).  It means thinking of things that can be down at a distance or outside maybe.  For some it may mean simply sending all the gifts via mail and opening then with Zoom etc. Gifts can be wrapped an 'quarantined' before the day if they are being physically hand delivered. 

Frozen Unicorns Card Game

Games are great treats for friends and relatives and super for stockings, but there's not many that my kids really get or can cope with.  Frozen Unicorns is a fun game, a bit like charades where one person has to guess what everyone is pretending to be. Players make themselves into statues by posing as something from a card. So people would 'freeze' as, for example a crab, karate teacher or even a unicorn, while one person is left to guess what everyone else is. 

The only person who can't know what is on the cards is the guesser, so it means kids can ask others for help if they need to. But as each person just touches their own cards, it's a good game that doesn't involve sharing bits and pieces out. Guesser gets points for guessing right, but players also get points for the best statue. Hilarity lies ahead.

Chocolate Names

Make sure you don't accidentally share your chocolate stash with anyone else by having personalised chocolate!  This stuff isn't usually much of an educational opportunity, but David has got some phonics practice with these personalised chocolates.  Morse Toad can make personalised photos, cards and messages, that can all say "This is my chocolate" so there is no mix up.  

The easiest stocking filler is what they call a 'place name' which is seven chocolate letters and/or symbols (like hearts or stars) a bit like big thick scrabble letters.  You could write anything with up to seven letters that worked for your gifts kids like 'Grandma', 'Santa', 'Brother', 'Sister' or whatever means you don't get your hands into the wrong box.

And of course, this could be extended to mean anything else with your name on it that you might use during the day; mugs, glasses,  you could even get a label maker and then name it as it comes ;-)

Socks

Good old Father Christmas likes to top up the kids wardrobe at this time of year and one thing to make sure you don't touch each others hands is by giving a gift for your feet. We've recently found seamless socks which all the kids love.  SockShop's seamless socks are great for kids with sensory difficulties and we love the bamboo ones because they help the kids feel stay warm / cool when they need to and dry as it wicks away moisture. The socks are made with foot-kind, smooth hand linked toe seams so they aren't annoying for the kids. They do a whole range of festive styles too. 

Mini hand drones

Which is a kind of crazy name really, as the whole point is that you do't have to use your hands.  This is like a little floating UFO that responds to things around it, so you can play pass without actually having to touch the device.  Genius. 

This mini drone is shaped like a little flying saucer and uses infrared smart sensors on the side and bottom, it reacts to things around it and (mostly) avoids objects around it.  Put your hand under it and it will fly and fly up, put your hand aside and it will fly in the opposite direction. Works for about 5-10 minutes on a half hour charge from a USB.  Simples... I hope.   I think the bright lights will hopefully appeal to my sensory seeking kiddies. 

Have you got any ideas?