Price Tag: Buy on/before December 25 for $19.99 (special price)
Official URL: gratitudegames.com
Age Range: 4+ (Or any child that has the langage skills necessary for  discussing gratitude)
Rating:

These “Gratitude” games by LeSara Firefox had me skeptical at first. I’m nothing if not a hardened New Yorker these days. Grateful for little, irritated by much. But then last night at 3AM the thought occurred to me: Who needs gratitude more?

THE GAMES

Gratigories: Gratigories is a card game. There are 3 levels, each of which have 40 cards that have different topics. The topics in “Basic” are along the lines of “A family member, living or dead.” The topics in “Advanced” are a little more difficult and along the lines of “A politician you do not agree with.” The “Adult” level is a mix of easy and difficult, with more adult-oriented subject matter such as “A former lover that you would never go back to” or “A sexual position”. The goal of the game is simple: To feel and express gratitude for the subject on the card. Players can pass over a card if they are not comfortable or simply aren’t yet ready to feel grateful for any aspect of a certain topic. Playing this game is an amazingly feel-good exercise and you find yourself trying to find the different things to be grateful for in life situations as well. I could have used this game last night when my son woke up at midnight and wouldn’t go back to sleep until four AM!

The instructions are simple and easy to follow. The cards print out well and look lovely. The game has three ways to play: An orderly circle method where you go around a circle taking turns.. A random method, or a car method. The game can be played by any number of players, including one.

A Grateful A-Z: This game is similar to “I’m going on a picnic and I’m going to bring…” where you work through the alphabet. Suggestions are included to make the game easier for younger children or harder for more advanced players.

Gratitude Round Robin: In this game everyone shares their gratitude on a particular topic. Different suggestions help you vary the game a bit to make it more interesting and/or more focused.

The Practice of Gratitude: The Practice of Gratitude contains a lot of different suggestions on how to incorporate gratitude into your daily life, your family time, meals, and almost any type of interaction.

How to Build a Gratitude Altar or Shrine: This is less of a game and more of a practice. Home altars/shrines are a staple in many religions. This one is non-secular and is devoted to gratitude. I can see kids getting really into this one. What a wonderful way to interact as a family!

How to Host a Gratitude Gathering: This is set of instructions on how to create a “gathering” in which gratitude is created and expressed. I wish I had read this in time for my son’s birthday party earlier this month. Family parties are always stressful and ours tend to be particularly hair-tugging in a lot of ways. I see a lot of suggestions and direction in “How to Host a Gratitude Gathering” that would have helped ease tensions and make the event less stress-filled for everyone involved.

THE ARTICLES

The Gratitude Games also includes five informative and educational articles designed to grow your gratitude practices. Articles include: Why Gratitude?, The Science of Gratitude, How to Grow a Grateful World, 5 Ways to Engage your Kids in Grateful Giving, and Cultivating Compassion.

The articles suggest awesome ways to incorporate gratitude into our daily lives and into the lives of our children. The “Five Ways to Engage your Kids in Grateful Giving” article and “Why Gratitude” were my favorite reads.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Gratitude Games uses Digital Delivery. Digital delivery means that instead of a company paying another company to manufacture thousands of copies of something which are then packaged in boxes, plastic wrap, etc. and which they then have to transport to a storage facility, transport to stores, then transport to individual purchasers.. Instead of having a tremendous number of items which will eventually end up in landfills.. These games are downloadable. You can print them out or you can play them directly from your computer. Both color and black and white “card backs” are included so that you can choose which to print. If you print them out, you’re only printing out the ones you want to play and you’re printing them on basic copy paper which biodegrades quickly and which has a much smaller negative impact on the environment. That’s something to be grateful for!

You can send the Gratitude Games as a gift. Another thing to be grateful for: No worries about the post office losing your present or it not arriving in time!

BOTTOM LINE

Gratitude games are a great activity for families, friends, couples, and social groups. The feeling of expressing gratitude and focusing on gratitude is refreshing. And once you’ve started to play the games it really does branch out into the rest of your life. This game series is a great idea!