As I mentioned before Christmas, we’re always busy (like everyone else in the world!) but we’re also always on the hunt for family time activities to break out of the chores, work, school, chores, work school routine. When looking for fun activities, we’re usually on the hunt for something for all ages, with simple set up and clean up–or simple set up and no cleanup, like our puzzle activities!

So while Christmas shopping with Mr. Fix-It, he grabbed a couple boxes of Jelly Belly BeanBoozled for the crew’s stockings.

When my sister came to visit after Christmas with my niece and nephew, we played and easy version around the dining room table one night. The idea is that you pick a jelly bean and eat it and it’s either one of two flavors–good, or horrible.

Like yellow could be Buttered Popcorn OR it could be Rotten Egg. White could be Coconut OR Baby Wipes.

We played once at a Church youth program and I got black–which could be licorice or skunk. It was skunk, and I can still taste it to this day if I think about it too long. You just don’t know until you bite into it.

The version we played at home was just blind pick-one-and-taste-it. If you spit it out (or got sick) you were out. If you could eat the whole thing, you stayed in.

Another way to play is with the spinner wheel. Each person spins the wheel, and has to eat a bean of the color you spin. If you get the bad one, you’re out.

Some of the larger boxes come with the spinning wheel right on the box. You can also get a spinner app from the Google Play Store or Apple Store (search: BeanBoozled) which the kiddos enjoyed getting on their Fire tablets.

Another way our munchkins learned to play together (without us!) was while they were playing the card game War. Anytime there was a draw and they had to “battle,” they each had to spin, and then each pick up a bean of the spinner color. Whoever got the good one won the “battle” and got all the cards. Whoever got the bad one, well, usually ran to the trashcan. {smile}

Turns out the Ladybug has really good luck and the boys stopped playing with her after a while.

They also have a version of the jelly bean game box that includes a simple little, random, jelly bean dispenser–which might have been more fun for our Christmas game than me holding a bowl above everyone’s head. {smile}

We played with the 4th Edition this round and I think everyone agreed (I wouldn’t know, I wasn’t about to play again after being skunked last time!) that the Spoiled Milk was the WORST but Moldy Cheese was a close second.

All in all, it was a fun couple hours together with pretty much no setup, no cleanup, and any age (that was willing!) can play. It was also very inexpensive. We found our stocking stuffers at Five Below, and I’ve also seen them at WalMart, Target, etc.

You can also get a great deal directly from Jelly Belly (particularly if you’re buying multi-packs for an activity or party) and here’s some couple codes for ya! (And p.s. the coupons are good on any jelly beans, so you might want to go with the sweet ones for Valentine’s Day!)

Spend $25+ & receive $5 Off your order from Jelly Belly! Use code: YOUSAVE5. Shop now!

Spend $39+ & get 15% Off your order from Jelly Belly! Use code: YOUSAVE15. Shop now!

Do you have any favorite quick and easy family activities you’d recommend that we try?