Creating a Family Bucket List with Nintendo Be a Kid for a Day

Summertime is a great time to create lots of fun memories as family or small group. Sometimes, a vacation is not in the budget or an emergency comes up and our plans get cancelled. Whatever the case, summer can be a great way to spend time together with family and friends and travelling isn’t always necessary. Rather than get caught up in the things you can’t do, families or small groups can create a bucket list. The bucket list is a fun way for the group to get to know each other and do things within the city or community that they might not have done before. It can be as simple as the group sharing one or two things they enjoy doing and haven’t done in a while or looking at upcoming events that they want to make sure that everyone gets to enjoy together.

We sent one of our Risen Magazine readers and their family to enjoy some family time together and experience the Nintendo Kid for a Day event.  They have four kids that range from elementary-age to high school. Families at the event enjoyed laughing together, eating dinner and playing their favorite Nintendo games. The 12-city tour is visiting malls and other locations throughout the United States. With the Nintendo Be a Kid for a Day event, grown-ups and kids alike can relive some of those memories and create new ones as a family. Nintendo has been hosting events throughout the US this summer in celebration of the new Nintendo 3DS XL.  There will be exciting contests, prizes and photo opportunities. The tour offers kids of all ages a fun way to spend time together. Best of all, it is free for everyone.

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’  He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them.  And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.’”  Matthew 18:1-5

“With the Play Nintendo Tour, there’s a surprise around every corner for kids and kids at heart,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s Executive Vice President of Sales & Marketing. “The tour’s massive play area is filled with Nintendo 3DS games and charming worlds themed around classic games and characters.”

Guests at the Nintendo Kid for a Day event don’t get to just play video games, they get to experience their favorite games including hopping into a Yoshi egg to play Yoshi’s New Island, reclining on a giant banana while checking out Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D and relaxing in pink beanbag chairs to play one of the newest games, Kirby: Planet Robobot.

What better way to remember the bucket list stops than capturing group pictures? Imagine sending out your next family Christmas photo with your family posed next to a barrel flanked by Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, or updating your Instagram with a selfie next to a huge Kirby figure or beside an oversized Yoshi egg. And for all the Mario Bros fans, you can make your Facebook profile photo under a devastating blue Spiny Shell in the Mario Kart 7 area and the New Super Mario Bros. 2 section features a photogenic flagpole, stacks of coins and a warp pipe. If you have caught the Pokemon fever, you don’t have to worry about going over a cliff to get the next Pokeball, you can take a photo next to a giant Pokéball in the Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire region.

For those that aren’t able to make it out to the Nintendo tour, the Play Nintendo website features many additional activities that kids and families can enjoy together.

Risen Reflections

Create a small group or family bucket list. Think of fun things to do around town that will help your family or small group grow closer to each other. It can be a photo scavenger hunt, going to a baseball game, having a picnic or going on a hike. Allow each person to add one or two things to the bucket list. Each week or month, set up a time for your family or small group to do something on the bucket list. After the event, take time to fellowship, grab a meal together and get to know one another.

Reach out. It could be a friend or someone in your small group. Pray and ask God to show you someone in your life He wants you to reach out to. Invite them out to coffee or over to the house for a meal. God designed us to have fellowship with one another. Take time and get to know the person. Ask them about their relationship with God, how they started coming to the church, or what they enjoy doing.

Plan an outreach. God wants us to reach out to others using our gifts and talents and share about Him. Whether it’s a video game tournament, watermelon eating contest or flag football game, there are lots of creative ways to reach out to your community. Whatever you plan on doing, make sure that your time is meaningful. Ask someone to share their story of how they came to Christ and give people an opportunity to hear about a relationship with Christ. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to give you direction and for others to come alongside you to help plan it. Then pray that God would show you who to invite and that the hearts of the attendees would be open to a relationship with Him.

For more information on Nintendo Be a Kid for a Day visit