The following is a guest post by Lisa from ThePartyWorks.com

I’m busy, and my kids are busy. Sometimes there’s little time left to bond as a family. My family spends time together at the dinner table on weekdays making breakfast and watching cartoons on the weekends, but I’ve still had to face the sad fact that quality time is limited.

The kids have to do their homework, go to soccer practice, and compete in karate matches. I have to work overtime, study for the online classes I’m taking, cook dinner, and prepare lunches. My husband has to travel a lot for his job, and the time he has to spend with the family is even more limited.

As the days seem to pass by more and more quickly, I realize that my kids are growing up a lot more rapidly than I would have hoped they would. And I also feel as though there’s a pressing need for each member of the family to coordinate schedules and carve out some time to spend together.

We’ve started setting aside a few hours every week to dedicate to family bonding, and I think it’s been beneficial for all of us, especially the kids. If you’re struggling to think up simple family bonding activities that will be meaningful but not too time-consuming, consider these:

1. Scrapbooking

This is something you can dedicate an hour or two to a week. You can get all of your old family photos together and paste them in a scrapbook. Kids love being able to look at their baby pictures and reminisce about when they were younger. Be sure to take some recent photos together and include those in your scrapbooks. Your kids may also like to include pictures they’ve drawn, concert and movie ticket stubs, and small things like bookmarks in the scrapbook.

2. Volunteering

Doing good makes you feel good! Kids often love volunteering at animal shelters, cleaning up parks, and helping plant trees. Helping out the community can be a great way for the family to embrace selflessness and spend quality time working together. Before you volunteer, you’ll have to call local non-profits and figure out which ones allow kids to volunteer.

3. Ice Cream Parties

If the whole family loves ice cream, why not throw an ice cream party every once in a while? You can all set aside some time to just eat ice cream and talk at the kitchen table. If you have some extra time, you could even make your own ice cream with milk, sugar, flavoring, rock salt, ice and Ziploc bags. If you want to mix things up, you could have a family ice cream party one week and a root beer float party the next.

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Author’s Bio: Lisa is a visiting blogger and mom who writes about everything from family relationships to Mario birthday party supplies.