Here at Chaos and Confetti, it’s no secret that we love solving puzzles. Look though our blog archive and you’ll find dozens of puzzle reviews and experiences. We’re not shy about how much joy we get from piecing together clues and putting together the evidence.
However, we’d also like it to be known that we really enjoy piecing together more traditional jigsaw puzzles and similar fare as well. It’s actually one of the many areas we bonded over when we first started dating. Lots of people view puzzles as boring and lame, or as an old people hobby, but we both recognize the sense of peace and accomplishment that comes along with puzzling.
We have completed many puzzles at home, but one of our biggest traditions is seeing how many puzzles we can complete during Confetti’s family’s annual beach week. Every year, we stockpile a few new puzzles just for that late July week. We still take time to partake in all the other joys that come with a beach week, but we also snap in pieces throughout the day. Night though is when we make our big gains. We often stay up late completing large swaths of our puzzles. By the end of the week, we usually average three to four completed puzzles.
One of the reasons we love puzzling together so much is that keeping our hands busy actually helps focus our minds and attention on other things. We know that true multitasking is not really a thing, but there is a lot to be said about having a simple physical task that allows better concentration in other areas. It’s sort of the same as having an easier time having a conversation while driving or hanging out with friends and talking during a round of Super Smash Bros.
We’ve had plenty of great and deep conversations over puzzles. However, sometimes it’s just great to bask in a shared experience. There’s something about a nice podcast or audiobook, just some music, that pairs really well with puzzling (Disclaimer: Chaos will totally pause things to share his thoughts or ask Confetti for hers).
A few of our favorite podcasts we’ve devoured while snapping together puzzles have been:
- Terrible Thanks for Asking hosted by Nora McInery
- Serial hosted by Sarah Koening
- This American Life hosted by Ira Glass
- Nice White Parents hosted by Chana Joffe-Walt
- S-Town hosted by Brian Reed
- Lore hosted by Aaron Mahnke
- 36 Questions by Two-Up Productions
There have been plenty of others we’ve dabbled in, but these are some of the biggest standouts.
Sometimes we’ll do the tv or movie thing with our puzzles too, but that is less common since the visual aspect can be distracting from the puzzle and vice versa.
Another great aspect of jigsaw puzzles is that you can easily get them themed to whatever your tastes and fandoms include. Some of our favorite go to themes are beagles, Marvel, and Disney. We’ve even been able to enjoy our mystery puzzle hobby with products from Magic Puzzle Company and Escape Puzzles from Ravensburger. We definitely plan to try out a few more puzzles along those lines in the future.
Speaking of different types of puzzles,, it’d be silly not to give a shout out to Lego which provides us with what is basically a different format of puzzling when you work on one of their sets.
We both grew up with Legos, but since starting our relationship, we have slowly built up a shared collection. Here’s a peak at some of our favorite sets from over the past couple of years:
Traditional jigsaw-esque puzzles might not be for everyone, but if you haven’t given them a shot recently, we recommend that you do. You might be surprised at how fun they can be, especially with the right podcast, song, or book playing in the background.
Chaos & Confetti 