Family Game Night is a fun tradition in our house. Our kids look forward to it and will often ask when our next family game night will be. Because we've been doing it since they were young, even our teens are happy to participate! I credit family game nights with helping to teach my children important life skills like taking turns, cooperation, teamwork, and gracious winning & losing. Here are some of our best Family Game Night Tips & Tricks.
1. Tip – Turn Off/Put Away Electronics – Face to face communication and fun is one of the benefits of family game night. The only way for that to happen is if you turn off the TV and leave your phones in the other room.
2. Trick – Headbands Around Board Game Boxes – It is so frustrating when you get out a board game and find that some of the pieces are missing. At my house, one of the reasons for this is that someone pulls down a game and 5 others fall off and pieces go everywhere. Another reason is that the boxes can become worn and broken over time and it's easy for little pieces to become lost. The solution? Cheap stretchy headbands from the Dollar Store! I bought these at Dollar Tree 6 for $1! They act like a giant rubberband to keep the box together so that all of the pieces stay inside.
3. Tip – Lots Of Treats – Any treat or snack will do but for a special Family Game Night you may want to go all out and make these Scrabble Tile Cookies that I made for a Board Game themed birthday party!
4. Trick – Soap Dish Dice Box – Wow, say that 3 times fast! I know my younger kids tend to get carried away when we play games with dice and they shake the dice so hard that they roll off the table and land on the floor or under the furniture. A great little trick is to put the dice a clear soap dish (.99 cents from Target) and have them shake the soap dish! No more lost dice!
5. Tip – Make Game Night a Regular Event With A Variety Of Games – It could be every Sunday night or it could be once every few months but the more often you do it, the better it goes (especially with young kids). Invest in a few fun board games that the whole family can enjoy so that you have variety and options that will work for the whole family. Check out my family's list of 10 Board Games That The Whole Family Will Enjoy, for some suggestions.
6. Trick – Pool Noodle Card Holders – Little kids have a hard time holding multiple cards in their hand at one time and these super cheap and easy Pool Noodle Card Holders really do the trick. Just cut off 1.5 inches of pool noodle with a serrated bread knife and then cut down through the top of the piece about halfway (or a little more) through the pool noodle. Then just slip your cards in and your little players won't get frustrated as easily.
7 –Tip – Don't Give Up – I remember when we started having game nights when your kids were much younger. It often ended with someone in tears that they didn't win or there would be a big argument about who was going to choose the game. Stick with it, they need to learn these things life lessons and you are making family memories and that is what it's all about!
Cher says
January 11, 2018 at 4:26 pmWe like to do family game tournaments. We print out a list of games that don’t take a long time to play (maybe 15-20 mins), cut them up into strips, fold in half and put them in a bowl. Then we use either a double elimination bracket or round robin style tournament. When two people are ready to play, one of the players selects a game from the bowl. We keep track of the wins and losses on a printed out bracket/round robin paper to see who the game tournament champion is. If someone isn’t currently playing a game (they have a BYE or they have been eliminated from the tournament), they can still play games with others still in the tournament bu their win or loss doesn’t count any more. That way, if you are eliminated, it doesn’t mean you can’t still play. We’ve done tournaments with just our family and with other families and they are very fun! It’s our New Year’s Eve tradition to do a game tournament with other families.
Coupons4Utah says
January 16, 2018 at 9:48 amI love this idea! Thanks for sharing it with us. I would love to do this with our extended family!