Family game night is a fantastic way to get everyone together. Although you can make it a tradition, you might also want to consider a few tips to make your game night smoother.
Many times, it doesn’t require much preparation and planning. Indeed, your family can implement these options for your next game night.
Weather Conditions
Whether it’s summer or crisp fall night, you need to be aware of potential weather conditions. Of course, if you’re planning to have a summer blast with water features, then you must have a place to enjoy the games outdoors.
Once you have the desired spot for the water games, consider having extra towels, so the fun lasts longer. As the weather cools off, family game night occurs mostly indoors.
For those chilly days, have extra pillows, throws, blankets for a cozy area.
Food and Beverages
Family game night is not without snacks and beverages to please a crowd. You can always pile up on healthy snacks such as veggie trays and pretzels.
Moreover, enjoy finger food or fruit punch where everyone can pick and choose whenever they want. Why not have the kids help?
Your kids can enjoy making snacks and setting up an area for serving. In the end, kids collaborate with the family to create a memorable moment.
Age Appropriate Games
Traditional board games are essential for any family game night, and they are fun for every age. However, when it comes to games for teens and tweens, you might want to consider what games can involve the whole family.
If your family has several players of different ages, consider games easy to blend with one age group to another. For instance, you might want to use card games and other interactive games, and switching them from one hour to another.
Space for Family Gathering
Whether you have an apartment or a spacious family area, try to designate a space for family time. Sometimes life takes over, and the things you want to make it happen don’t occur.
For situations when family game night might not happen, you might want to select a place in your home for those unspecific family times. Even if you plan to have a family game night one day but interruptions occur, don’t let that discourage from having it another night.
Materials
A fabulous place to gather materials for your family game night is your local dollar store. There you can grab possibly all you need to make a fantastic game night.
Another ideal place to look for ideas and recipes is Pinterest. Once you have a purpose of games and snacks, you can head to your local store for the necessities.
Scheduling Family Game Nights
As mentioned before, it would be ideal to have a specific date and time for the game night. If that doesn’t happen for one reason or another, then just plan it for another day.
Most of the time, if you plan with other families, then there are more chances of happening. When you plan with other friends or family members, then you encourage others to do the same.
Level of Complexity
How easy or difficult you want to make the game is up to you. However, consider that young children might not enjoy game nights until past a certain hour.
So, for those nights, you might want to play one or two games until bedtime. If you have teens, then you might want to extend bedtime hours a bit longer once the small ones head to bed.
Other Families Invited
Why not enjoy the family game night with other close friends? It is especially a good idea to invite other family friends with similar age groups as your kids so that they can bond and build relationships.
It is also an opportunity to share friendship and food. Let your friends bring a different dish to share.
Location
Whether it is your home or your friend’s house, organization between family members is essential. Especially if you have a large family, you need to make sure everyone knows the meeting place and time.
With so many apps and planners available for families, you can let everyone know when family game night will take place.
Rewards and Awards
If your family has a competitive spirit, then why not hand out awards. Rewarding is a time to recognize that you care for those that tried their best during the game.
You can use stickers, candy bars, extra computer time, additional allowance, and other ideas to promote self-reliance and independence. If you want to go the extra mile, you can even have award ceremonies with delicious treats.
Family game night is full of possibilities to add more communication. When life is a juggle of work, school, and sports, it is often difficult to catch up with what everyone is doing.
Setting up a time for entertainment time with family and friends opens up the opportunities to build relationships.
BMascarenowriter | Math4Bilinguals 