The Family Game Night, it’s becoming increasingly popular among Americans these days. It could be that we are finally tired of the TV taking over the time we have together or maybe, with the busy schedules that parents and kids have these days we just miss each other.
The first thing to do to organize a family game night is to decide when it is. Would you like to make it once a month, twice a month, once a week? You know your family’s schedule. How often can they get together?
Make your family game night a mandatory thing. No body can duck out of it for any reason. Make sure this is clear to your family and don’t back down on it. Your family is as important as the boyfriend, girlfriend, friend, event or TV show.
Some people choose to eat dinner before having their family game night, others choose to order pizza or some other take out food and eat while they play. Whatever you choose to do, make sure that you have plenty of munchies and drinks on hand while you play.
If you plan on having a family game night, make sure you have some games on hand. Traditional games like Scrabble, Pictionary and Life are a lot of fun. Your local toy or game store will carry many more. You may want to try looking for some unusual games. My family’s favorite games are Zombies!, a game based on 1950s B horror films, or Family Business, a card game where each player gets to be a mob gang. If you want some games that don’t require a lot of rules to learn, check out the game company “ Out of the Box“. They guarantee that you will be able to learn the rules to any of their games in under five minutes. If you have young children, look for games like CandyLand, Chutes and Ladders and Cootie.
Family game night is an easy and fun tradition to setup in your family. Your kids may grumble at first but once the TV is off and the games begin, they will discover that games and family are fun.