Family Game Night

Do you have a family game night at home yet? If not, there is no time like the present to start one. I have a few suggestions below to get you started without resorting to the same old board games that we have all played our entire lives. Don't get me wrong, I love the classic board games like Life, Monopoly, Connect Four and Battleship but they are not always easy to play with the younger set whether it be the  rules, the counting or game length. Not to mention, sometimes it is just fun to make up games strictly for your family.

Our first game will be "Family Trivia". Get some index cards and write out some facts/questions about your family. Some of the questions can be easy and some will be a little harder. Some examples could be: Who hit a home run in the family softball game at last year's reunion? (Answer: Uncle John) Who collects My Little Pony? (Answer: Cousin Emily) You can get as detailed as you would like. If the kids are pretty young, you could use photos of family and ask them to tell you one fact about them. For example, you have a picture of Aunt Sheila and the fact about her is that she lives in Kansas. Not only is this a good game for current time but it can help to keep some memories alive for your family. Cousin Emily may not always collect My Little Pony toys but it will be fun to remember when her entire room was covered in them. You could even make up new questions for a yearly version of the game.You can store the cards in an index box or a photo storage box. As you make the cards, be sure to make an answer key to keep with the cards, not to cheat by but to remember the answers years from now when the softball games are long forgotten.

Iron Chef - Home Style

Pick out a food. For example if you pick cupcakes everyone could make cupcakes and decorate them. If the kids are fairly young you could base it entirely on decorating the cupcakes since they may be to young to use the oven. At the end of the challenge then the person with the funniest or the prettiest or the most original cupcake design would be the winner. Maybe a good prize could be their choice for bedtime story or their choice for movie night.

Animal Charades

This is a great game for toddlers and older. You can get pictures of animals that everyone recognizes. Put them all in a bucket and when one is pulled out the other players have to figure out the animal they are strictly based on their actions. They are not allowed to speak. If they are toddlers and they have been acting it out for awhile with no successful guesses you may want to let them make the animal sounds to make some progress in the guessing.

These should be a good start for your Family Game Night. You do not always have to have the newest electronics or the coolest movies and games to have a good time with your family.