We have been doing family game night for a few years consistently. While we might be tired at the end of the week, ready to just sit and watch a movie, it is one of our kids’ favorite things to do each week. They talk about it, look forward to it, and get excited for that quality time together.
We’ve grown to look forward to it for two main reasons:
- Family Connection: Our kids eagerly look forward to game night every week, making it a cherished time for bonding and connecting.
- Sportsmanship: We’ve learned valuable lessons about sportsmanship through our game nights. Including other families hasn’t always been smooth, with kids sometimes pouting or crying about losing. However, these experiences have helped us emphasize the importance of being a good sport, regardless of the outcome.
For our full list of favorite board games, take a look at our Amazon storefront list!
Steps to a Successful Family Game Night:
- Commit to a Time: Decide on a regular schedule that works for your family—whether it’s weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Consistency is key. A full game night typically includes three games, snacks, and prizes. However, it’s not uncommon for us to have another commitment on a Friday night, and often in those instances we just play one game. If it’s a night where we only played one game, there is usually not prizes.
- Prepare Fun Treats or Snacks: Snacks add an extra layer of fun to game night. Choose a variety of treats that everyone enjoys, or let different family members be in charge of snacks or fun drinks for the night.
- Alternate Game Styles: Rotate through different types of games until you find ones that everyone enjoys. This keeps things interesting and ensures there’s something for everyone. Sometimes parents choose the games, sometimes the kids choose the games.
- Include Prizes: Prizes are key. They add an element of excitement and motivation. We award a prize at the end of the night based on several criteria: winning games, showing good sportsmanship, maintaining a positive attitude, and actively participating. Even if a game isn’t everyone’s favorite or if the youngest child is more of a spectator, they earn imaginary points for actions like cheering, refilling snacks, or shaking hands at the end of the game. At the end of the night, the parents talk and decide a winner.
- More on Prizes: Prizes can be inexpensive items like dollar store trinkets, fun pens, special candies, or random finds from Walmart. We keep a prize bag with our games for easy access. Usually there is just one winner. Sometimes, there is a first, second and third prize winner, in which they get to pick from the prize bag in order.
- Attitudes: Poor attitudes, cheaters, bragging, etc. are not allowed. You’ll be out of the running for prizes if those things happen.
- Consistency: It’s not always easy to show up for game night after a long and busy week. But being consistent with the rules, with setting boundaries, expectations, etc has shown be be incredibly rewarding. Now that we don’t have any pouting, any arguing, and we can all just play and have fun…. Friday Night Game Night’s are something we ALL genuinely look forward to.
Give it a try! The most important step is to start! Set a date, gather your games and snacks, and enjoy some quality family time.
We hope these steps inspire you to create your own family game night traditions. Happy gaming!