Like most families with young children, our day-to-day schedules can be very full and very hectic. Sometimes it feels like we are just running from one practice to another, and we don’t get the bonding time we all need during the week. That’s why we like to carve out specific times on the weekends for Family Night.
It takes just a little planning and we all enjoy a special night together. Here are our five favorite family night themes:
Game Night
Who doesn’t love game night? In our family, we each pick our favorite game and take turns running the show. Guess Who has been top of the list lately for our 6-year-old, but my husband and I love the classics – Uno, Go Fish and Monopoly. You name it, we love a good board game.
Pro-Tip: Thrift Stores or FB Marketplace are great places to find cheap board games and Dollar Tree currently has travel versions of a lot of the classic games we love for $1.25. Great for hot summer days, nights and vacations. Don’t forget the snacks!
Paint Night
This is one of our favorite family activities. We love a good paint night. You can get fancy and do a whole setup with easels and canvases and follow a painting tutorial on YouTube for free… Or keep it simple and use finger paints and construction paper. While you’re in Dollar Tree picking up some games for game night, grab some acrylics, paint brushes and canvases. They have everything you need! Get creative and more than anything, have fun! It’s not about the finished product, it’s about the journey.
Movie Night
Streaming is your new best friend! In this day and age between Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Disney+, etc, you can stream pretty much any movie right into your living room. We rotate through who gets to pick the movie each week. Our daughter loves anything Disney, I’m a fan of a good musical and my husband loves a superhero saga. We usually order pizza, pop some popcorn and load up on snacks we don’t allow during the week to make it special.
Pro-Tip: If you have littles, every once in a while, take the extra time to set up a concessions stand or make movie tickets and watch their imagination sore. We recently did this and the kids played with the movie theater set up for days after.
Backyard Camping
We love the real deal camping but sometimes that gets complicated with our schedules and with little kids. Even better is “backyard camping,” where we can have all the fun, catch lightning bugs, make s’mores in the fire pit, look at the stars, set up our tent or sleeping bags… and then head inside when our backs start to ache on the ground. Indoor plumbing is close at hand but memories are still being made! Win-win!
Do Nothing Night
Ok, so bear with me. This sounds silly but it’s honestly become everyone’s favorite night. During the week, we are often SO busy and never take time to just do nothing. So we purposely schedule “Do Nothing Nights.” That means no cooking, no cleaning, no lifting a finger. We all get to do what we want. Want to watch your device all night with no screen time limits? Have at it! Want to order food and not clean a single dish? Here’s your chance! Want to binge-watch Real Housewives all night? Enjoy!
Our only rule is you have to relax and not ask anyone else to do anything either. It usually means we split off into separate rooms for a few hours, we all choose different dinners or shows, and we have some alone time. For a busy family on the go, this is sometimes exactly what the doctor ordered on a Friday night. Ultimately after a few hours of alone time, the family will all eventually trickle into our bedroom and we finish the night watching a movie or show together. A “Do Nothing Night” is a great way for all of us to recharge and come back together even better!
No matter what you choose to do for family night, the main goal is to find fun and creative ways to enjoy each other and build those core memories. Finding ways to enjoy the ride together is what it’s all about. Tell us, what are your favorite things to do for family night?
