Family Fun Night Ideas at Home

Our Family

My husband and I met and fell in love and fast forward 22 years, we now have 2 amazing children. We are busy with our jobs and with home errands and projects. And on top of that, our schedule is filled up with the kiddos’ activities. My son plays soccer on a travel team and my daughter is a member of a performing and competitive dance troupe. So, what that usually means for us, is very busy weeknights driving kids to practices and scrambling to think of quick but healthy meals for dinner; and packed weekends with soccer games and dance rehearsals, and other kids-related activities. I am sure I speak for you as well. Most parents I am sure totally get this, and we are all in the same boat.

Covid (2020)

Well, then Covid shook the world, and things for everyone changed. Our daily lives, our livelihood, our way of living, it all changed. Now, most of us work from home and we find our calendars wide open. Kiddos are spending a lot of time in front of the tv screen, their computers, tablets, phones, and video games.

My husband and I try to think of ways to keep the kids occupied and entertained but also, we are taking this crazy time we are living in, as an opportunity to spend more quality family time and bond as a family because, if you think about it, when would we ever have this family time together again with no plans and nowhere to go.  

In our attempt to bond as a family and spend quality time together, we have found some great games and activities that we now love and enjoy and do weekly (and some nightly) and I would like to share them with you and inspire you to try with your family as well.

Fun Family Game and Activities Ideas

1. IN-HOME FAMILY PING PONG TOURNAMENT – we found this retractable ping pong table tennis net. It is an adjustable net that can fit any table indoors or outdoors and turn it into the perfect ping pong table. We probably play ping pong every night and make up our own tournament rules for the night and switch players. We all enjoy it very much. It is a lot of fun, lots of laughter and healthy competition between the four of us :).
   
   
    
2. CHESS GAME – After we watched the Queen’s Gambit movie and we all loved it, my husband bought a chess game for him and our son to play. They quickly fell in love with the game and even though my daughter and I are not very much into it, it is a great bonding father-son time.
   
   
    
3. BAKING - My daughter and I, and the kids on their own sometimes, have been baking now more than ever. We have made several different cakes, cupcakes, muffins, cookies, and more cookies. She really enjoys measuring out the ingredients and seeing the final product. She has a proud look on her face when we all try what we baked for dessert that day. For Christmas, she was gifted this bake activity set and I let her do the whole thing on her own. I assisted with the baking part, but the kit makes it so easy with pre-measured ingredients and all that is needed for the recipe provided in the kit. I am thinking to get her the monthly subscription and a kit with a different recipe will come to our door every month for her to enjoy…. (noting it down for a gift idea for her next birthday)
    
4. FAMILY FORT – we move our dining room chairs and turn the dining room table into a fort. The kids love that! And we do too. We gather up pillows and blankets and help the kids build the fort. Flashlights are part of the fun of course and some snacks as well.
    
5. MOVIE NIGHT WITH POPCORN AND S’MORES – We love our family movie nights. Once we all agree on a movie to watch :). To make it a little bit more exciting, we make popcorn and homemade smores to enjoy while we watch the movie.
    
6. MAKE HOMEMADE PIZZA FOR DINNER – This is one of our favorites for sure. I use a bread machine to make our pizza dough, but you can find ready pizza dough in all major grocery stores or your local pizza place. We prep all the toppings and place them in the center of our kitchen island. We then usually will do 2 large pizzas, one for the kids and one for my husband and me. The kids get to make their own and put the topics they want. A warm delicious homemade pizza, there is nothing better than that and the fact that the kids get to enjoy something they made themselves.
   
   
    
7. DO A PUZZLE – Now that the kids are a bit older and have more patience, we can actually start a bigger puzzle with more pieces that takes some time and commitment to solving. We put on some music, grab a snack and we all enjoy some fun puzzle time on the dining room table. Start with a smaller puzzle if you have younger children and slowly increase the pieces as they are getting older. Putting together a jigsaw puzzle is an activity that is both fun and educational.
   
   
8. HIDE AND SEEK – Grab flashlights or glowsticks and turn the lights off for the ultimate in-home hide and seek game.
    
9. FAMILY WALK – this has become almost a daily thing for us. We have tried to go out on a walk, weather permitting, almost every day. We switch up our routes and even have nominated one of us to be the leader for the walk and lead the way on their chosen route. This is personally my favorite. It is a healthy family activity that keeps us active and I get to ask the kids all kinds of questions and we chat as we are getting our steps in.
    
10. BOARD GAME NIGHT – everyone’s favorite. Board games are fun, and kids love them! We let the kids each pick a board game and we all participate and enjoy it. Some of our favorites are Monopoly, Candy Land.
    
    
     
11. LEGO NIGHT - You probably have Legos or other similar construction sets in the house. We use them to plan a nice family Lego night! We either work together on one big project or we divide into 2 groups and then show the other what we have built.
     
12. FAMILY BIKE RIDE – another fun way to do something active as a family. Everyone enjoys taking a baking ride in the neighborhood or a trail.
     
13. FAMILY CARD GAME - My family loves to play UNO, but you can also play other card games such as Gin Rummy, Speed, or Poker (depending on their age.)
     

We all live very busy lives, and it is not always easy to find the time, but family time is so very important. It is about building those memories that last forever and what makes a family strong and connected. I hope these ideas inspire you and you and your family enjoy them as much as we do.

Have fun!

Eve