Family night is something that our family looks forward to every weekend. Our designated family night is on Saturday. We plan to do something together on Saturday unless we know ahead of time that we need to adjust the day or time. A family night is something our family has tried to make a priority for many years now. The best part about family night is that is can be whatever you want it to be. On some occasions my husband and I will plan what we are going to do as a family. Typically, we allow our children to have some input into what we are going to do. We may give them options to choose between or they can provide an idea for family night. The activities we do depend on how our family is feeling that day. Some days we want to stay in and do family activities at home like watch a movie or play board games. We have collected a lot of board games over the years, but the best games have been the ones our children have created. Recently, each of our children created a board game related to the Old Testament. We just completed reading the Old Testament, so I encouraged our children to create a game to test our knowledge of the Old Testament. As a part of our family night, we played each of their games. The activities we do when we go out as a family include biking, hiking, skating, bowling, arcades, trampoline park, mini golf, and going out to eat.
A family night is worth making a priority, we only have a few short years to build memories with them. Deciding to have a family night doesn’t have to be complicated. Make family night work for you. If you can reserve the whole day, then you may choose to use the whole day. If your family structure doesn’t allow for whole days, then make the most out of the time you have available. There are a few things to think about when planning a family night.
- What do you want to include in your family night? If this is the main day you will spend as a family, then think about what you want to accomplish out of your family night. If reading the bible is important to you but you haven’t figured out how to make it work for your family, then aim for family devotions once a week. If you’re a family that is always on the go, then you may want to make family night a time where you remain at home. If you’re usually around each other but everyone is doing their own thing, then you may want to use family builder ideas for family night. It is the same concept as team builders, activities that require everyone’s involvement. Hands- on activities like board games are great for getting everyone involved. A few examples are Pictionary, Charades, Taboo, and Scattergories. If you and your family are big entertainers, then you may want to use family night to focus on your family. It doesn’t mean that you can’t be around other people, but you may not want to plan to invite others to be a part of your family night. The most important part about family night is to think about what you want to accomplish out of it.
- How much money do you want to use on family night? The cost for family night may vary, but the limit on which you are willing to spend doesn’t have too. Some family nights may not cost that much. If you stay home and watch a movie on Netflix, Amazon, or grab a movie from Redbox then you only pay the cost of the movie. It helps to set a limit for the nights when you are planning to go out. Determining your limit of how much you are willing to spend on family night, will depend on your purpose for family night and how frequently you plan to have it. If you only plan to have family night once a month, then you might choose to set aside more money. If you are planning on having family night more regularly, then you may choose cheaper activities so you can do more things.
If you are considering how to create more family memories, then you may want to consider making family night a regular event. There is a book called “Making Family Memories: A Family Night Planner” by Rich and Bonnie Skinner. This book is great for someone who would like to start having family nights with their family, but they’re not quite sure how to get started. There are at least 20 family night ideas for multiple ages ranges that include, meal ideas, devotion topic, an activity, and dessert ideas.
ChristianHomeschoolHeadQuarters.com: Making family memories are important. What kind of things would you include in your family night?