A Night to Remember! Tips to Revive the Family Dinner!

I grew up in a very large family.  My parents had seven kids.  YUP!  You heard right, SEVEN!  My parents were wacky, if they were’t before seven kids they certainly were after!  One of the things my parents did to maintain order in our home was to have one night set aside every week for family night.  This was a time that was non-negotiable.  We all understood that no matter what was happening in our personal lives we HAD to be there!  We would eat , talk, play games, have family meetings, learn, laugh, but more than anything we would reconnect.

Family night is one tradition that I have carried on as an adult.  Even when I was a single mom, I thought this was important to continue.  My kids and I would have our little family night.  When I remarried, weekly family nights were pivotal in the efforts to unite our new family.

Here are some tips to have your own family dinner or weekly family night no matter how old or young your family is!

Make Your Family Night The Same Night Every Week

By making your “dinner or family night” the same every week it starts to be expected.  You will be surprised how your family members start to work their schedules around the set day.  It is hard at first, but before you know it your family will be asking about the next family night!

Get everyone involved

Getting involved goes for groups large and small.  If it is just you and your husband starting out take turns planning.  If you have little ones, let the littles ones pick a goodie, if you have teenagers, let them plan the Youtube Karaoke Contest!  (I promise this is blast!)  If everyone takes ownership they will be more interested in participating and seeing them continue.

Take Pictures

These are the best memories you will have as a family!  Remember them.  Assign someone to be the photographer for the night.  Maybe even have a Facebook or Pinterest album just for your family nights.  Looking back on these fond memories will create a positive attitude about the weekly nights.

Don’t Make it too complicated

Keep it simple.  If you overcomplicate every night it will get overwhelming and eventually feel like a chore.  Family night should be fun, and an opportunity to connect as a family.  Think about watching a moving or show together, sharing the highlights of the week, or a simple dinner.

Here is a list of some of our favorite family nights

• Blind Taste Tests (We purchase two like items blindfold everyone and see if we can tell the difference.  Things like Oreos and Generic, Different Peanut Butters, Different Varieties of Apples, Cheezit and Cheese Nips…)
• Any Board Game!
• We made our own version  of the show Chopped
• We made our own version of the show Minute to Win It
• A Goofy Meal (Give everyone $5 split up in the store.  Each person buys an item for dinner.  No one knows what the others are buying for the dinner so you end up with a very GOOFY MEAL! 🙂
• YouTube Karaoke – Pull up Youtube on your tv or computer.  Search for any popular song in karaoke style.  Everyone takes turn singing karaoke of their favorite songs.  If you really want to spice it up you can pick songs for other people that you think would be funny to hear them sing!
• Dollar Store Bingo- Use M&M’s as bingo markers and get Dollars store prizes for each person when the get a bingo
• We pick a family tv show and have it recorded to watch all together

These are just a few of our favorites.  I would love to hear from you!  What crazy fun have you had with your family?

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