Gathering around the table for games isn’t just about rolling dice or playing cards; it’s about weaving bonds and crafting cherished memories. Our weekly game night tradition infuses our family with its own unique magic, fostering a sense of togetherness and belonging that’s truly special.

This essence, I believe, lies at the heart of meaningful family traditions.

Reflecting on my own upbringing, it’s the small yet consistent rituals like these that stand out—the daily or weekly routines that added a sprinkle of joy and stability to our lives. They formed the backbone of our family fabric, creating moments we could rely on and memories we’ll forever treasure. 

But even if family game nights weren’t part of your upbringing, it’s never too late to start your own tradition!

So I thought it would be fun to share some of our top tips for helping make family game night a weekly tradition in your own family’s story.

Tips for Creating a Family Game Night Tradition

Keep Family Game Night Simple

Especially when starting a new tradition, you want to keep things simple to help get everything established. We recommend choosing games that are easy to learn with shorter play times to help fit into your family’s schedule. 

We recently highlighted five games perfect for this! Each have straightforward rules, short play times, and unique challenges! 

Little Tavern — a party game feel with clever set collection scoring
Honk — Great for families with younger players
Mantis — A simple card game you’ll get hooked on
Forever Home — a charming and cozy tile placement puzzle
Fuse Countdown — a heart racing real-time cooperative game

If you’d like more game ideas, I share more of our favorite quick games for busy lives in this post.

Consistency is Key

Consistency is crucial when trying to form a new habit or tradition, particularly in the beginning.

Choose a night of the week when you can all play a game together. Scheduling game night like you do any other element of your family night makes sure that your calendar is clear and gives everyone something to look forward to. 

Consistency also comes in the form of playing the same game. If you have a game the whole family is loving, don’t switch it up! Prepare the same snack or roll out the game mat before each play. Repeating these steps week after week will form rituals that you’ll associate with game nights.

Have a Fun Snack

If there’s one thing I know to be true, it’s that if you want to throw a successful event, you better have some fun treats available for the attendees. This can be as simple as a big bowl of popcorn or as fancy as a charcuterie tray. But I promise you, game nights will be more fun with some kind of snack. You can even have a family member be in charge of choosing what the game night snack is for that week.

Create a Comfortable Gaming Environment

Now it’s obvious that you’ll want to make sure that everyone has a place to sit comfortably, but don’t forget about lighting too! The text on cards can be tricky to read in low light so make sure you have a few lamps to turn on in the room so everyone can see things clearly.

Limit Distractions 

When possible, this is a good time to turn the TV off and put your phones away. This will help you all engage better with the game and each other.

Include Everyone

Finding ways to include every family member is important, but that doesn’t mean you always have to choose a game that your youngest can play. Rotate the types of games you play — some weeks you can play games focused on your younger family members’ abilities, other weeks you can play those that skew towards your older members. On those weeks, give your younger players a special job, like “official dice roller,” teach them how to deal the cards, or let them be on dad’s team.

Celebrate Together

Finding ways to mark achievements is a fun way to memorialize each game night together. My Canasta playing family has a traveling Canasta trophy that we play for each year during our big annual Canasta tournament. During the start of our marriage, we used to mark the winners of each game on the underside of the game box top. Now we use the app BG Stats to record each play! This creates a fun family game night log of all the games we’ve played over the years.

Adapt as Your Family Grows

Once you get in a good game night groove, experiment with trying longer, more challenging games or up the frequency of your game nights! The family dynamic changes over-time and your game nights can too.

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