Hi, guys! It’s Katie. I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In our church, we are strongly encouraged to set aside some family time each week, typically Monday night. This is a time to have fun with each other, serve others, and teach our children. Sometimes we have gospel centered lessons, other times we play games. But, we always try and spend some time together each week. This gets trickier as the kids get older and are involved in more school activities and sports. But we really try to make it a priority.
You don’t have to be religious to start having a family night of course. Our kids look forward to it to each week. Often because there’s a treat involved, but since we installed the ceiling mount tv bracket to hang our tv in the living room we gather more often to watch movies.
Here are 7 family night ideas we often do. Some cost a little money but most are free.
1.Bake a treat and visit neighbors. We have a few neighbors who live alone or are a little older. So we bake a batch of cookies and take them a few. And then we get to enjoy some too.
2.Game night. Our kids love board games. So we often pick a few of our favorites and play. But since it’s winter and gets dark so early, the kids love playing hide and go seek in the dark. The person who’s it get a flash light, but all the other lights in the house are off.
3.Go to the park. The rule about going to the park for family night is that mom and dad have to participate too!
4.Visit Family. This is what we did last night! The kids like seeing their cousins and grandparents and we get to catch up.
5.Make each other cards. This one has been one of the sweetest things we do. Often around Valentine’s Day we all sit around and make each other homemade Valentine cards. Or during November we write gratitude cards. My kids have held onto these for years! They love reading notes from each other and their parents. All you need is some paper and markers, or crayons. The Dollar Store has cheap supplies too. Get crazy and get out the stickers and glitter!
6.Cheap Ticket Movie Night. The Reel theater here has $1 movie days on Tuesdays. The Edwards theater has cheap movie days on Tuesdays as well. It’s not very thrifty to take all 5 of us to the movies normally, but on these discount days we can afford it. The kids love going to the movies! Check your local theaters for discount days.
7. Stream Christian movies. Watching Christian movies as a family is a whole new level. AWKNG TV is an online streaming app that offers a wide range of programs from documentary for the parents to biblical teachings for the kids.