Family Fun Night Ideas

83 whole evenings for one household, from Indoor Camping Night to Family Bake-Off, each with an activity, a game, a snack and a list of things to gather.

Family Fun Night Ideas

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  1. Photo Album NightDo: Pull out the albums or put a phone slideshow on the big screen. Everyone chooses one photo and tells the story of what happened just before or just after it. Game: Who knows me better questions, with the people in the photos on the spot. Snack: A snack from the year of the oldest photo, if anyone can remember one. Gather: Albums, or a phone and a way to show it on a screen.

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All 83 nights

Pretend-place nights 10

  • Around the World Night Do: Spin a globe or point at a map with your eyes shut. Learn to say hello in that country, draw its flag and taste one food from there. Game: A few rounds from the random trivia generator, kids against grown-ups. Snack: One dish or one store-bought food from the country you landed on. Gather: A globe or a map, paper, crayons and one new food.
  • Backwards Dinner Night Do: Run the whole meal in reverse. Say good night at the door, wear shirts back to front, eat dessert first and finish with the main course. Game: A whisper chain from the family dinner games deck, passed around the table the wrong way. Snack: Tonight's dinner, served last course first. Gather: The meal you planned anyway and shirts to turn around.
  • Family Restaurant Night Do: The kids name the restaurant, write the menu, seat the guests and take orders. The grown-ups are customers, and everyone helps in the kitchen. Game: Food would you rather questions while the guests wait for their order. Snack: Dinner itself, plated by the staff. Gather: Paper for menus, a notepad for orders and a dish towel for the waiter's arm.
  • Home Hotel Night Do: Set up a front desk, check every guest in, hand out cardboard room keys and swap bedrooms for the evening. Room service takes orders on slips of paper. Game: This or that questions for kids, asked by the front desk at check-in. Snack: Toast and sliced fruit, delivered on a tray. Gather: Cardboard for keys, a pot lid for the desk bell, a tray and paper slips.
  • Indoor Camping Night Do: Pitch a tent or hang a blanket over two chairs in the living room, switch off the lights and tell stories by flashlight. Anyone who wants to can sleep there. Game: 20 questions in the dark, with secret things from the 20 questions game page. Snack: Trail mix stirred together from whatever the pantry holds. Gather: Blankets, pillows, flashlights and a tent if you own one.
  • Living Room Airplane Night Do: Line up chairs in rows, hand out paper boarding passes and announce a secret destination. One person pushes the snack cart and one gives the safety talk. Game: Road trip trivia questions, read over the speaker by the captain. Snack: Crackers and juice in small cups from the cart. Gather: Chairs, paper for tickets and passports, and a tray.
  • Living Room Beach Day Do: Spread towels on the floor, put on sunglasses, aim a fan at the beach for a sea breeze and play sitting keep-it-up with a beach ball. Game: Summer would you rather questions, read from a towel. Snack: Ice pops or frozen fruit. Gather: Towels, sunglasses, a fan, a beach ball and a box of ice pops.
  • Museum Night at Home Do: Each curator picks three objects from their room and writes a label for each. Then give tours in a hushed museum voice, the last one by flashlight. Game: Two truths and a lie about one exhibit: the visitors vote on the false label. Snack: Cookies and milk in the museum cafe. Gather: Index cards or paper, tape and a flashlight.
  • Space Mission Night Do: Build a cockpit from chairs and boxes, count down from ten and fly to the moon. The crew collects moon rocks, foil balls hidden around the room. Game: Science trivia questions for kids as the mission control quiz. Snack: Dry cereal and fruit in zip bags, eaten with helmets on. Gather: Kitchen foil, boxes and chairs.
  • Time Machine Night Do: A grown-up picks a year they remember from childhood. Dress the part from the back of the closet, then hear what school, phones and dinner were like. Game: The family questions game, so the kids have their questions ready. Snack: Something the grown-up ate as a kid. Gather: Old photos and old clothes.

Kitchen nights 11

  • Blind Taste-Test Night Do: One person sets out eight foods from the fridge and the pantry. The tasters wear a blindfold, take one small spoonful of each and write down a guess. Leave out anything a taster is allergic to. Game: Food this or that questions between tastings. Snack: The eight foods are the snack. Gather: A scarf for a blindfold, small spoons, paper and pencils.
  • Breakfast-for-Dinner Quiz Night Do: Wear pajamas to the table and cook pancakes or eggs for dinner. Hold a quiz round between courses, kids against grown-ups. Game: Fun trivia questions for kids, with the grown-ups answering left-handed if they run ahead. Snack: Pancakes, eggs or cereal: dinner is the snack. Gather: Breakfast ingredients and pajamas.
  • Build-Your-Own Pizza Night Do: Everyone tops a small pizza on flatbread or an English muffin and gives it a name. While the pizzas bake, vote for the boldest topping. Game: Food would you rather questions while the oven does its work. Snack: The pizzas. Gather: Flatbreads or muffins, sauce, cheese and four or five toppings.
  • Cookie Decorating Studio Do: Start with plain cookies, baked or bought. Deal a word and draw it in frosting, and the others guess what it is before anyone eats it. Game: Easy words from the drawing game word generator, drawn in frosting. Snack: The cookies, once they have been guessed. Gather: Plain cookies, frosting in two or three colors and butter knives.
  • Family Bake-Off Do: Two teams bake the same plain cookies or muffins, then decorate them to a theme pulled from a hat. A grown-up runs the oven. Game: The cakes and cookies layout of the food judging score sheet, one column per team. Snack: Everything you baked. Gather: One simple recipe, its ingredients, frosting and sprinkles.
  • Grandparent Recipe Night Do: Call a grandparent or an older relative and ask for one recipe and the story behind it. Cook it together and copy it onto a card to keep. Game: The family questions game while the pot simmers, with the grandparent still on the line if you can. Snack: The dish itself. Gather: The ingredients for the recipe, a card and a pen.
  • Mystery Ingredient Challenge Do: One person chooses a surprise ingredient from the pantry. Each cook or team has 20 minutes to build a cold snack around it, with no stove. Game: The any dish layout of the food judging score sheet, with the chooser of the ingredient as head judge. Snack: The entries, shared. Gather: Pantry food, plates and a clock.
  • Popcorn Bar Trivia Night Do: Pop a big bowl of popcorn and set out three toppings, such as cinnamon sugar, grated cheese and a little melted chocolate. Play trivia in two teams, and the winners choose the next topping. Game: The random trivia generator, with its team scores. Snack: Popcorn, three ways. Gather: Popcorn, toppings and small bowls.
  • Sandwich Architect Night Do: Build the tallest or the strangest sandwich you would really eat, name it and describe it to the table like a menu. Game: Forbidden word game cards while you eat: describe a word without its banned words. Snack: The sandwiches. Gather: Bread and whatever fillings are in the fridge.
  • Smoothie Lab Do: Each scientist invents a smoothie, writes the recipe on a card and gives it a name. Everyone rates every glass out of five. Game: Food this or that questions while the blender runs. Snack: The smoothies. Gather: A blender, milk or yogurt, a banana and two or three kinds of fruit.
  • Taco Bar and Table Games Do: Lay the fillings out in bowls so everyone builds their own. Play one table game between helpings, two sides, with the score kept on a phone. Game: A memory chain or a round of higher or lower from the family dinner games deck. Snack: Tacos. Gather: Tortillas or shells and five or six fillings.

Making and building nights 9

  • Build-a-Fort Story Night Do: Build one big fort from cushions, chairs and blankets, then climb in with a flashlight. Read aloud, or write a story together and read it back. Game: The fill in the blank story generator: collect the words, then read the story out inside the fort. Snack: Apple slices and cheese cubes, because crumbs in a fort last for days. Gather: Cushions, blankets, clothespins and flashlights.
  • Cardboard Box Build Night Do: Save boxes for a week, then build one thing together: a castle, a car or a rocket. A grown-up does the cutting and the kids do the design. Game: 20 questions while the tape dries, with the 20 questions game page dealing the secret thing. Snack: A snack served through the window of whatever you built. Gather: Boxes, packing tape, markers and scissors for the grown-up.
  • Family Comic Book Night Do: Fold paper into six panels. Everyone draws the first panel of a story, then passes it on, and each page travels round the table until the comics are done. Staple them into one book. Game: The write draw pass game as the warm-up. Snack: Anything that keeps fingers clean, such as grapes or popcorn. Gather: Paper, pencils, markers and a stapler.
  • Invent-a-Board-Game Night Do: Draw a track on a sheet of cardboard, write the rules on one page, make a stack of chance cards and find tokens in a drawer. Then play the game you invented and fix the rule that breaks first. Game: Roll a drawing to design the creatures that live on your board. Snack: Small snacks in bowls, away from the wet marker ink. Gather: Cardboard, markers, one die, paper for cards and buttons or coins for tokens.
  • Marble Run Engineers Do: Tape cardboard tubes and folded paper chutes to a door or a wall to make a run from head height to the floor. Time each run and rebuild to make it slower. With a toddler in the house, roll a ball of foil instead of a marble. Game: A seated challenge from the one minute game timer while the next track is taped up. Snack: Round food only: grapes cut in half, crackers, cheese rounds. Gather: Cardboard tubes, painter's tape, paper and a marble.
  • Paper Airplane Championship Do: Everyone folds and decorates two planes. Fly three events down a hallway: longest flight, a landing in a laundry basket and best trick. Game: A round of fact or fiction questions between events, while the pilots repair their planes. Snack: Pretzels and juice as the in-flight service. Gather: Paper, markers, a laundry basket and tape for the start line.
  • Salt Dough Sculpt-Off Do: Mix a simple dough from flour, salt and water. Deal a word, give everyone two minutes to sculpt it, and let the table guess. Game: Easy words from the drawing game word generator, sculpted and not drawn. Snack: Something that is clearly not the dough, such as carrot sticks and dip. Gather: Flour, salt, water, a bowl and a wipe-clean table.
  • Tallest Tower Challenge Do: Each team gets ten sheets of newspaper and an arm's length of tape. Build the tallest tower that stands on its own for ten seconds, then go again with half the paper. Game: The one minute game timer for a quick challenge between the two builds. Snack: Breadsticks, which also stack. Gather: Newspaper or scrap paper, tape and a tape measure.
  • Time Capsule Night Do: Everyone writes a letter to their future self, draws a self-portrait and cuts a string to their height. Seal it all in a box and write the opening date on the lid. Game: The family questions game: write the best answers down and put them in the box too. Snack: Each person's favorite snack of the moment, listed in the capsule. Gather: A box, paper, string, tape and a marker.

Game and contest nights 10

  • Charades Championship Do: Two teams play best of three rounds. Decorate a paper cup as the trophy: it lives in the winners' room until the rematch. Game: The charades generator, with its round timer and team scores. Snack: Popcorn, passed around between rounds. Gather: A phone, a paper cup and markers.
  • Deck of Cards Night Do: Each generation teaches the others one game played with a standard deck: a matching game from the youngest, a trick-taking game from the oldest. Game: When the grown-ups teach hearts, keep the hands on the hearts score sheet. Snack: Small snacks in bowls, with napkins, to keep the cards clean. Gather: One or two standard decks of cards.
  • Drawing Duel Night Do: Tape big sheets of paper to a wall. One drawer from each team draws the same word at the same moment, and the first team to guess it takes the point. Game: The drawing game word generator, Easy cards only when the youngest is drawing. Snack: Snacks that do not smudge: pretzels and apple slices. Gather: Large paper or the back of wrapping paper, tape and markers.
  • Family Bingo Night Do: Print a card for everyone, take turns as the caller and play for prizes that cost nothing: choosing tomorrow's dinner, fifteen extra minutes before bed, a day off from one chore. Game: Cards from the bingo card generator, with numbers or with your own family words. Snack: Dry cereal, which doubles as the markers. Gather: Printed cards, markers for the squares and a list of prizes.
  • Family Quiz Show Night Do: One host, two teams and a pot lid with a spoon for each team's buzzer. Play three rounds, then one last question on which each team may bet its points. Game: Questions from the random trivia generator, with the bets and totals on the quiz show score keeper. Snack: A bowl of snacks for each team. Gather: Two pot lids, two spoons and a host with a serious voice.
  • Family Survey Showdown Do: Before the night, one person writes survey questions about the household, such as: name something Dad always loses. Two teams try to guess the top answers. Game: Type the questions and answers into the survey game maker and run the board from there. Snack: Chips and dip in the middle of the table. Gather: Thirty minutes of question writing beforehand.
  • Home Escape Room Night Do: One grown-up hides a chain of puzzle sheets around a room and locks a small prize in a box or seals it in an envelope. The rest of the family gets 45 minutes to work out the final code. Game: A ready-made chain from the make your own escape room game page, printed. Snack: The prize in the box: a bag of treats to share. Gather: A printer, tape, a box with a padlock or a sealed envelope, and the prize.
  • Living Room Family Olympics Do: Run five silly events, such as a sock toss, a book-on-head walk and a spoon-and-potato relay. Cut medals out of foil and hold a ceremony at the end. Game: Pick the events from the family one-minute games page. Snack: Fruit on skewers, served at the podium. Gather: Socks, books, spoons, a potato, kitchen foil and string.
  • One-Minute Challenge Night Do: Six challenges, sixty seconds each, all with things from the kitchen drawer. Every player attempts every challenge, and a finish inside the minute is a point. Game: The one minute game timer deals each challenge with the props it needs, and runs the clock. Snack: Whatever is left of the supplies: crackers, cereal, grapes. Gather: Plastic cups, coins, socks, spoons and paper plates.
  • Sock Basketball Tournament Do: Roll socks into balls and shoot at a laundry basket from three lines: one, two and three points. Little kids shoot from wherever they like. Game: Set one minute on the one minute game timer for a most-baskets final. Snack: Orange slices at half time. Gather: Socks, a laundry basket and tape for the lines.

Show and story nights 9

  • Family News Broadcast Do: Set up an anchor desk and report the week's household news: the weather in the yard, sports from the hallway and one live interview. Film it to watch back. Game: Hot seat questions for the interview. Snack: Water for the anchors, and cookies after the broadcast. Gather: A table, paper for scripts and a phone to film with.
  • Family Radio Play Do: Record a story for voices only on a phone. One person makes every sound effect with things from the kitchen: rice in a jar for rain, two cups for hooves. Game: The fill in the blank story generator, if you need a script in five minutes. Snack: Something quiet to chew between takes, such as banana slices. Gather: A phone, a quiet room and a box of things that make noise.
  • Family Sing-Along Night Do: Everyone picks two songs the whole family knows. Hairbrushes are microphones, and nobody sits out the chorus. Game: Between songs, deal a word from the word association game list: the first person to sing a line with that word in it takes a point. Snack: Warm water with honey and lemon for the singers. Gather: A speaker or just voices, and hairbrushes.
  • Family Talent Show Do: Every act gets two minutes: a song, a joke, a cartwheel, a drawing done live. One person is the host, a sheet is the curtain and the audience cheers for everything. Game: The talent show layout of the judges score sheet, for families who like marks. Otherwise every act gets a ten. Snack: Popcorn for the audience. Gather: A sheet, a flashlight for a spotlight and paper for the programs.
  • Freeze Dance Party Do: Each person adds three songs to one playlist. Dance, and freeze when the music stops. Then invent a family dance with one move from each person. Game: Deal an animal from the animal charades generator and everyone dances like it until the next freeze. Snack: Cold water and orange slices. Gather: Music and a clear floor.
  • Home Movie Premiere Do: Write, shoot and screen a three-minute film on a phone in one evening. Give out the jobs first: director, camera, actors, props. End with tickets, a premiere and speeches. Game: A story from the fill in the blank story generator makes a fast script. Snack: Popcorn at the premiere. Gather: A phone, costumes from the closet and paper for tickets.
  • Open-Mic Night Do: Everyone reads or recites one thing: a poem, a joke, a page from a favorite book. The audience snaps its fingers, the way they do in a coffee house. Game: Two truths and a lie as the second act. Snack: Hot chocolate. Gather: A stool, a lamp and something to read.
  • Shadow Puppet Theater Do: Hang a sheet in a doorway and set a lamp behind it. Cut puppets from cardboard, tape them to sticks or use your hands, and perform a short play. Game: Animals from the animal charades generator, acted as shadows for the audience to guess. Snack: Crackers and cheese in the dark. Gather: A white sheet, a lamp, cardboard, scissors, tape and sticks or straws.
  • Sock Puppet Show Do: Turn odd socks into characters with markers, paper and tape. The back of the couch is the stage. Game: The puppets answer would you rather questions for kids in their own voices. Snack: A snack the puppets try to steal. Gather: Odd socks, markers, paper, tape and yarn if you have some.

Backyard and outdoor nights 16

  • Backyard Bean Bag Toss Do: No boards needed: set two laundry baskets eight big steps apart and throw rolled socks or bean bags in pairs. Little kids throw from half way. Game: Keep the score on the cornhole score keeper. Snack: Lemonade on the porch. Gather: Two laundry baskets and eight rolled socks or bean bags.
  • Backyard Camp Supper Do: Eat supper outside on blankets, stay out until dark and tell round-robin stories by flashlight. There is no fire to look after, and you can still sleep in your own bed. Game: The category game generator, played out loud: one letter, one category, and answers go round the circle. Snack: Sandwiches wrapped in foil, and fruit. Gather: Blankets, flashlights, layers and bug spray.
  • Backyard Obstacle Course Do: Build a course from what is in the garage: crawl under a chair, weave round buckets, hop along a rope, toss a ball into a bin. Time every runner, then run it backward. Game: One station taken from the outdoor one-minute games page. Snack: Watermelon or orange wedges at the finish line. Gather: Chairs, buckets, a rope, a ball and a phone for timing.
  • Backyard Stargazing Night Do: Lie on blankets once it is fully dark and let your eyes adjust for ten minutes. Find the moon, pick out the brightest point in the sky and count anything that moves. Game: 20 questions under the blanket, with the 20 questions game page dealing the secret thing. Snack: Hot chocolate in a flask. Gather: Blankets, warm layers and a flashlight covered with red paper.
  • Bike and Scooter Parade Do: Decorate bikes, scooters and helmets with streamers and paper flags. Parade one slow lap of a quiet street or a park path with a grown-up at the front and one at the back. Game: The parade float layout of the judges score sheet, with a grandparent or a neighbor as the judge. Snack: Ice pops at the end of the route. Gather: Crepe paper streamers, tape, paper, string and helmets.
  • Family Field Day Do: Four old-school races on grass: three-legged with a scarf, potato and spoon, pillowcase sack race and a backward walk. Mix the ages in every pair. Game: One event from the family one-minute games page as the tie-break. Snack: Orange wedges and water. Gather: Scarves, spoons, potatoes, old pillowcases and a finish line of string.
  • Flashlight Tag Night Do: Play at dusk in a yard you know well. The tagger tags by shining a light on a player and calling their name, and a grown-up walks the boundaries first. Game: Warm up in the last of the daylight with one of the outdoor one-minute games. Snack: Warm cider or cocoa on the back step. Gather: One flashlight and a yard with clear edges.
  • Giant Bubble Lab Do: Mix dish soap and water in a tray. Bend wands from wire hangers, or thread string through two straws, and try for the biggest bubble, the longest-lasting and a bubble inside a bubble. Game: Would you rather questions for kids while the next batch of mix settles. Snack: Anything eaten well away from the soap, such as apple slices. Gather: Dish soap, water, a tray, string, straws and a wire hanger or two.
  • Nature Bingo Walk Do: Make bingo cards of things to spot on a walk: a feather, a stick shaped like a Y, a yellow leaf, an ant. Look and point, and leave everything where it is. Game: Type your own words into the bingo card generator and print a card for each walker. Snack: Trail mix in a pocket. Gather: Printed cards, pencils and shoes that can get muddy.
  • Neighborhood Scavenger Walk Do: Walk a loop you know with a list of things to spot: a red door, a cat in a window, a house number with a 7 in it. Teams of one grown-up and one kid. Game: Build the list from the neighborhood scavenger hunt ideas page. Snack: A water bottle each, and a treat when you are home. Gather: A printed or handwritten list and a pencil per team.
  • Night Sounds Walk Do: Walk a short loop at dusk. Stop three times, stay silent for one full minute and then list every sound you heard. The longest list of different sounds wins. Game: Fun conversation starters on the way home. Snack: Warm milk before bed. Gather: A flashlight, a watch, and a pencil and paper for the lists.
  • Photo Safari Do: Two teams, one phone each and a list of shots to take within half an hour. Back home, put the pictures on the biggest screen you have and vote on each pair. Game: The list comes from the photo scavenger hunt ideas page. Snack: Snacks during the slideshow. Gather: A phone per team and a meeting time.
  • Puddle Walk Night Do: When it rains at the right time, go out in it on purpose. Find the deepest puddle on the block, float a leaf down a gutter stream and listen to the rain on an umbrella. Game: The word association game as you walk: it needs no paper and no hands. Snack: Something hot the moment you are back inside. Gather: Rain boots, raincoats, an umbrella and towels by the door.
  • Sidewalk Chalk Gallery Do: Give every artist one square of the driveway or sidewalk. Deal a word each, draw it large, then walk the gallery together with the artists as guides. Game: Drawing game words for kids as the prompts. Snack: Ice pops on the curb. Gather: A box of sidewalk chalk and a bucket of water for corrections.
  • Sponge Relay Evening Do: For a hot evening. Each team carries water in a sponge from a full bucket to an empty one. The fuller bucket after five minutes wins, and everyone ends up wet. Game: Follow it with one of the outdoor one-minute games. Snack: Ice pops or cold fruit. Gather: Four buckets, two big sponges, towels and clothes that can get wet.
  • Sunset Picnic Do: Pack tonight's dinner into containers and eat it on a blanket in the yard or the park, timed so you finish as the sun goes down. Game: The family dinner games deck works just as well on a blanket. Snack: Dinner, plus one treat that only comes out at picnics. Gather: A blanket, containers, a bag for trash and a phone.

Quiet and cozy nights 9

  • Family Awards Night Do: Everyone draws a name and makes that person a certificate for something true and kind, such as best bedtime negotiator. Hold a ceremony with short speeches. Game: Who is most likely to questions for family, to find the award categories. Snack: Sparkling water in the good glasses. Gather: Paper, markers and names in a bowl.
  • Family Drawing Club Do: Put one object in the middle of the table and draw it for ten quiet minutes. Then everyone draws the person on their left, and the portraits go on the fridge. Game: The back to back drawing game: one player describes a picture and the other draws it unseen. Snack: Grapes and crackers. Gather: Paper, pencils and something worth drawing, such as a shoe or a plant.
  • Grandparent Interview Night Do: The kids interview a grandparent or an older relative, in person or on a video call, and record it. Ask first if recording is fine with them. Game: The family questions game, which has a set of questions for kids to ask. Snack: Whatever the grandparent is having, so you can share it across the call. Gather: A phone to record with and ten chosen questions.
  • Home Spa Night Do: Warm washcloths, a bowl of warm water for feet, hand rubs with lotion and quiet music. Everyone is a guest for ten minutes and staff for ten. Game: This or that questions for kids, asked softly. Snack: Water with cucumber or orange slices in it. Gather: Washcloths, a basin, towels and lotion.
  • Homemade Jigsaw Race Do: Everyone draws a picture on the blank side of a cereal box front, cuts it into twelve pieces and swaps with a neighbor. Race to put your neighbor's picture together. Game: Three Easy puzzles dealt from the make your own escape room game page, solved as one team. Snack: Cereal, naturally. Gather: Empty cereal boxes, markers and scissors.
  • Letter Writing Night Do: Write and illustrate letters or postcards to grandparents, cousins or a friend who moved away. Address them together and walk them to the mailbox the next day. Game: Conversation starters for kids: pick one question to put in every letter, so there is something to answer. Snack: Tea and toast. Gather: Paper, envelopes, pens, addresses and stamps.
  • Lights-Out Hour Do: For one hour, no screens and no ceiling lights: only flashlights and lanterns. Play talking games, make shadow animals on the wall and tell one story each. Game: 20 questions by flashlight. The host reads the secret thing from the 20 questions game page before the hour starts. Snack: Anything that needs no cooking. Gather: Flashlights or battery lanterns, and phones in a drawer.
  • Pajama Read-Aloud Night Do: Everyone brings one book and reads aloud from it for ten minutes, voices encouraged. People who cannot read yet tell the story from the pictures. Game: The random word and definition generator: read out a rare word, and everyone invents a meaning before the real one is shown. Snack: Warm milk or cocoa. Gather: Books, blankets and pajamas.
  • Photo Album Night Do: Pull out the albums or put a phone slideshow on the big screen. Everyone chooses one photo and tells the story of what happened just before or just after it. Game: Who knows me better questions, with the people in the photos on the spot. Snack: A snack from the year of the oldest photo, if anyone can remember one. Gather: Albums, or a phone and a way to show it on a screen.

Season and holiday nights 9

  • Carols and Cookies Night Do: Bake or buy plain cookies, decorate them and sing between trays. Wrap one plate to leave on a neighbor's doorstep. Game: The Christmas carol game: play its rounds on the phone or print them. Snack: The cookies that did not make the neighbor's plate. Gather: Cookies, frosting, sprinkles, a paper plate and ribbon.
  • Early Countdown New Year Night Do: Pick a midnight that suits the youngest, such as eight o'clock. Open a paper bag with a small activity inside every half hour, then count down from ten with pot lids. Game: One-minute games for New Years Eve, one from each bag. Snack: Sparkling juice at your own midnight. Gather: Three paper bags, slips of paper and pot lids.
  • Fall Apple Tasting Night Do: Buy three or four kinds of apple. Slice them, taste them in the same order and score each for crunch, sweetness and sourness. Crown a family apple. Game: A few rounds of fall bingo for kids once the winner is crowned. Snack: The apples, with peanut butter or caramel dip for the leftovers. Gather: Three or four kinds of apple, a knife for the grown-up and a score card.
  • Ice Cream Sundae Lab Do: Set out one ice cream and six toppings. Each scientist builds a sundae with exactly three toppings, names it and presents it before it melts. Game: Summer would you rather questions while you eat. Snack: The sundaes. Gather: Ice cream, six toppings in bowls and spoons.
  • No-Carve Pumpkin Night Do: Decorate small pumpkins with markers, stickers, paper hats and yarn hair. Nobody needs a knife, so the youngest can do their own. Game: Halloween would you rather questions, with Not scary chosen for the little ones. Snack: Roasted pumpkin seeds from the store, or popcorn. Gather: One small pumpkin each, permanent markers, stickers, glue and yarn.
  • Paper Snowflake Night Do: Fold and cut paper snowflakes and tape them to a window until the glass is full. No two will match, and that is the point. Game: Winter would you rather questions while you cut. Snack: Hot chocolate with everything on it. Gather: White paper, scissors that suit each child, and tape.
  • Spring Planting Night Do: Fill an egg carton or yogurt cups with soil and plant seeds that sprout fast. Label every cup, write down a guess for the first day a shoot appears and pick a sunny window. Game: Spring would you rather questions while the soil settles. Snack: A snack of seeds and things that grew from them. Gather: An egg carton or cups, potting soil, a packet of seeds and a marker.
  • Thankful Tree Night Do: Stand a bare branch in a jar, or draw a trunk on a big sheet of paper. Cut paper leaves, write one thing you are thankful for on each and hang them up. Game: Thanksgiving conversation starters while you cut the leaves. Snack: Warm cider and toast with cinnamon. Gather: A branch or a big sheet of paper, colored paper, scissors, string and pens.
  • Valentine Mailbox Night Do: Everyone decorates an envelope or a shoe box as a mailbox. Then write one kind and specific note to each person in the family and deliver them all. Game: Valentines this or that questions while the glue dries. Snack: Strawberries, or toast cut into hearts. Gather: Envelopes or boxes, paper, markers, scissors and glue.

How it works

These family fun night ideas are 83 whole evenings, not single games. Every card names one main activity, a game from this site to go with it, a snack and the things to gather first. Set the time you have, indoors or outdoors, the age of your youngest player and the cost, then deal one night at a time with no repeats.

Read the full guide

Pick this week's night from one phone

Press Pick another night and one evening comes up with its plan underneath: what to do, the game, the snack and what to gather. The Any length list and the rows under its More filters narrow the deal. Time is 30, 60 or 90 minutes, Where is indoors or outdoors, Youngest player keeps to nights a three-year-old or a five-year-old can join, and Cost separates nights with nothing to buy from nights that need one small purchase. The rows work together: 30 minutes, outdoors and nothing to buy leaves five nights. An empty combination turns the button into Clear the filters. For a family vote, deal three nights and vote.

What is in a plan

Each night is written so one adult can run it without a rehearsal. The game is a free page on this site that fits the theme: Indoor Camping Night plays 20 questions in the dark, and Backyard Bean Bag Toss keeps its tally on the cornhole score keeper. The snack is something kids can help make, and the gather line is what to set out before you call everyone in. 17 nights are planned for 30 minutes, 53 for an hour and 13 for 90. Those times, the ages and the costs are our planning estimates, not test results, so stretch or cut a night to fit your house.

The list on the page and what the phone remembers

All 83 nights are listed under the tool in eight themes, from pretend-place nights to season and holiday nights, each with its full plan. On the phone, press Done on a night and it stays out of every deal on this device; a second press undoes it. A line under the tool keeps count, such as Done 3 of 83. The heart saves a night for later. Copy puts the night on the clipboard for whoever does the shopping.

  • Take turns choosing. Deal 3 and let this week's chooser pick from those three only.
  • Read the gather line the day before. Most nights run on blankets, paper and tape, but 17 need one small purchase, such as frosting for Cookie Decorating Studio.
  • Say the end time at the start. Kids join more easily when they know the night is one hour.
  • Put every phone in a basket except the one that deals the game.
  • Season and holiday nights come up all year. When Carols and Cookies Night appears in July, press Pick another night.

Questions and answers

What can we do for a family night at home with no money?

Tap Nothing to buy in the Cost row and 66 nights remain, among them Indoor Camping Night, Paper Airplane Championship, Family Talent Show and Flashlight Tag Night. Nothing to buy means the night runs on what most homes already have. That is our estimate, not a promise about your cupboards, so read the gather line before you announce the night.

Which family evening ideas work when the kids are years apart?

Tap Age 3 can join and 40 nights remain, each with a job for small hands: pushing the snack cart on Living Room Airplane Night, stirring the mix at Giant Bubble Lab, making hand shadows at Shadow Puppet Theater. Give the oldest child a job with authority, such as host of the Family Talent Show. Seven nights are planned for age 8 and up, and they come up only under Any age.

How do we make a family night idea jar?

Print the page with your browser's Print command and cut the list into slips, or deal 5, press Print and cut up that shorter sheet. The page prints a plain list, not ready-cut slips, so bring scissors. Fold the slips into a jar, add blank ones so everyone can write two ideas of their own, and draw on Sunday, which leaves the week to gather things.

Can we swap the game a plan names?

Yes. Any of the pages the plans use most fits almost any night: 20 questions, the family questions game, the one-minute game timer, drawing game words and family dinner games. For single games at a bigger gathering, see party games for family. For an evening built around tabletop games, see board game night ideas.

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