Family Game Night!

Every Christmas, after we open gifts, my family and I play board games.  We are a competitive family, so everyone who participates have to bring their A game.  This tradition started when I was younger.  Every Christmas, my dad would buy us a board game and we would play games like Monopoly, Life, and my favorite Uno.  It didn't matter how old or young you were, no one took it easy on you, you had to learn quickly and fend for yourself.  Playing Uno was a big deal at my home, my brother is 12 years older than me so he never took it easy on my sisters and I.   When playing Uno, when he would win, he would place the winning card on his forehead face up and yell Uno Out! He would make my sisters and I so angry, that we would start forming alliances to try to beat him.  We would try to get him out of the game by making him draw four, draw two, by skipping him, by changing the color, etc. but nothing worked, he would have 16 cards but still come back and win. 

This year, we didn't get a chance to play a board game for Christmas.  So my mother suggested that we have a Family Game Night.  My husband and I hosted the Game Night this past Saturday, and it wasn't a dull moment at our home.  We are still a competitive family, but now we have my brothers wife, our husbands and a teenage niece and nephew so it's even crazier.  We played Battle of the Sexes, and it was so fun!  The men were on the same team, and the women were on the same team.  The men had to ask the women questions that men would know, and the women had to ask the men questions that women would know.  If the men or women didn't answer their question correctly, then opposite team could answer the question through a steal.  Let's just say it was pretty intense, we were neck and neck with the men until the last question.  The men asked us a question with multiple choices about Japan's Prime Minister.  The men was laughing because they knew they had us, it was no way we knew the answer.  To be honest, my team didn't know the answer, but my younger sister just happened to guess the right answer, and We Won!  The men were so flustered, they couldn't believe it.  They know that we will be rubbing this win in their faces for at least two months!

Here are some tips, if you are planning a Game Night for your family or friends:

1.Schedule the party at a reasonable time and day.  The weekends works best for most people because they are off from work.  I scheduled the Game Night for Saturday at 6pm.

2. Provide an assortment of games or have each of your guest bring a game.  This way, everyone can vote on a game they want to play.

 My brother brought the Battle of the Sexes and the other games were my games.  Everyone voted to play Battle of the Sexes because we had never played it before.

 

3.  Provide a fun menu for your guest.  We made a hot dog station, with different toppings for our guest to put on their hotdogs.  Everyone invited contributed to the menu, my older sister brought paper goods, my other sister brought drinks, and my brother brought cookies.

 



 The hot dog station consisted of grilled hotdogs, coleslaw (regular and spicy), grilled onions, mushrooms, and jalapeno peppers.  They were delicious!

 

 

4. If kids will be attending with their parents, make sure they have board games to play as well.  I made a mistake by not providing my nieces and nephews games to play.  They were pretty upset, and kept asking me, what are we going to play?  

 

 

Hope this helps if you're planning on hosting a Game Night!  What are some games you and your family and friends like to play? Chime in below!