What To Do For Family Night?

These are just a few of the 10 ideas that HowStuffWorks.com has come up with for fun Family Night time! Try the ones you think might work the best. It may depend on the age of your kids. As they grow older, I think Family Night becomes more important, since their lives start to become more independent and separate. But if you start Family Night when their young, it becomes more of tradition that they know and expect.

Board Games

Board and card games are the original interactive entertainment, but instead of playing with a computer, your kids will be engaging with you. The classics are always good choices, but there are new games and updated versions of old ones that give great entertainment value while giving kids' eyes a break from video screens. And there are bonuses: These games mix in some free lessons with the fun. Board games help kids develop strategy (Battleship and Checkers), spelling and vocabulary (Scrabble, Boggle and Bethump'd with Words) and money skills (Monopoly or Payday). Card games such as Cribbage teach math skills, while Euchre, Rook and Spades teach how to work with a partner. And unlike a computer, board and card games are great for camping and when the power goes out.

Family Movie Night

Set this up once and you've got a whole slew of family movie nights ready to roll. Here's how:

• Create a theme. Is it Western flicks, spy movies, Alfred Hitchcock thrillers, classic musicals or family favorites? Create your tickets — and a ticket booth — to fit your theme.
• Build a concession stand. A few pieces of cardboard, a handful of Monopoly money and you're ready to start the night right. “Sell” — with the game dollars — popcorn, boxed candy and sodas to your family members (many party supply stores now offer movie theater-style popcorn bags for just a few cents each).
• Add some competition to the mix. Have a quick trivia game or history lesson about some aspects of the movie you'll be seeing. Superhero knowledge, facts about special effects, sketches of your favorite characters, these can all make for a fun intro to the flick that include a bit of education, too.
• Play along. Have everyone chose a character and dress like he or she does in the film.

Arts and Crafts Night

Take a break from television for some creative family crafting. Spread newspaper or cardboard over the kitchen table and, voilà, you've got a craft room! Pick a project and assemble a kit for everyone. Ideas include:

• Creating birdhouses from recycled material
• Making holiday ornaments
• Decorating aprons, T-shirts or other apparel
• Designing wearable art

Or let each person bring his or her own hobby to the table. You can admire each others' talents and progress, or teach and learn new skills. Just think how much confidence your child will gain from teaching Mom and Dad or his or her siblings how to do something!

Family Trivia Night

If you pool the collective knowledge of your family members, you'll find a wide variety of subject matter experts. Why not put this collection of smarts to work for fun and prizes? Many restaurants and coffee shops in towns of all sizes host team trivia nights on a weekly basis. For a moderate food or drink purchase, you can pit your family's minds against other teams. So come up with a catchy name for your group and head out to a local trivia challenge to match wits with other collectors of facts. You'll have a ton of fun working together as a team, and you might even win a prize.

To see the rest of the 10 Family Night ideas, go here:

What To Do For Family Night?