With the New Year finally here, many of us have made some new resolutions. Perhaps one of yours is to hold a Family Night. Instituting a weekly Family Night in your home will improve family morale, strengthen relationships, increase communication, and help you become more organized. I can’t think of a better way to start off the new year.

So what does it take to plan a family night? In three steps, you can have a great Family Night.

Designate a Day

You need to determine the best day to have your own Family Night. Ideally, that day should be the same week after week. That way it becomes a routine and is less likely to have something else scheduled because “we forgot Family Night was tonight this week.”

Different days will work for different families. However, a common choice is Monday night. Not many activities are normally scheduled for Monday, while dates, practices, and sporting events occur on other days. Whatever day you pick, ensure you can devote an hour or two week after week.

Come up with an Agenda

What do you normally do for a Family Night? The short answer is – anything you want to. The main goal is that you spend time together.

The planning of a Family Night also depends on the size and age of your family. A preschooler would be content with singing songs or doing a small puzzle. Perhaps you have a teenager who will be heading to college soon. A great idea would have a Family Night cooking lesson – a skill that will hopefully keep them well fed while they are away.

It might make it easier to prepare an agenda. An example agenda might look something like this:

Opening

This could be a prayer, a song, a thought, or something someone learned the past week. It might just be a welcome from Mom or Dad – or whomever is assigned.

Lesson/Activity

Maybe this is learning a new skill, discussing a family problem, going to the park, making crafts, or playing a board game. (For more ideas, check out our Activities section)

Treats

Some might say this is their favorite part of the night. The treats don’t need to be fancy, just something everyone can enjoy.

Closing

Same as opening. Aside from a prayer, song, or thought – this could be a good time to get feedback from the family on the evening, or maybe the planning of the next Family Night.

In planning what your family will do, it’s very important that everyone is involved and everyone has a responsibility. A great thing about having this once a week, is everyone will have a turn. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are taught the importance of having Family Home Evening every Monday night. Often, they will make assignment boards that remind each family member their responsibility for the next Family Night:

Do it!

Sometimes the hardest part of having Family Night is actually doing it. When trying to keep any new habit, you’re bound to run into adversity. Don’t give up! Conflicts will always arise, but the time you spend with your family needs to be considered precious. As the routine develops, you will often look forward to Family Nights.

In the future, we’ll look at each of these steps in greater detail. However, if you have questions now – feel free to comment or shoot us an email at comments@family-night.com

The holidays are upon us! This brings the return of college students home, aunts and uncles (and other relatives) making visits, and a wonderful season to celebrate together.

The holiday season provides us with a number of great activities that can be incorporated into any family night – big or small.

Decorating the Christmas Tree

It’s time to get to break out those Christmas lights and ornaments and setup your Christmas tree. If you’re a family that gets a live tree every year, plan an evening around it. Take the whole family to pick out your tree. Bring some hot chocolate and maybe even go as far as singing Christmas carols.

Once the tree is home, get that baby decorated! Better Homes and Gardens has some great ideas on how to decorate your tree. If you’re a pro and just looking for some general tips, look no further.

Another great idea that many families are doing is letting everyone in the family have their own Christmas tree! These trees are obviously smaller than the one that might be in your living room, but this gives each member of the family of having a tree just the way they like it. A truly novel idea!

Regardless of how you decorate or what your family chooses, being together brings the feelings of the season close to the heart.

Making Christmas Cards

What grandparent doesn’t absolutely love receiving homemade Christmas cards from their grandchildren. This is a great activity to do during a family night.

To get started, check out some great ideas:

Kaboose Homemade Christmas cards

About.com Family Crafts

Scrapvillage Christmas Cards

There are great ideas for all ages and sizes. So spend an evening together making Christmas cards – perhaps you can include some Christmas cookies and milk for your busy construction workers.

Here are some of my favorites -

Santa's Beard Card Craft	Kristine's Christmas Trees Card	I'll Have a Blue Christmas

Christmas Treat Recipes

What would Christmas be like without the tasty treats that we have come to love and enjoy? Have a family night and make some treats for friends and family. Then go out and deliver them! Family fun and service all in one night.

Here are some great recipes to get you started.

Microwave Chocolate Fudge

Candy Cane Cookies

Kris Kringle Cookies

Holiday Wreath Cookies

Chocolate Mint Brownies

Christmas Theater

Reacting the Nativity scene is a great way to remember the true meaning of Christmas. It also provides a great family night experience that you’ll want to do year after year.

The production can be big or small, elaborate or very simple. For a small family, there may just be a Mary, Joseph, and a baby Jesus. Perhaps other families will add in the 3 wise men or an angel. Families may be dressed in actual costumes or with sheets, robes, and towels. Putting it together is half the fun.

As far a script goes, grab your Bible and follow along Luke 2. Verses 1 thru 16 make a great production.

For more tips on reacting the nativity, check out some ideas from eHow.com

Let’s face it – we’re all incredibly busy people. There is work to be done at work, at home, on the car, or at school. We’re constantly doing things. In addition to the things that we need to do – there are a plethora of distractions. We have cell phones, twitter updates, facebook, or our favorite TV show.

Family Night is one night a week that you set aside to just be with the family.

What you do on your night is up to you. Perhaps its making a meal together and sharing stories. For others it might be gathering in the family room for a viewing of the latest flick. If you have younger kids in the home they would love to sing songs or do crafts. The possibilities really are limitless.

Family night is typically held on Monday night. This is because typically as the week goes on, it gets busier and busier. However, Family night isn’t limited to just Monday’s. You can have it any night that works for you.

We’re here to provide you a one stop shop for planning amazing Family Nights.
My wife and I put this site together to help families find wholesome, fun, and easy activities to do together. We are firm believers that the family that spends time together, stays together.

Often the biggest hurdle isn’t the lack of wanting to spend time together – it’s figuring out what to do. Hopefully this site will offer some ideas and get you started in the right direction.

We’ve organized these into 4 categories:

We hope you find what you need to help strengthen your family.

We’d love to hear from you – be sure to send any Comments, Questions, or Feedback to comments@family-night.com