Apr 03 2009
Family Game Night
I cannot wait until my daughters are old enough to really understand the concept of board games, or even really games in general. This year for Christmas they received Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders. Right now I spend most of the time making sure the candy cane card (you know the one that takes you practically back to the start of the game) isn’t near the end of the deck when we play Candy Land or trying to explain why you don’t want your game piece to slide down the big slide in Chutes and Ladders. Still, at least they’re having fun and beginning to grasp what it’s all about. (Note to the makers of board games: please provide more than four game pieces. What’s up with that? Surely I’m not the only parent with four children trying to play these games. For now I have to use one of our Little People if I want to get involved).
In my family the holidays meant games, especially at Christmas. After the gifts had been opened and every stomach stuffed with goodness, after all the dishes had been cleared and cleaned, we cleared off the table and broke out a game. I still remember one year when my cousins brought Life. Sure, they knew how to play it… but the rules seemed to keep changing because they would explain the game as we played. No wonder they won! Trivial Pursuit was a big one, too. We always got a kick out of the wrong answers and would try to mime answers to be helpful. Scrabble was no fun because my grandmother was a cross-word champion. She would lay down tiles for words you were sure didn’t exist… then she would whip out a dictionary to prove you wrong.
Hubby indulges me. He hates Trivial Pursuit, which is a shame because I love the game, but he will play an ’80’s trivia game we have and Scene It, which really isn’t too bad with just two players. (I beat him at the Sci-Fi version…hee hee!!)
A few years ago I bought Hubby The Simpsons version of Clue. Not a game for two players, but hopefully our girls can join us for a round or two in a few years. It just occurred to me that I still own my Young Players edition of Trivial Pursuit, but something tells me the questions are going to be a bit outdated by the time my girls are old enough to play. Either way, come Christmas, you’ll know where to find us after our big holiday meal. I just hope we make it more than a holiday tradition in our house.
11 Responses to “Family Game Night”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Not A Member? Register for Free!
One word: Cranium
We love board games too and even though my son didn’t talk or do anything on command, he’d still get roped in. With three talking players (2 adults and one teen), someone would switch back and forth or we’d bring the Alex in and it’s a blast. It’s also sometimes physical and creative. With four little ones, that might be a real winner sooner than you’d expect.
I think it will be just too much fun around your house when they are old enough for game night!
I added you to my blogroll
I agree with you. I also cannot wait until my boys are big enough to play board games.
The first game I can remember playing was Memory. I loved that game. Then Operation. That one was fun, too.
We loved games, and I also hope to continue that when Kiddo gets a little older. Clue was the best, and I loved Life, too. We would really get into Monopoly as a family, along with Chinese Checkers. We also had a marble game we kept at my parents’ lake house. I don’t know what it was called. It was clearly very old, but we loved it.
Have you tried any card games with the girls yet, like Go Fish or Old Maid?
Get this…I bet Hubby at Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. 3 times. He won’t play with me anymore.
I let you win…
Ok, let’s get something straight here. Hubby did not LET me win the Sci-Fi version of Scene It. I spanked him. It’s my word against his and I’m the blogger here so he’s just going to have to deal with my version.
Stephanie: I forgot about Cranium. We don’t own it but I love that game. It may be one of the next games we purchase.
Oldwestmom: Card games we haven’t tried yet. But for Christmas I found a great version of Memory from Pottery Barn. The cards are colorful and big, perfect for toddler hands.
I love board games!!! candyland is a classic, I know exactly what you mean about the candy cane card, haha.
Jillian
www.jillianzacchia.today.com
I’m all for the ice cream sandwich card, though (or whatever it’s supposed to be) because that can really speed things up.
I LOVE board games! I also couldn’t wait until the kids were old enough to play. My son loved board games from a very early age. With help, he could play Monopoly when he was in kindergarten! My daughter is not much into board games, she’d rather be running and playing sports. She also has never liked to lose. I remember trying to play Risk with the kids and she would get mad at us if anyone tried to take a country in Asia because SHE wanted Asia!
Only here I learn a lot of games for kids coz when I was growing up we had different games and i think so obsolete if I compared them now. It would be a lot of fun to you and your kids by that time they are old enough to play them.
Growing up, my family played tons of board games, as well as card games such as Rook and Uno. We played the usual Monopoly, Scrabble, Sorry, and Life, but also played Upwords, Risk, Twist, Racko, Rumikub, etc. The one thing I miss the most about living alone is having no one to play games with. I can find most of these games on the computer, and play them against faceless, yet real people, but it just isn’t the same.
It is a true gift what you are giving your girls - teaching them all the numerous lessons which can be taught through gameplay. Just don’t be like my mom and leave a very memorable impression of being a sore loser by tossing the scrabble board and all the tiles in the middle of the game because you were told that the word you wanted to play wasn’t a word.
Of course, that also makes for great family lore. 
Btw - thanks for your gift.