Play board games – make friends, have fun, be unplugged!
Board games are a fun way to bring together your friends, family and community. Why not unplug your TV’s, sterio, radio, x-box, computers and laptops and turn off your mobile phones. Get some favourite snacks and bring out the board games! Start off with a Board Game Night once a week and see where you go from there. Tell your friends and neighbours about what you’re doing and they may well like to do the same!
10 Tips on Setting Up a Board Game Night
Here’s a few tips on how you go about setting up a Board Game Night:
- Decide as a family or group of friends, which night of the week is best for you all to get together. Involve everyone in the planning process.
- Decide if you’re going to rotate the venue, or perhaps it has to be held at one person’s home because of babysitting or being a carer.
- Whichever the case, everyone contributes games and refreshments for the Night.
- Get everyone to put it in their calendars!
- Choose which games you’ll play for the first four games nights.
- As a group, you may like to extend the evening having drinks at a bar or if a young family perhaps making a special dish for supper every games Night.
- Design a scoreboard where all scores can be kept.
- You can even decide to give prizes to winners.
- It’s really important to remind everyone about the games Night.
- Perhaps your group might like to either compete with a neighbouring group from time to time bringing along a healthy competitive spirit or you may like to invite other groups to your Board Game Night.
You know the benefits to sharing some of your free time with you family and friends playing board games, I’m sure. But just in case your memory has lapsed a little, you’ll find them below.
Have a read to remind yourself why it’s important to have this time together!
- Life Skills are developed playing board games such as perseverance, loyalty, patience and teamwork.
- Laughing releases stress and anxiety! There are actually laughter classes you can go to that teach you to laugh – but why go to a class when you can laugh and have fun at the Games Night.
- Bonding with family and friends is a very important part of growing up and if this isn’t shown in childhood, how can we bond as grown-ups? Getting together to play board games really nurtures bonding with family and friends.
- Education through playing board games is a fun way to teach spelling and math; learn about money matters; and about global affairs.
Go on, start a trend – meet friends, enjoy family time together.