Special Replay: Family Date Nights
with Felice Gerwitz and Denise Mira
So many times we are not making memories we are getting by! Family date nights are a great way to create those lasting memories with our kids! Join Felice Gerwitz and Denise Mira in this fun episode.
Thanks to our sponsor Media Angels, Inc
Our world drives chaos-we can find ourselves ships passing in the night, over-scheduled, too many lessons, extracurricular and cell phones constantly dinging and buzzing; we have to be intentional about family time. Often family night fun is determined by the weather region we live in or the season of the year as well as the age of the kids as well as your personal preferences.
Example: We are not a soccer family, but we are a baseball and football family. Your kids may be young elementary age or high schoolers; age determines a lot. Here’s a variety of activities to choose from depending on the weather and the preferences of your family!
Rule #1 ~ Cell phones OFF, landlines unplugged. Engage!
45 Family Date Night IDEAS
Physical, outdoor fun
- Backyard family softball/T-ball games.
- Backyard family soccer play.
- Backyard badminton or slippery slide play
- Snow play-make a snowman and clothe him, have a snowball fight
- Leaf play-rake piles and jump and roll in them
- Basement bowling or rollerskating.
- Ping pong tourneys on the dining room table.
- We had a sports court on our property – pickleball and basketball were much enjoyed.
- Late summer blackberry picking is free and abundant and very messy! Make a cobbler or pie or simmered sauce for ice cream.
- Hikes or bike rides
Indoor Fun
- Have a Christian stand-up comedy night– Thou Shalt Laugh is a great video to start with – it boasts a variety of comedians to choose from. Michael Junior, Jeff Allen, Tim Hawkins, Thor Ramsey and more.
- Pull out the ancient family photo albums or family home videos, or mom and dad’s wedding video to watch and giggle at.
- Build a fire from the logs up w the kids.
- Make s’mores over the fire.
- Snuggle up and Daddy reads aloud to us. (Little House, Patrick McManus, the Redwall Series)
- Musical? Have a family jam night and play your instruments.
- Pizza night with take home to bake or frozen pizza, LaCroix with juice instead of soda.
- Do a DIY project or Pinterest project together-finger puppets, decorative photo frames, bath bombs
- Have daughters? Make it a spa night with facials, nail painting, foot massage, and special beverages.
- Dress up and role play night or do a puppet show -video the play and watch it on the big screen.
- Charades for kids – a card game from Walmart is a lot of fun to play together.
- Play board games/do an entire 100 (or more) piece puzzle in a night/play traditional card games.
- One of our favorites do-together activities is cooking. Build your own homemade pizzas, prepare Mexican food, build your own sub sandwiches or other fav meals
- Make cookies or a favorite dessert/play background music=kitchen dance party!
- Everyone builds a sundae on the sundae bar you create.
- Rent a movie and make stovetop homemade popcorn
- Nerf gun wars.
- Create a scavenger hunt.
- Create big cardboard box forts for each kid and let them decorate, cut windows and doors etc. (furniture stores or appliance stores will gladly contribute their boxes if you ask ahead of time.)
- Hide and seek in the house.
- Build a blanket fort.
- Build card houses with playing cards.
- Balloon volleyball.
- Hot tub nights together even in the rain.
- Invite a fav family over to share in the fun.
Cheap Fun Away
- Family bike rides around the neighborhood or to a park, or Jamba Juice or along the beach walk. Baby bike seats are great for including the littles.
- Pocket parks are everywhere here and many include water spray park fun – all free entrance and lots of fun exercise.
- Kids eat free night at restaurants for the win!
- Find a public school w an indoor pool/YMCA open pool night for cheap Friday night swims.
- Head to the Dollar Tree with a $3 limit each kid to spend in cash-even the parents like browsing the Dollar Tree for fun finds. Play with the finds together later at home.
- A sporting goods store like Bass Pro Shop is fun to meander and take pics with the giant stuffed animals.
- Beaches are a stone’s throw from our house. We walk together and observe the wildlife, the shells, the driftwood, the clams, the boats-here in Seattle it’s often grey and cloudy but we make it fun.
- National Parks – free for families! Every kids outdoors challenge.
- Camping
- Water gun or water balloons
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