Host Family Game Night with Printable Activities

The importance of family time has become even more apparent in the last two years. Starting a family game night brings everyone together and gives you something more interactive to do other than watching a movie in silence. Family game night traditions are ones your children can continue for years to come! Here are some reasons you should start a family game night with your loved ones!

Escape Rooms

Have you ever heard of an escape room? Now you can bring the popular games right to the comfort of your own living room on family game night. 

How does it work? Each escape room has puzzles to solve in order to move onto the next task and solve an overall mystery. Your family members visit 10 stations and solve a puzzle at each one. Next, everyone records their answer on the recording sheet provided. You also have ‘Hint Cards’ to help younger family members solve a puzzle. In addition, some puzzles require a decoder. These are labeled with the name of the puzzle to make it easy to find and fun to decode the ciphers and codes! 

The best part about the escape rooms is they do not require anything except a printer. There are no fancy props or locks needed. Just print the PDFs and start solving and escaping. That being said, it's so much fun to decorate and plan a menu around an escape room theme. Here are some escape room ideas to get you started!

Do your family members have sweet teeth? Set up this family game night with a candy-themed escape room and treats! Set up an ice cream sundae bar with tons of sugary toppings for extra rewards. Nothing is better than a sugary-themed family game night!

If your family is full of animal lovers, why not try a zoo escape room? Round out the theme with some animal crackers for a snack, and turn on zoo and sanctuary cameras from around the globe on to bring zoo animals to your home for family game night!

This animal-themed family game is fun for every member of the family!

One of the easiest things to put on the menu for family game night is pizza! Make your own pizza or get some delivery right to your family game night! 

Just like the other escape rooms, your family can play together or divide up into teams to race to solve the puzzles. Come up with team names based on your favorite pizza toppings. Go Team Pepperoni!

Another fun family game night game is a time travels escape room. Bring out old photos from your youth and go back in time with your kids to start the night. After you finish the escape room, put together your own time capsule to hide in your house. Set a date to open it up even if just in a year's time. 

All of the escape room kits come with everything you need for a perfect family game night!

Murder Mystery Games

Even though murder mystery games may sound like they're just for adults, your whole family will enjoy these fun-filled spy party games. Each kit comes with a combination of puzzles, scavenger hunts, escape rooms, and clues! Here are some murder mystery games to play on your family game night. 

What a perfect family game night! Don't worry. This "murder" mystery is family-friendly and doesn't contain any actual murder. Your family receives a “Top Secret Case File”. Have your kids be the “lead detectives” to solve the case in under an hour. 

Your family seeks out puzzle clues and decodes the answers in order eliminate suspects in this Blythe Manor "murder mystery". Print, hide the puzzles, and have a fun family game night!

No need to know too much tech for this techie and cyber-themed mystery. Break out the props (included with every murder mystery kit) to help your family become detectives! 

Have your family use their best crime skills to decipher codes, solve puzzles, and figure out the mystery with this kit filled with escape room style and scavenger hunt puzzles.

There are so many murder mystery family games to try on your family game night!

Virtual Scavenger Hunts

Another family game night game you'll love is a virtual scavenger hunt. These games are perfect to do with multiple families via Zoom, Google Meet, Skype or Microsoft Teams. Get online and race through your home to find items to complete the scavenger hunt on your family game night.

Try out these themed virtual scavenger hunts for your family game night!

All scavenger hunts contain 20 riddles. Answers are all common household items to make this activity fun and low prep! Play it with the whole family virtually or at home on family game night.

Whether you are playing across households using virtual tools or getting together for an in-person family game night, using escape rooms, murder mystery kits, or scavenger hunts is so much fun! Get started on your next family game night with these fun, no-prep games. Simply print out and start playing! Have fun! What family game will you play on your next family game night?