Setting up Your First Game Night With Friends and Family

A game night with friends and family members is arguably one of the best bonding experiences you’ll ever have. Being able to sit down and enjoy some games around your loved ones is a unique and heart-warming experience that really uplifts your relationships. It’s also plenty of fun and is something that you can look forward to at the end of a long and hard week at work. Here is the ultimate guide on how to plan a game night party for friends and family.

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But how exactly do you set up a game night? Do you just invite a bunch of friends and family members over and break out the old Monopoly set? That’s one way to do it, but you’d be surprised to learn that there are many other games and experiences that you can enjoy together. So in this post, we’re going to guide you in hosting a successful game night with friends and family.

Read Also: 12 Reasons Why Friends Are Just The Best

HOW TO PLAN A GAME NIGHT PARTY

Take note of who you’re inviting over

First, make sure you take note of who you’re inviting over for your game night as this will make a huge difference when it comes to picking games and how you want to set up the evening. An adult evening with some of your friends will be a completely different experience from playing math-related card games with your kids, so pay close attention to the ages, interests, and also preferences of each person that you invite.

Having a mixed group works fine, but you need to find a balance of things to do and how to schedule the night so that everyone has a good time. After all, everyone’s been looking forward to meeting up post-COVID, so it’s a good idea to make sure you all have a great night. It’ll also affect when and what you eat, and it’ll even affect the overall atmosphere of the night.

Get a feel for what kind of games they like to play

Make sure you get a rough idea of the type of games that people like to play. If you’re inviting a mixed group, then classics such as card games and Monopoly are a great choice. They’re easy to learn, you can walk the players through the game as they learn it, and you can jump straight into the game and finish it within the evening.

However, if you want something that can carry over to the next game night, then you may want to try something a little more modern. For example, there are extremely popular games such as Gloomhaven which are essentially epic adventures in a board game. You control miniatures and battle creatures, explore dungeons, and your progress carries over from the previous time you play. These kinds of games take a while to set up and it’s nice to have a dedicated table or room for them. They’re a lot more involved and can lead to a more exciting experience, but it does take a lot more dedication and you’ll need to find a group of like-minded players.

Cooperative or competitive?

The big factor when it comes to choosing a game is if you want the game to be competitive or cooperative. There are loads of fun games to play at home, but it’s important to decide if you want everyone to be against each other or if you want a team game that you can play cooperatively. There are many board games that put everyone on the same team, and there are some games that involve the use of a game master to host the night and play an antagonist that the others are trying to beat.

There are so many unique board games out there nowadays that playing cards can seem a little boring. However, if you’re searching for something fun and simple to play, then you don’t need to invest in an expensive board game or anything. It’s really down to what your players prefer and what kind of game night you want to host.

Do you need to buy anything for your game night?

When you are looking for how to plan a game night party, It helps to put together a shopping list of items before you decide to host your game night. This is so that you have everything ready for when the time comes. If you’re inviting friends over for an adult night, then make sure you have all of the drinks and snacks that you could want. If you’re inviting kids over, then make sure you have things suitable for them as well like soda, sweets, and so on.

However, you might also want to consider buying some furniture or equipment for the game night if needed. For instance, you could purchase a dedicated game table for board games, or you could buy a few extra chairs if you’re planning to invite a bunch of people over. You don’t really need to go overboard if it’s just a casual night, but some game night groups do like to go all-in and even dress up if they’re doing something like a roleplaying game.

Photo by Robert Coelho on Unsplash

Setting up a little schedule

For the game night itself, you’ll want to set up a little schedule so that you can do everything that you set out to do. Make a schedule by writing down everything that you want to do, then cross off anything that will either take too much time or can’t fit in. You don’t want to time everything down to the minute, but it does help to have a general idea of when you want guests to arrive when you’ll start playing a game, and when you’ll take a break to eat.

Having a general schedule like this makes things a lot easier for all of your players, but you don’t really need to tell them everything. Just have a little plan for what you want to do and when you want to do it, and it’ll make the entire evening go a lot more smoothly.

To cook or to order food?

Photo by Mohau Mannathoko on Unsplash

Another big decision that you’ll have to make is deciding whether you want to cook food or just order something. When you’re cooking, you’re going to be expected to pay for everything since you’re essentially treating your guests. However, if you’re just inviting a bunch of friends over then ordering food might be easier since you can also split the bill. Whatever the case is, deciding what to do beforehand can make things a lot easier and it gives you more time to prepare if you decide to cook.

The type of food you cook should be suitable for everyone, though it can get a little confusing when you have people with multiple dietary restrictions. In some cases, you could even have people bring their own food over and you can cook and eat together. There are also some groups that prefer not to have a formal meal and instead, just have some finger food to snack on while the game is going on. There are loads of different options for food and it really depends on what your group prefers to do.

Setting up your games room

Next, you may want to spend a bit of time putting together your games room. Again, this doesn’t need to be anything too fancy, but having space for the game that you want to play and enough chairs should be a priority. Just make sure that everyone is comfortable and can play without needing to stretch too much to reach a game piece or a card. A folding table is a great option if you don’t have a large enough table (such as a dining table) to play the game on. Alternatively, you could always set up your folding table in the garage or even outdoors if the weather is nice.

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Conclusion: How To Plan A Game Night Party

Queens, that is the ultimate guide on how to plan a game night party for your girls and family. Who is having a girl’s night out? I think I should plan one game night for some of my girls and sisters! I haven’t had one in years! So, what you doing? hit me up in comments.