It’s often the most chaotic moments of family life that stick in our minds (for better or for worse), and disorderly-but-fun family games create some of the most precious memories. Whether you’re looking for fun family games to play at Christmas, or just on a casual Sunday morning, here you’ll find all the inspiration you need to steer clear of the usual board games. These are 5 of our favourite fun games to play with family, most of which won’t cost a thing.
1. Treasure hunt
Fun games to play with family don’t come much more chaotic than hunting high and low to find a hidden object before the other players. While everyone’s out of the room, one person hides something small (like a small toy, a thimble, or a coin), then everyone else piles back in and the race is on to find it first.
2. Musical bumps
Playing musical chairs can get a little difficult when you need to accommodate the little ones as well as the big ones. Nobody wants to deal with a toddler trying to climb onto a tall dining chair in a rush when the music stops. So that’s why musical bumps is one of the easiest fun family games to play at home, as all you need is to sit on your bottom when the tunes stop – if anything it gives the smallest members of the family an unfair advantage!
3. Make a family game out of toilet roll
You can make a family game with something as simple as toilet paper – and it’s fun, promise! You can theme this one to match the family’s interests: be doctors bandaging a patient, zombies wrapping up mummies, or children making a snowman. Go with the latter option for this to be one of those fun family games to play at Christmas, or whenever the weather turns cold.
Make sure your toilet paper is both durable enough not to rip easily and soft enough to feel lovely and smooth on the skin, like Cushelle
It’s amazing how much fun you can have with different parts of a toilet roll. Keep those toilet roll cores from the previous game for this contest of balance, as each family member has to try to build the tallest tower out of cardboard tubes. No blowing down others’ towers allowed! Why not then use the tubes to make some creative toilet roll tube crafts?
4. Pass the costume
Pass the parcel is a popular game at parties, so take that as inspiration for one of your family games to play at home – minus the pain of having to wrap 30 layers. Pass a bag of dressing up clothes around, and when the music stops that person has to pick out an item and put it on. Cue hilarity as mum pulls out the homemade unicorn hat.
5. Duck, Duck, Goose
Some fun family games give you a great workout too, like Duck, Duck, Goose – perfect for big family gatherings. While everyone else sits in a circle, one family member walks around the outside, tapping each person as they say ‘duck’. Eventually they’ll name someone ‘goose’, and that person has to race the tapper around the circle and back into their place. Whoever gets there first is the tapper in the next round.
These fun family games prove it’s often a case of the sillier the better. And you always know you’ve had a chaotically fantastic time when there’s a lot of tidying up to do afterwards. Clear it all away as a family, or increase the motivation to win by deciding at the outset that you’ll leave it all to the losing team!
