Have a Fantastic Family Night at Home

Part of Homemaking is creating a comforting atmosphere in your home that you and you family can feel at ease in. Evenings together should always be seen as special, but sometimes you need to change things up a bit to help create memories , relax, and break up the mundane routines of everyday life.

Having a night in at home that’s just a little out of the ordinary, is a great way to enjoy your time together without breaking your budget. There’s no need for a special occasion to do this, I find it most fun to do, when no one is expecting it!

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Getting Ready-

The key to a stress free night in, is to make sure you plan it out. Plan out the cost of food in your grocery budget, and plan out what you need to gather ahead of time. Most of what you’ll need can either be handmade, found at home, or in a thrift store.

I like to use our special nights in to experiment with new recipes or get takeout from a new place, so make sure you plan out enough time to have everything ready.

Here are three ways that you can plan a fantastic family night or date night:

These can be done on their own or mashed together to create your own unique family night. They can be done with your kids, or change it up a bit to make a romantic date night.

1. A Themed Dinner.

One of my favorite things to set up for a date night with my husband is to pick a theme and make dinner around that theme. I like to pick themes that are fun and that might relate to what my husband and I are interested in at the moment.

For Example: My husband and I were into watching a lot of westerns a couple of years ago, and so I made a western themed dinner to surprise him with on our anniversary.

I made up a few decorations from paper: a “wanted” poster, some signs and cheesy looking saloon doors to hang on our door so that it was the first thing he saw when he came home.

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I also used a few things around the house to give it a more “western” feel: Making the couch cozy with my faux fur blanket, setting the table with some succulents and using an old deer skull we found to make a little decoration in the living room.

As I remember, I made spaghetti for dinner because we watched a lot of spaghetti westerns too!

I also dressed up a bit, wearing my cowboy boots and hat. We watched a western movie while eating dessert, and relaxed together. It was a lovely evening and we kept the decorations up for a few days afterwards.

I’ve done a few similar dinners over the years including, a tropical one, and a medieval one. Some I did for special occasions and some just as a surprise.

2. A Cozy Movie Night.

Have a movie night with intention: set up an air mattress, a blanket fort, or gather up a bunch of pillows and blankets to make it as cozy as possible.

Make fake movie tickets to make the experience exciting and special.

Have snacks, and a special drink in fun cups and pick out a movie none of you have seen yet. Have fun watching an old black and white movie or find a new one that you typically wouldn’t watch (within reason of course).

You can make this night educational if you want; planning the movie around a lesson and find some trivia or movie bingo to make it a little more interactive.

If you can, set up a projector, instead of the TV or watch your movie on a laptop inside of a blanket fort or on the bed.

The point is to make watching a movie a different experience than a typical night at home. Do something you wouldn’t normally do to make it special.

3. Have an Indoor Picnic.

Move the coffee table out of the way and lay out a blanket for a picnic!

Pack up some picnic foods such as, sandwiches, chips, fruit, and raw veggies, in a basket, along with plates, cups and silverware.

Gather up some board games to play, books to read or some coloring books you and your family can do together. Make this an electronic free night, and focus on spending time together.

You can make it more romantic for a date night, and add some candles, flowers, and have some conversation cards to deepen your relationship.

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Having a fun evening at home on a budget, just takes a little creativity and imagination!

As you start brainstorming ideas for an evening in, keep in mind this is meant to be fun for you and your family. It does not have to be perfect, and it doesn’t have to take a lot of money or effort to be enjoyable.

Have fun with it and make the most of it!

I really enjoy setting up all of these evening ins for my husband and I to enjoy, and I look forward to being able to do this when we have kids or with our other family as well.

What are some ways you like to make family night fun?