December is a funny old month.
Most of us are busy spending so much time and energy on trying to create the perfect Christmas memories, that we end up running ourselves ragged and leave ourselves feeling so frazzled that we rarely get chance to sit down and actually make any time for our families amidst all of the pre-Christmas chaos...or is that just me?!
I feel like the last two weeks have passed by in a blur of Christmas shopping, and I can on one hand the number of times I've spent actually enjoying those cosy family evenings at home that I love most about the winter months.
So this weekend, with a little help from Very, I made a conscious effort to spend some quality time with my little ones enjoying some good old fashioned family fun.
We spent hours together, playing some fantastic board games in front of the Christmas tree and munching on Quality Street...and honestly? It was just what we all needed!
We were so impressed with the fantastic range of family fun board games and toys available, so today I thought I'd share our thoughts on the ones we tried - including what the kids rated each of them.
Beat The Parents
I knew immediately that this one would be a hit with my children as soon as I saw that there needs to be a wager set! They decided that their prize, should they win, was to be a Yes Day - a day when we have to agree to all of their requests. Eeeek! Our prize of them tidying their bedrooms suddenly felt a bit lacking in imagination.
But on we played. With the stakes high, Jon & I tried our very best to beat them - the game involves taking it in turns to answer questions as a team (so at least one of your children will need to be a competent reader) and battling it out in special challenges such as being the first team back to the board with 4 gold items - but alas, they were too good! They beat us...much to their absolute glee!
Looks like there's a Yes Day in our future, then....
Kids Rating - 5/5
Mad Dog
I chose this game because both of my sons absolutely love dogs, so I knew they'd enjoy this. The game is super easy to set up and very simple to play, but it really is lots of fun and is the kind of game you can easily play over and over again. It's also a good one for children to play alone too.
The object is to remove bones from the dogs dish without waking him up and making him ...well...mad! I can't begin to explain how many hours of fun this game has provided. They love it!
Kids Rating 5/5
5 Second Rule
This is a game I remember fondly from my own childhood, so I had an idea that my kids would like it and I wasn't wrong.
The object of the game is simple - be the first around the board by getting as many correct answers as you can. To move forward, a player needs to correctly name 3 things as specified on the cards - such as 3 types of cheese, 3 Marvel comic book heroes, etc - but the catch is that they must name them within 5 seconds. If the buzzer goes off before you answer, you lose a go!
This was really good fun, and although it's recommended for ages 10+ I found that my 5 and 6 year olds were able to play it well with some careful selecting of the cards and they really enjoyed it. My 8 year old certainly enjoyed it most of all though and was able to answer most of the cards.
Kids Rating 4/5
Trivial Pursuit Family Edition
This is a childhood classic and has to be one of my all-time favorite board games, so I was really excited to introduce my children to this.
I will say that it probably wasn't exciting enough for my younger two, but my 8 year old son is a bit of a trivia buff and so he really enjoyed it - I can see this becoming a firm favorite for us to play together.
Kids Rating 4/5
It really was so nice to enjoy some good old fashioned festive family fun together, and we've decided to dedicate our weekends to family game nights for the rest of December...and probably beyond!
If you want to treat yourselves to some new family board games this Christmas or you're just looking for some gift giving, I highly recommend taking a look at the extensive collection of toys and games from Very.
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