15+ Fun Activities for Family Nights At Home

Looking for some fun activities for family nights at home? Check out this list with some really fun ideas to help beat the boredom and make memories. This post is sponsored by Hunt A Killer, they are also big fans of family fun at home. All opinions are my own.

Family nights are so important for helping us keep building good relationships and create good memories. We can get too caught up in the busyness of life and stuck in the same routine.

Finding more fun activities we can do as a family can really help. Even if you can’t do one every week making it part of your routine can really be valuable to your whole family.

If you don’t have kids or are an empty nester these activities are great for couples to do as well. Or you can gather up some extended family to join in. Don’t forget about good friends, they are the family we make for ourselves.

Be sure to also check the end of this post for a free printable with all of these ideas plus even more!

Fun Activities for Family Nights At Home

1. Solve a Murder

If you have older kids the Hunt A Killer subscription box can be a really fun and unique family night activity. Think Clue but way more interactive and fun. 

You get boxes with evidence and everything you need to solve a murder. If you sign up for the whole season, you will get six boxes so at least six nights worth of family fun.

Not only is this a lot of fun but it also encourages teamwork. I would have really enjoyed doing this as a teenager and still love it as an adult. My husband and I have been enjoying the boxes so much.

You can also use coupon code RETRO to get 20% off your first box. Try it out and see what you think.

Read my full Hunt A Killer Review for more information.

2. Have a Movie Night

I’m sure this sounds boring but don’t just all sit down and watch a movie together, create a fun themed movie night. 

You could set up a theater in your home complete with a snack bar or maybe serve a themed dinner to go along with the movie night.

I like to occasionally bring a bit of Christmas magic to our day and have a Christmas movie night during a non-holiday time.

Just find a way to make it exciting and fun for everyone. With younger kids, you could even do a fun movie-related craft project.

3. Cook Together

Cooking together as a family is a great way to teach new cooking skills and to also spend time together doing something helpful. You need dinner anyway so it won’t add too much time when things are busy to do it together.

You don’t have to do a full meal either, it could just be baking together or even just putting together a fun snack board to share while playing Hunt A Killer or watching a movie.

4. Have a Game Night

Game nights are one of my favorite family activities. I’ve always really enjoyed board games. My family has recently even gotten together for virtual game nights. 

Order a new game everyone can play or choose from ones you already have. There are even a lot of good party game apps. My favorite is Heads Up. It’s free or you can pay to add more options. 

5. Camp Out in the Backyard

My brother and I used to love camping in our backyard, friends often joined in as well. It’s my favorite form of camping because a nice bathroom with a real shower is nearby!

If you have a grill or fire pit you can roast hot dogs and marshmallows and have a fun little campout. You can also just do this part and sleep inside if that’s better for your family.

You could even make a tent inside. That’s something I did a lot as a kid. Blanket tents are always so much fun. 

6. Have an Ice Cream Party

Ice cream parties are a blast, especially as the weather warms up. You can buy a few flavors of ice cream or even make your own homemade ice cream.

Be sure to have lots of fun toppings to use as well. I highly recommend some homemade chocolate syrup. It’s simple to make and great for an ice cream sundae. 

7. Plant a Garden

A lot of people are putting in vegetable gardens lately. This is a great activity to get the whole family involved with. You can each plant some of your favorite foods.

A flower garden is another option as well. It can be fun for everyone to pick out their favorite flowers to add and come up with fun designs together.

8. Throw a Pizza Party

This goes great paired with other ideas on this list as well. You could have your pizza while watching a movie, while playing a game, or while solving a murder with Hunt A Killer.

You can just order your favorite pizza or make your own. I think this is even more fun because everyone can make their own.

You can make your own crust or buy a pre-made crust. I like homemade pizza crust but I often just buy a pre-made one. It’s still delicious and even better than most take-out.

9. Start a Puzzle

Starting a puzzle together is a great way to prolong the activity. You can have a set time each day or week to work on it a bit together. It doesn’t have to be very long each time.

10. Have a Lego Building Contest

If you have a lot of Legos you could have a contest to see who can build the coolest thing in a set amount of time. It’s so much fun to see what everyone comes up with.

11. Read a Book Together

My mom read to us a lot as kids. She read the Harry Potter books to the whole family when they came out. We all enjoyed that time a lot.

Some of them, we actually listened to the books on tape while driving but she actually read some as well. Both options are a great family activity. 

12. Watch Old Family Videos

If you have a lot of old videos this can be a great way to remember fun times together. We have some really fun family videos because my dad liked to make funny videos with us when we were little and my mom was good. 

If you don’t have a lot of videos you could also look at old photos. We all take so many photos these days but how often do we look back at them after they’ve been taken and possibly shared on social media?

13. Listen to a Podcast

There are podcasts about everything now so you are sure to find one the whole family loves. This is even something you can do on a family road trip.

If podcasts had been a thing when I was a kid I’m sure we would have listened to a lot of them on road trips. Also all those times we were in the car for a long time going between soccer games.

If you try out Hunt A Killer and enjoy it they have a true-crime podcast you could check out as well.

14. Play Hide and Seek

Is it just me that wishes adults played hide and seek more often? I think it’s a lot of fun and shouldn’t just be something for kids.

You could also do the version we did as teenagers called sardines. Instead of everyone hiding and one person looking one person hides and as the others find them they hide with them. The last person to find everyone loses.

You could also play in the dark which can be lots of fun, especially for older kids.

15. Create a Time Capsule

Right now is a really good time to make a time capsule. So much is going on that we can look back on in the future. I think about the big ice storm we had when I was a kid and how fun it would be to have a time capsule from then.

We were without power for about a week and it was an interesting time. My best friend that lived down the street hiked down to stay with us and before that, we played Monopoly over the phone. No Zoom calls back then, couldn’t even use the internet because we didn’t have the internet on our phones.

Now that you have some fun activities to try with your family it’s time to plan your next family night. Chat with everyone and find a good night and start making memories together.

More Fun Activities for Families

If you want even more ideas you can get this free printable with 15 more ideas. Hang it on the fridge and let everyone put a different color star next to there favorite ideas. Then you can work through the most popular ideas.

To get the free printable simply sign up below. You will get access to a lot of other great freebies as well.