Plan a Monthly Family Fun Night: Here's a Year's Worth of Awesome Ideas

It’s easy to get bogged down with the crazy schedules of work and afternoon/evening/weekend commitments and forget that fun family time needs to be included as well! Schedule at least one family fun night a month, and I promise you’ll be trying to fit more into your schedule as time allows!

Stuck for family fun night ideas? I’ve mapped out 12 awesome activities for every month of the year that are quick and easy to arrange. Check them out in the slideshow.

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Plan a Monthly Family Fun Night: Here's a Year's Worth of Awesome Ideas!

January: Have an Indoor Snowball Fight!

Combine a quick night of crafts with a rewarding and silly indoor snowball fight at the end! Buy a large pack of cheap white socks at the store along with some fabric stuffing and follow these simple instructions to DIY your snowballs. Establish the ground rules of where you can go, give each member of the family a pile of snowballs, and have fun!
February: Create a Masterpiece

Buy a large canvas at your local craft/art store and bring it home to create a family masterpiece! Choose any style of art and place the canvas in an area where everyone can join in on the fun. Cut out paper and share glue sticks to create a large collage, or give everyone in the family a paintbrush and a section of the canvas to paint. No matter what you create it will be a piece of art you can proudly hang in the house and know that everyone helped make it!
March: Puzzle Night(s)

Some of my favorite memories as a kid were puzzle creation nights with my family! Dig out an old puzzle or purchase a new one that has plenty of pieces to play with (think 250-1,000), and set them out on a surface that can remain untouched for a few days. Make some popcorn, put on some music, and gather around the table to finish the task together!
April: Family Portraits

Grab your digital camera (or phone) and a white sheet to set up the perfect photo opportunity. Take turns having each member of the family take pictures of each other, so that Mom gets a photo taken by all the kids and Dad. Add props or silly costume accessories to have fun with it. Get the photos printed and make a collage that shows the perspective of every photographer! Keep up the tradition year to year to update everyone's photo.
May: Bake Cookies for the Neighbors

The first day of May, May Day, is celebrated around the globe as a day to surprise your neighbors with small gifts. Take the spirit of the month further by having a massive cookie-baking extravaganza in your house! Bake a variety of family favorites or simply decorate sugar cookies with lots of love. After they're packaged up, take a stroll with your kids and present them in person to each neighbor.
June: Outdoor Movie Night

Plan to spend a night outside with a family movie during the first month of summer! You can get fancy with a projector and a white sheet in your backyard, or you can just grab a laptop or tablet and head to the park! (Learn how to build an easy backyard theater here.) Bring along some popcorn and perhaps some movie-theater style candy, and enjoy the outdoor experience!
July: Water Gun Battle

Take some time to cool off as the nights heat up. Stock up the family with some cheap squirt guns and head outside to have some silly fun! Set up some "refilling" stations with water bottles, designate safe areas (or not!), and have a blast soaking everyone!
August: Night of Star Gazing

Keep everyone up a little past their bedtime and bundle up to take a look at the stars! Prep yourself with a local star map, or use an app like Star Walk to help navigate new constellations in the sky. Your kids will love trying to connect the dots of the stars in the sky and might just ask you to have another nighttime field trip in the future!
September: Game Night

With school back in session, take a weeknight to order pizza and play board games until bedtime! Your kids will love the break from the school-homework-bed routine, and you'll all have fun competing with each other for the night!
October: Pumpkin Carving Competition

Parents should not be the only ones having fun with ooey gooey pumpkin guts in October! Plan out a night when everyone can help carve pumpkins and have a blast doing it as a family. Give little kids a marker to draw their design on the pumpkin so you can cut it out for them, and let older kids experiment with a kid-safe carving knife. Afterward, upload the photos to social media and have a blind carving contest with friends and family!
November: Make "Thankful" Books

Purchase a small blank notebook and create a family "thankful" book for the year. Fix a family meal and take time passing the book around the table and having each person enter one thing that they're thankful for. You can go back and add photos and pictures throughout the month as well. You'll have a great time talking through the past year and capturing the memories!
December: Tour the Holiday Lights

Prepare some hot chocolate in big giant (non-spillable) mugs, hop in the car, and blast the holiday music while you embark on a tour of the best holiday lights in your area! You can usually find a list of festive neighborhoods in your local newspaper, but don't be afraid to ask your friends and neighbors as well. It's the perfect way to enjoy a cold winter night and a tradition that you can renew every December!