When our children were young, Friday family nights consisted of free fun. We prioritized it. We fought for that time together.
Now that we have three teen boys (as well as our two younger girls), it’s a bit trickier to gather on Fridays, but that doesn’t mean I still don’t remember all the fun ideas we implemented.
This weekend, plan a surprise camp out in the living room. (The surprise element is a simple twist on our Christmas Cruising tradition that so many of you love.)
When it is time to go to bed, have everyone show up in the living room with their blankets or sleeping bags, pillows and flashlights. Play a game of flashlight tag on the ceiling, tell stories, giggle at flashlight “shadow charades”, be as creative as you want, but most importantly, tickle, hug, and snuggle!
Enjoy the simplicity of just being together.
Are you going to give it a try? I double dog dare you. In fact, I triple dog dare you. You will not be disappointed, and your children will think you are the bomb!(Even if they don’t all admit it.)
I guess I’ll have to try this when it’s too cold to camp this winter. We have one last camping trip planned in Oct. but this might carry over my 4 kiddos until spring OR I could just lock my four in our outdoor camper and have the parents camp in! And FREE is always good. Either way, I’ve posted our latest and greatest camping recipes using a freezer menu you might like, http://momonamission.me/?p=2620. Thanks for posting creative ideas!
My in laws have a tradition, since my husband was a young child, of making Friday’s pizza night and sleeping on the living room floor. My children LOVE spending the night at grandma and grandpas on Friday nights because they get to sleep on the floor. How fun!
In Sweden, Friday is for “Fredagsmys” which translates roughly to “Friday Coziness.” It is a time to spend with family, cuddled up with blankets, junk food, and a good TV show or movie. Perfect for the loooong winter we have here! I posted about it in more details here: http://joshandchelsey.blogspot.com/2011/08/fredagsmys.html It is a tradition we have embraced!
We’re on the same page, Girl! My kids and I just did this last weekend 🙂 It was alot of fun. We blew up the air mattresses, watched a movie together, and all slept downstairs together.
Our girls’ favorite night when they were younger was Friday, Pizza Picnic Night. I bought an inexpensive square vinyl tablecloth, would put it on the floor in front of the TV & we would make pizza. They were allowed to sit on the floor, eat pizza & watch TV-the only night we didn’t eat at the table. This was a real treat for them & an easy meal for me.
This looks so fun! I’d really like to implement something like this in our family routine while our children are still young, so it just becomes habit!