Plan a Game Night to Reconnect With Your Friends and Family
You need a game night. Once a week or once a month, a game night with your friends and family will improve your relationships and your level of happiness and well-being. You may need that game night more than you realize. You need to disconnect from the internet and connect to your tribe in person. A game night is the perfect way to do this.
Over the past thirty years, people have been increasingly connecting online and disconnecting from “real life.” The internet is a fascinating place to be, and now, you can even enter the “metaverse,” which allows you to immerse yourself into the online world in ways you may not have previously imagined. But you still have to pull yourself out of the internet way of life – online gaming, online dating, online working, online bill paying, online shopping, online food orders, social media, and so much more – to eat and shower.
With the miracle of the internet, you may have “friends” around the world, but real life still exists where you live, and so do your real-life friends and family. It’s time to host an in-person game night. It is important that you remember that game night is supposed to be fun for everyone involved, including the host or hostess. Don’t overthink things or make the planning too complicated.
Obviously, you need games. The games you choose will depend on who will participate. If you are inviting the guys you hung out with in high school thirty years ago, you may want to host a night of Dungeons and Dragons. You may also consider games like dominoes, Yahtzee, Farkle, or Bunco. Card games like bridge, spades, hearts, canasta, or poker are also fun. If kids will play the games as well, make sure the games you choose are age appropriate.
If the game night is more adult-oriented, make sure you let the people you invite know they need to arrange for child care. Another option is to arrange for child care at your home, with the kids playing games with the sitter in another room.
You need a table and chairs, some sort of beverages and some snacks. It does not need to be expensive or fancy. You could also ask each person to bring drinks and one appetizer or dessert to share with everyone. This will help to defray the costs. You should also ask each invitee if they have any card or board games they can bring, and if you have not all agreed on a game in advance, you can take a vote on which game to play, or which game to play first, at the beginning of the night.
Establish the rules in advance. This goes beyond the rules of the games you and your group will play. It’s about the rules for game night. For example, cell phones might have to stay in a separate room while playing games. If someone takes the games too seriously and gets heated, they will be asked to leave. If you are drinking, hand over your car keys and a cab will be called for you at the end of the evening unless a designated driver is also attending game night. If you are the host, you make the rules, but you also are the person who must enforce those rules.
Remember to keep it easy, light, and inexpensive, and you will be amazed at how refreshed you feel the day after game night, regardless of how late the night runs. Just reconnecting with people you like, love, or care about will make you feel liked, loved, and cared about. When you feel like that, you feel better about yourself and your life, and you will be surprised by how much you are looking forward to the next game night.
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