Your living room is the centre of home life and your family sofa is at the very heart of it all. It’s where we gather in the evenings to catch up on the events of the day, relaxing and enjoying quality time together, whether that’s watching a family film or settling in to catch up on the latest box sets.
But while it’s great to spend a couple of hours chilling out in front of the TV in the evening, there are lots of other ways to spend a fantastic night in at home as a family. While it’s true that a large part of modern life and entertainment is focused around electronics and gadgets, there’s nothing quite like a bit of tech-free time spent together. So why not roll back the years, wind back the clock, and indulge in some good old fashioned games and activities?
Dust off the board games
There’s nothing quite like a classic board game to get everyone involved, enthused, animated and competitive. Dust off old favourites like Scrabble, Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit – there’s a reason they’re among the UK’s most treasured board games – and teach the kids a bit about gaming before the era of the PlayStation and Xbox. You might even want to add a few more games to your collection and check out some of the newer creations that will grab the kids’ interest. Game of Thrones Cluedo, anyone?
Make art and crafts fun
Arts and crafts aren’t for everyone, so liven it up and have some fun to make sure the whole family stays entertained. Gather your family around the sofa and ask each person to draw a self portrait – then draw a picture of someone else in the room and compare. You could get a packet of post-it notes and take turns to draw little caricature pictures of celebrities. Then, stick the notes on each other’s foreheads and guess who ‘you’ are. Other fun ways to bring art and design into your family life might include designing t-shirts, while younger children will love making simple bracelets and necklaces to show or gift to all their friends and relatives.
Stage a talent show
Bring the big stage to your living room and live out a bit of Britain’s Got Talent at home with a talent show for everyone. Have each member of the household display their act – comedy stand-up, dance routine, song, impression or party trick – and perform in front of the panel of judges on the family sofa. Give everyone scorecards to rank each act and award the winner a small prize. Forget the nerves and give it everything – this is your time to shine.
Play a game of charades
Guaranteed to get everyone giggling, charades is the classic game of acting and improvisation that has been a popular party activity ever since its invention in the 19th century. Players have to mime the name of a celebrity, movie, book or song title – no speaking allowed. Teams score a point for guessing correctly, but it’s probably most fun when someone gets it hopelessly wrong and the person acting it out gets increasingly frustrated and frantic, all the while being unable to speak.
Have a karaoke competition
What could be more fun than belting out the lyrics to your favourite songs? Ideal for family nights in and parties too, karaoke is sure to bring out the star in everyone. To hone your singing skills, have a family karaoke night. Once you get going, you won’t want to let go of the microphone.
If you’re going to have a family night, you need a sofa for all the family, big enough to fit everyone on, a place where you can snuggle down for the evening and enjoy some tech-free time. Larger families will love the cosiness and durability of the Coco, whilst the stylish Parma is available in a huge range of sofa sizes to help you fit the whole gang into your living room.
Good quality family time is about being together and sharing fun and laughter. Pick one night a month when everybody is home, turn the TV off and try some of our tech-free activity suggestions.
