Our Favorite Family Games: From Board Games to Nerf Battles

This post is the last of my toy and gift series where I’m sharing the things that actually get used in our home—not just opened once and forgotten, but reached for again and again.

I’ve already posted about building toys, pretend play, comfort favorites, and creative, hands-on play. Now I’m wrapping things up with one of my favorite categories: family fun—the games and activities that bring all of us together.

These are the things we pull out on Friday nights, slow weekends, snow days, and those “everyone’s a little stir-crazy” afternoons. For our family, that looks like a mix of board games, card games, fun little electronic games, games on the Nintendo Switch, and good old-fashioned Nerf battles.

1st Post: Toys That Last: Our Family’s Well-Loved and Most-Played-With Favorites
2nd Post: The Building Toys My Kids Still Play With (Years Later!)
3rd Post: The Pretend Play Toys My Kids Still Love
4th Post: Comfort Toys My Kids Reach For Again and Again
5th Post: Creative & Hands-On Toys and Learning Gifts for Kids
6th Post: Our Favorite Family Games: From Board Games to Nerf Battles

_{*This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a commission if you purchase through these links, at no extra cost to you. I only share products I genuinely love or would recommend.} _{Affiliate income helps me keep creating free content—thank you for your support!}

kids sitting at the table playing a game of chess

Board Games the Kids Always Reach For

Board games are one of my favorite ways to get everyone around the table at the same time. We don’t have an enormous wall of games, but we do have a collection that actually gets played. For our oldest (almost ten), the regular rotation includes classics like chess and checkers, Monopoly, Jenga, Qwirkle, Yahtzee, Shut the Box, Bananagrams, and Sorry. These are the games that get requested again and again and usually end with someone saying, “Just one more round?”

The younger two have their own favorites, too—Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, Guess Who, memory-style card games, and Connect Four are the ones they always pull out. I love that we can mix and match depending on who’s playing: sometimes it’s all of us together, and other times it’s just a couple of kids and one parent having a quieter game session.

I also love how board games sneak in so many skills without feeling like school: reading cards, counting money, strategizing, paying attention to patterns, and of course practicing how to win and lose graciously.

Ways to store and stay organized: I recently tossed all of our torn up board game cases and put everything in these hard clear zipper cases. I love how organized all of our board games are now and most are all the same size making it easy to store. Here’s the link for the large hard zipper cases and the link for the smaller hard zipper cases. I also love these zipper pouches for tile games like jenga and qwirkle.

children sitting around a table playing uno with bowls of snacks

Favorite Card Games

We love a good card game in our house. They’re small, easy to store, and perfect for that “we have 20 minutes before bed” window. Two card games that are always in the mix for us are Uno and Skip-Bo. They’re simple enough that everyone can catch on, but still interesting enough that adults don’t feel bored.

One little thing that has made a big difference for us is a card shuffler I found in the Target dollar spot. It sounds dramatic, but it’s a game changer (pun absolutely intended). The kids love using it, and it makes setting up each round so much easier—especially with thicker decks like Uno or Skip-Bo.

Card games are also super easy to toss in my bag when we go out to eat or are traveling. They’re lightweight, don’t take up much space on the table, and give us something fun to do while we’re waiting for food or hanging out in a hotel room.

Ways to store and stay organized: The cardboard cases the cards typically come in ends up falling apart pretty quickly, so I found these amazing zipper pouches (they come in a variety of sizes) that hold up so well! Click here for the link.

children playing with electronic games, simon and bop it

Fun Electronic Games

Not everything we play together is made of cardboard and cards. Little handheld, follow-the-command games like Bop It and Simon are also big hits here. They’re fast-paced, silly, and surprisingly good for working on listening skills, coordination, and quick reactions.

These are the kinds of games that usually start with “Let’s just try it once” and end with everyone taking turns and trying to beat each other’s high score. They’re great for rainy days or when we want something fun that doesn’t take up a lot of space or setup time.

three kids playing a video game showing the game on the tv in the background

Nintendo Switch

We definitely use screens in our home, but we definitely put limits on them. Although the switch originally was a Christmas gift for my oldest son years ago and he primarily plays it, we do use it as a family especially during the holiday season. We treat it more like a modern board game with everyone gathered around, taking turns, cheering, and laughing. It feels like a family activity instead of just more screen time.

Some of our family favorites are the classic, easy-to-jump-into games: sports and just dance games where we’re all up moving around, and old-school favorites like Super Mario and Donkey Kong. Those are the ones that make it feel like a shared experience, not just solo play.

More recently, my son and I have been loving a game called PlateUp, which is basically like running a little restaurant together. You’re cooking, plating, serving, trying to keep up with customers—it’s chaotic in the best way and weirdly similar to real-life teamwork in the kitchen.

On dark winter evenings, a few rounds of our favorite Switch games can be just as connective as a board game night. It’s another way to sneak in teamwork, patience, and good sportsmanship in a way that’s fun and low-pressure for everyone.

children playing with nerf guns in the living room

Nerf Battles & Laser Tag

For those days when everyone’s energy is off the charts, Nerf-style play saves us. Hand the kids a few foam dart blasters, agree on some simple house rules, and suddenly all that restless energy has somewhere to go.

We also have a laser tag set, which has been such a fun twist on the same idea. No darts to pick up afterward (😅), just running around, ducking behind furniture, and trying to “tag” each other. It works really well for both indoor play on cold days and outside during the summer.

Sometimes the kids create elaborate games and storylines, and other times we’ll join in and make it a full family battle. On days when the backyard is clear or the snow is packed, we’ll take the fun outside so they can spread out and really run. It’s loud and a little chaotic, but it’s also one of those things that turns into “remember when…” memories.

Ways to store and stay organized: I actually created a cool display wall of all the kid’s nerf guns using a peg board. It’s so nice because the kids can actually see what they have and it stays (relatively) organized and also serves as cool decor. Here’s the link to the peg boards and the hooks that I got from IKEA. This one also looks great from Amazon.

a flat lay image of nerf guns, video game controllers, card games, and board game pieces

How These Fit Into Our Days

We don’t necessarily have a consistently scheduled “family game night.” Of course over the holidays we do set aside some intentional family game time or naturally play during family get togethers. Since we have some rules around when we watch TV and play video games, we typically spend weeknights playing a quick uno game, a game of chess, or something similar. Nintendo Switch gaming typically happens over the weekend. And Nerf battles tend to show up on snow days or that point in the afternoon when everyone just needs to move.

What I love most is that these gifts and games are less about the “stuff” and more about the shared time they create. They’re the source of inside jokes, funny stories, and the little moments that end up being the things kids remember when they think about home.

Let me know

Family fun gifts are some of my favorites because they’re really an investment in time together. A few well-loved board and card games, some simple tabletop or handheld games, a couple of Switch favorites, and something active like Nerf can carry you through so many long afternoons and cozy evenings at home.

💬 What are your family’s go-to games right now—board, card, digital, or otherwise? And do you have one game that always gets a “yes!” from everyone when you suggest it?

This list is the last post in a little series I’ve shared all about our tried-and-true toys. In the previous weeks, I dived deeper into each category — from creative toys to family favorites — and shared how they’ve grown with our kids over the years.

So if you’re looking for simple, meaningful gift inspiration or want to create a home filled with toys that truly last, make sure to check out all the other posts in this cozy series. (You can always check out my affiliate links that contain all our well loved toys – Amazon and LTK. I’ll be adding and updating it regulary. It helps to support my family while I create free content like this!)