Games aren’t just for children. We all need to find a way to relax, blow off steam and have fun from time to time. Board games and game nights are having a resurgence amongst young adults. They’re a perfect way to have a good time and get all your friends together, and there are so many different themes and types of games you can play.
Choosing Your Theme
Before you get underway with the planning process, it’s a good idea to choose a theme for your game night. You don’t necessarily need a theme, but they do make things more fun.
When choosing your theme, consider your audience and what kind of themes they’re likely to enjoy or find fun. Age and interests make a big difference in the type of things we like. For example, if you’re planning a birthday party for a five-year-old, you wouldn’t create a spooky game night with ghouls and monsters.
Aside from your audience, you should also consider your own interests. Planning an event around a theme that you’re passionate about will help you come up with ideas and have more fun hosting the games.
Lastly, the season is also a great way to come up with inspiration for your game night. During winter, you can host a Christmas or winter theme. Spring is a great time for greenery and easter eggs. Summer offers a chance for beach themes and floral shirts, while fireworks, Halloween and pumpkins fit autumn.
Some popular game night themes include:
- Murder mystery
- Fantasy role-playing
- TV or film-inspired
- Seasonal themed
It’s even possible to combine themes together if you think outside the box. For example, what about a fantasy role-playing game that’s set in a land of never-ending Christmas?
Planning the Game
There are thousands of exciting and fun games available to play, with everything from simple trivia questions to complex role-playing and teamwork. The type of game you play should be suitable for your guests while also fitting in with the theme you’ve chosen.
For example, let’s say you’re planning a summery beach night. For this theme, you’ll want to choose a game that allows people to dress in suitable attire and sip cocktails while still having fun. If you’re choosing a trivia game, you could include questions that are related to beaches.
Another example would be a game of bingo, with a bingo card that contains specific references to things that could happen during the night. Someone’s wearing a silly hat? That’s a mark on the bingo card.
Games like Irish bingo are a lot of fun to play with a group of friends, especially if you’re all in fancy dress and coming up with new ways to play. Bingo is a great option because it’s quick and simple to play, though some game nights might be better suited to longer games with more elaborate rules.
Setting the Scene
To set the scene for your game night, decorations, costumes, and music are all important. Once again, plan these around the theme you’ve chosen, ensuring everything fits to create an atmospheric and exciting game night.
Get creative with your decorations! If you’ve chosen a popular theme, there are bound to be lots of DIY guides online. For example, create your own props that guests can use as they play.
Lighting and background music are great for creating an ambience, but make sure your guests can all see and hear what’s going on during the game. You don’t want the decorations to be too distracting!
Extras and Engagement
To get your party started, you’re going to need guests. How many people you need to invite will, of course, depend on the type of night you’re having. But bear in mind that the more people there are, the more difficult moderation will be. To begin setting the scene for your game night, create your invitations.
Invitations should fit with the game night’s theme, but there are other steps you can take to create some additional engagement. Why not leave clues such as hints, riddles and even puzzles on what your guests can expect?
Ensure that important details such as the dress code are clear, but creating puzzles for your guests to solve before they attend can help increase engagement and ensure you get more interest in the night.
Setting Rules and Moderating the Game
Games need rules to keep things fair and fun. It’s important to make sure that everyone is aware of the rules before the game gets going. If there are lots of things to remember, you might want to set up a test run before the real thing to give everyone an idea of what to expect.
Ideally, your rules should be simple to follow, but you’ll need to moderate to make sure that everyone is playing fair. As a game night host, you’ll be doing more moderating than playing, but it can still be lots of fun to see everyone else enjoying themselves.
Balance the competition to keep things fun. Some people are more competitive than others, so try to ensure everyone is able to enjoy themselves. Lastly, ensure that any disagreements don’t get out of hand and spoil the fun.
Bringing Everything Together
Of course, even the best-laid plans can go awry sometimes. No matter how much planning you put into ensuring everything goes smoothly, you should always be prepared for anything unplanned. It’s a good idea to have a backup plan and prepare to be flexible and change things if needed on the night.
After the night is over, you can award small prizes for winning players, best dressed or similar awards. This can be based on a vote or decided entirely by yourself. It is your game night, after all. Have a post-game discussion to recap funny moments and share any photos that were snapped during the game.
Final Thoughts
There are lots of ways to have fun with friends, but hosting your own games night is an excellent way to get everyone together and have a night to remember. When planning the night, ensure you’ve thought carefully about the theme, decorations and game rules to create an event that’s fun for everyone.