50 Fun (& nearly free) Friday Night Ideas for Families – PRINTABLE

This project represents a major effort on my part to tackle one of my negative qualities that makes me feel like a failure as a mother and wife… I’m always distracted by something (chores, cell phone, TV…) and therefore do not engage with my kids and husband nearly as much or as deeply as I would like to. So to make a step towards changing that, I did something I’m really good at. I made a list… a list of 50 fun things for us to do on Friday nights to celebrate the end of the week.  Then I turned the list into artwork for our dining room.

This artwork and newly minted tradition was a Valentine’s Day surprise for my family! Half of the Friday ideas are Family Fridays, and the other half are Parent’s Fridays… things for my husband and I do to together after the kids go to bed. Only 2 of these 50 ideas involves turning on the TV!

How we use the ideas… On Thursday evening we randomly select our Friday night activity. We do it on Thursday because some ideas need a little advanced notice. A few of these activities are seasonal, so if we happen to pick something inappropriate for the current season, we’ll just put it back and try again. The plan is to alternate Family Fridays and Parent’s Fridays. (We’ll see if the kids allow it, ha ha.) Our rules are… no TV, no cell phones, and on family nights everyone must be involved! 

My favorite Family Friday ideas are:

• Kiddie pool bubble bath
• Jumping waves
• Playing dress-up… yes everyone!

My favorite Parents’ Friday ideas are:

• Art Night – decorate mugs with sharpie for each other
• The Newlywed Game
• Massage Night!!

The most exciting part of all of this is that I’m giving my family a little surprise every week because they have no idea what is written on each card before they select it!

Since I couldn’t make this artwork for all of our readers, I decided to turn these ideas into a printable for you instead!  (One thing you might want to know… my kids are young, so our family activities are geared to preschool ages.) I even left some blank space for you to come up with some of your own ideas!   Download your printable here!!!

If you add any ideas to your own list, please leave a comment here and let us know what you come up with!