What IS Family Fun?

I talk a lot about having family fun. Spending quality time together and making memories as a family. But what IS family fun?

My simple definition is anything that you enjoy together as a family. And family could mean a traditional family with kids, a couple, an extended family or even a group of close friends.

So what does the fun part mean? This is where it gets unique for each situation. What YOU might consider fun, might not be fun for someone else. So how to handle that?

Define fun for your family

I have a few simple exercises to help you determine what constitutes fun for your family. Give one of them a try and you’ll be prepared the next time you have a little free time to spend together.

Brainstorm

Start with a simple brainstorming session. Make some popcorn, give everyone a piece of paper and pen, set a timer for 15 minutes and ask each person to write down what they like to do for fun.

After 15 minutes, group the activities into buckets such as activities, outdoor fun, quiet fun, going someplace, free activities, expensive activities, etc. Really whatever makes sense for you.

Grab some popcorn and brainstorm family fun ideas.

Now you can have a conversation about what you’ve discovered. You might find someone in your family really likes being active while someone else enjoys quiet, restful activities. That’s okay and it’s terrific to understand so that you can be sure to plan things that everyone enjoys and considers fun. Even it it means taking turns.

Research

If you have kids who love technology (and what kid doesn’t), it might be easier to get them involved with this method than a traditional pen and paper brainstorming session.

Have everyone grab their device and start researching “fun things to do”. You can add on “your hometown”, “near me”, “winter”, “outdoors”, etc. Have each person save the ones they particularly like. Now you’ve got a full list of doable activities – just let each person take turns picking one that they have saved each week and add it to the calendar.

Do some reseach to plan fun things to do as a family.

This could even be something you assign as “homework”. Ask each person to do a little research and then have a conversation full of ideas over dinner one night this week.

Ask for help

If coming up with ideas at all is a challenge for you, ask for help!

I’m sure you know a few families or have some friends that always seem to be doing fun things. Take them out for coffee and pick their brains. Get ideas from people who are already doing it!

Every Monday, I go live on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram and share several fun ideas for things to do that week. Plus, on most Tuesday mornings I send out an email with ideas for family fun.

Finally, if you haven’t picked it up yet, grab a copy of 5 Fun Family Experiences. This will give you five ideas that you can implement in the next few weeks – so a great place to start.

Here’s to having a fun family lifestyle and loving living life together!

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