3 Socially Distant Ways To Enjoy Some Family Fun

One of our family's favorite activities has always been going to the movie theater. Hot popcorn, some special candy, a dark theater, and getting lost in a great story was the perfect way to check out from regular life for a couple of hours.

Now with theaters being closed, I had to get creative. Step one? Setting a show time days in advance. I found that when I decided on the movie and the start time a few days before, it was much less likely that I'd be dealing with family squabbles about what to watch. Plus, it gave us time to get excited about the other half of the main event: snacks.

When my kids have a special treat to look forward to, they’re a lot more likely to embrace the movie, even if it isn't their top choice. My secret is to keep the homemade concession stand simple, which will make the night as easy for me as it's fun for the kids!

When I revisited our home game collection recently, the first thing that stuck out to me was all the missing pieces I'd need to find or replace. But when I remembered how easily a thoughtfully curated snack bar transformed our movie night, I felt a renewed faith in game night.

Instead of waiting until late evening to have game night, I decided to try it in the afternoon when everyone felt a little more lively. I placed an order for some snacks and ingredients for a soda float bar on the Albertsons Delivery & Pick Up app, picked up my order at the store, then set everything up and let the kids pick their own sweet soda float combos. Then we all sat around the table with the most accessible, easy game we had: a deck of cards.

We started with classics like Go Fish and War, then during our second game night, we all learned how to play Rummy. Eventually, we were inspired to look up some new games online. It was simple and low-stress because all we had to worry about was a deck of cards. When we had a bit more energy, we tried our hand at some of those more complicated games, but for the most part we were perfectly content with our tried and true deck of cards.

Like it is for many people, Friday has become pizza night in our house. I'm usually tired, and pizza is easy. But over time, I somehow wound up equating pizza night with homemade dough and freshly shredded mozzarella cheese, and the sheer thought of this much effort usually scared me out of the activity altogether. But then I realized: What if it wasn’t homemade pizza night? What if it was simply build your own pizza night? Alas, my vigor for a weekly family 'za fest was rekindled.

Instead of worrying about making dough in time, rolling it out just right, and leaving my kitchen covered in flour for me to clean up, we could focus on just the actual pizza building portion.

With easy ingredients on hand, everyone built the pizza of their dreams with no arguing over who likes (or doesn’t like) what toppings. A dinner that made everyone happy, kept us entertained, and that we had fun making together was the perfect recipe for a night together. And pro tip: Save one pre-made crust, slather it with Nutella, and top with strawberries and powdered sugar for a sweet week's end reward.