Two weeks ago we were in the depths of the dreaded summer lull; our vacation was still to come, our summer camps were behind us, but all the childrens’ friends were either on vacation or in camps! So with no one their age to play with, they were understandably bored. This year they are 6 and 8 years old and certainly old enough for many of the great board games out there but I had no idea where to start looking for them. Thanks to the beauty of social media I was able to ask my friends what their favourites were and we came up with an extensive list including some old classics!
Guess Who?
MouseTrap
Cut the Rope
Connect 4
Hide the Sock Monkey
Cranium Cadoo
Checkers
Dominos
UNO
Hedbanz.
Mouse Trap
Jenga
Backgammon,
Apples to Apples Junior
Game of Things
Slamwich
Checkers
Payday
Game of Life
Sorry
Candyland
Snakes and Ladders aka Chutes and Ladders
Whew! Some of these we already had, some we received as birthday presents and a few more we purchased.
I was also looking for ways to save some money when buying new games. It’s hard to know what the kids are going to like and it stinks to pay full price for games they hate. Luckily I was in my friendly neighborhood big thrift boutique and found several games at great prices. ‘Sorry’ (the Disney version) was $5.99 and the card games were $1.99 each. While a regular version of Sorry runs about $15-$20, the Disney version was $54.99 on Amazon.com! You do run the risk of having missing pieces when you buy used but at those prices, I don’t mind improvising; lost dice can be replaced, you can find missing cards can online and print out new ones, and missing tokens can be swapped out for another item. Garage sales, rummage sales and smaller local thrift shops can all be a treasure trove of games for your family at a fraction of the price.
What are some of your favourite board games? Do you have a great way to save money on entertainment?