Just Doing My Best

has been moved to new address

http://www.justdoingmybest.com

Sorry for inconvenience...

Just Doing My Best: Frugal Family Fun - Family Games

Thursday, April 2, 2009

 

Frugal Family Fun - Family Games


Now that my children are in their pre-teen years, games are becoming even more fun to play. I no longer strategically let the children win, but rather fight to win so I can maintain my mom credibility. If you have competitive sons or daughters, you know what I mean.

Games are one of the most frugal activities for the family. We usually have several in our closets that could be dusted off or can sometimes find gently used ones in used bookstores and consignment shops. Even if you buy a new game, games are relatively inexpensive and can be played over and over.

If you are in the market for a new, high quality, low price game, keep reading because two lucky readers will win one from Out of the Box Publications. My children and I played two of their games- My Word and Easy Come Easy Go - over Spring Break. We loved them! In fact, I'm hoping to add a few more of their games to our collection.

Easy Come Easy Go is for intended for ages 8-adult. The concept reminds me of Yahtzee, except easier to play, especially for younger children. The rules were easy to follow and the time needed to play the game was very reasonable. As busy parents, it's sometimes hard to carve out 1-2 hours for longer games, but this one was only 30 minutes. My daughter thought it was a "fun game and liked the pictures on the prize cards." She also liked the pace and strategy. My son enjoyed it, though he did not have any glowing compliments.

I was most impressed with the quality of the game. The best part of Easy Come Easy Go, was the cushioned cup for the dice. The shaking and rolling of the dice was not loud and annoying. The prize cards are made of a thick cardboard that would ensure years of play. I was surprised to see this game is less than $10.

The next one we reviewed was My Word. This game is intended for ages 7-adult and also took about 30 minutes to play. The dealer lays down letter cards one at a time and all of the players search for words from the cards that the dealer is laying down. The player who sees a word first, shouts it out and keeps those cards. The player with the most cards, wins. This was our unanimous favorite and I will let my children's comments on the game give you an idea about our opinion.

My Word has easy to follow rules and is suited well to multi-level players. It comes in a compact tin box that makes it perfect for travel. This is the kind of game I would want on a rainy day, if stuck in a hotel room or camper. I noticed that they even have free printable score sheets for this game on their website. This game is also less than $10.

We enjoyed our time playing games together and Out Of the Box Publications would like you to enjoy family game time also.

If you would like to win either, Easy Come Easy Go or My Word, complete any or all of the options below. Each option will gain you a separate entry.


  1. Go to the Out of the Box Publications site and see which game is your favorite. They offer MANY and some of them are great for educators and homeschoolers. Come back here and leave a comment telling me which you liked the best.

  2. Leave a comment telling me how your family enjoys Frugal Family Fun.

  3. Either follow me on the sidebar or subscribe to the RSS feed (top right corner) and leave a comment telling me that you did.

  4. Blog about this giveaway, linking back to Just Doing My Best. Come back here and leave me a comment that you blogged with your URL, so I can visit you too.

Comments will close at 3 pm on Friday, April 10. Two winners will be chosen by a random number generator. Be sure to leave an email so I can contact you or a new winner will be chosen.

Good luck!

Because of the high quality, high educational value, and low prices, games by Out of the Box Publications are the newest addition to Just My Best Picks.

This post is linked to:
Frugal Fridays by Life As Mom.
Freebies 4 Mom

Labels: , , ,


# posted by Heather@justdoingmybest @ Thursday, April 02, 2009
Comments:
Wow! Am I the first to enter? We love games at our house. I think the My Word game looks fun.
Thanks for the giveaway!
~Liz
# posted by Anonymous Liz@Hoosier Homemade : April 3, 2009 at 2:29 PM
 
I'm a new follower...
~Liz
# posted by Blogger Hoosier Homemade : April 3, 2009 at 2:30 PM
 
We like games. Our favorite is Sorry...Uno. I like Yahtzee and my son is a little young to understand the "strategy" so the "Easy Cme Easy Go", sounds like a good one for us!
# posted by Anonymous Lynette : April 3, 2009 at 4:02 PM
 
I went to Ot of the Box Publications...too overwhelming! I'll have to look when I have more time.
# posted by Blogger Lynette : April 3, 2009 at 4:07 PM
 
I already subscribe to your feed.
# posted by Blogger Lynette : April 3, 2009 at 4:08 PM
 
My son would love 7 ate 9 but I personally loves Apples to Apples. There are so many that I didn't know they made. We'll definitely have to check out others.
babyhclimber@yahoo.com
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : April 4, 2009 at 6:07 PM
 
Thanks for the review of the games- I am always looking for games to play with my 4 boyz! We love apples to apples junior. Another game we love - not on the site is BLINK.
I subscribed to yo9ur feed - http://justorganizeyourself.blogspot.com/
# posted by Blogger JOY : April 4, 2009 at 7:52 PM
 
My family loves to play monopoly on game night
# posted by Blogger Jessica : April 7, 2009 at 2:19 PM
 
i think we would like the backseat drawing
# posted by Blogger Jessica : April 7, 2009 at 2:22 PM
 
We love word games, and family game night!
# posted by Blogger Teena Welch : April 7, 2009 at 5:58 PM
 
Those games sound like such fun. Thanks so much for your review. Game night or a movie from the library are our frugal family fun at home. We also like to go to the park when the weather is nice, and find that packing a picnic (a snack or a lunch) makes it more special.
Kristin
kkhill (at) swbell (dot) net
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : April 7, 2009 at 10:02 PM
 
We love Apples to Apples but would really love winning a new game.

Allyson
www.a-heart4home.blogspot.com
a_heart4home (at) yahoo (dot) com
# posted by Blogger Tim, Allyson, and kids : April 8, 2009 at 8:25 AM
 
For family fun nights this time of year, we are outside a lot. We also play with blocks and dance in the living room :)

Allyson
www.a-heart4home.blogspot.com
a_heart4home (at) yahoo (dot) com
# posted by Blogger Tim, Allyson, and kids : April 8, 2009 at 8:27 AM
 
We like apples to apples jr.
# posted by Blogger Andrea : April 8, 2009 at 10:00 AM
 
I am so glad that games are making a come back. I have great memories of playing games with my family growing up - Especially Life and Monopoly! My Word sounds like a great one for our family to try - Thanks for the opportunity!

jdrodgers1013@yahoo.com
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : April 8, 2009 at 5:21 PM
 
10 Days in the USA looks like a lot of fun, plus you could really teach your children some United States Geography at the same time. Love it.
# posted by Blogger Amy : April 9, 2009 at 9:52 AM
 
Frugal Family fun for us is having fun with things we already have and coming up with new creative ways to use them. For example turning water bottles into shakers for our family band.
# posted by Blogger Amy : April 9, 2009 at 9:53 AM
 
Thanks for the suggestions! We love to play games as a family and I am always on the lookout for new ones - I will check them out!
# posted by Anonymous Heather : April 9, 2009 at 10:35 AM
 
I went to the Out of the Box Publications site and my Favorite is APPLES to APPLES!!


jaimeburgessathotmaildotcom
# posted by Anonymous Jaime : April 9, 2009 at 11:44 AM
 
My frugal family fun is making homemade pizza and playing connect four, scrabble, and sorry!

Hope I win because we can always have more games to choose from!
jaimeburgessathotmaildotcom
# posted by Anonymous Jaime : April 9, 2009 at 11:47 AM
 
I subscribed!!

jaimeburgessathotmaildotcom
# posted by Anonymous Jaime : April 9, 2009 at 11:53 AM
 
Backstreet Drawer looks nice! Good luck to all :) ** If this is my second post, sorry - it did not tell me my post went through **
# posted by Blogger Pleasant : April 10, 2009 at 1:46 AM
 
Frugal Fun - To us, reading is fun, and watching the kids dance about.
# posted by Blogger Pleasant : April 10, 2009 at 1:47 AM
 

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]





<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]