Game Closet Organizational Tips by Alison Deyette
Learn more about the Great Games Trade-In & National Family Game Night here. We love working with Hasbro, as our homeschool could not survive without board games!
The truth is, the couple places I totally have a self-diagnosed (actually daughters’ diagonised) OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) over is my closets and all our clothes drawers and bureaus. So, even though my game closet is/was rather neat, I learned a few new and AWESOME tips that I had to seek permission to republish here for you to enjoy!
GAME CLOSET ORGANIZATION TIPS
All you really need for a successful Family Game Night are good friends and family and your favorite games! But if getting to your games or finding the one everyone is dying to play is derailing the fun in your house, it might be time for a game closet makeover. Alison Deyette, a lifestyle expert, shares a few tips to ensure you’re prepared for Family Game Night fun time and time again.
1. Store Games in an Easily Accessible Location: Keep all your games in one place, such as a closet or storage ottoman. If you don’t have the closet space for a designated area for family games, consider storing your games near the TV in an ottoman with a lift-off top, or in a large trunk or storage bin. That way, it’s easy to get to a game when the family is looking for something to do together! We have a game closet, but always have a couple of our newest ones underneath our living room table.
2. Assign Shelves in the Game Closet: Designate each shelf in the family game closet for a particular game category. With separate shelves for word games, party games and active games without a box, everyone knows where each game goes and clean up is quick and easy! Consider keeping games for the little ones on lower shelves so they can grab them on their own for spontaneous play at any time. Totally love the last line!
3. Store Games Side by Side: To ensure games are easy to see and grab from the shelf, store board game boxes side by side vertically, similarly to books on a bookshelf. This way, every game is easily accessible and you don’t have to worry about trying to pry one game from the middle or bottom of a stack. This is AWESOME advice! Like dah…this makes total sense! Bummed I didn’t think of this, yet psyched to be implementing it now! 
4. Find a Place for Small Game Pieces: Want to ensure you never lose those Scrabble tiles or Monopoly houses again? Use plastic tote boxes to store smaller playing items like these, as well as dice, timers and pawns. You can also use a fishing tackle box to keep all the tiny pieces separated and safe between Family Game Nights. Interesting concept, we’re notorious for our sandwich bags…but they always get ripped, so I’ll have to re-think this one more great tip!
5. Create a Binder to Store Game Directions: Place the directions from each game in a clear sheet protector. Alphabetize the sheets by the name of the game so directions are easy to find when you need a reminder about who goes first in The Game of Life or how much money each player starts with in Monopoly. I have a handy folder, but to alphabetize it…another obviously simple concept to implement right now!
6. Find Time in Your Busy Schedule for Family Game Night: Plan ahead to make sure you’re completely organized before everyone sits down at the table for Family Game Night. Make all of the treats the day before and place everything in personalized goodie bags to ensure each guest is accounted for. Also, determine which games you’re going to play ahead of time and set everything out the night before to increase everyone’s excitement for the big night!
Aren’t these tips awesome? Did you learn something new? Better yet–tell us your woes and share how one of these tips helped you out. And, we’d love to compare notes: which Hasbro games do you have and love? Please share below!
Category: 7 - 10
