Recently I was able to spend a wonderful evening with family and family friends celebrating the holidays and I wanted to share some revelations I had from that event.

As the cliche goes, family holiday gatherings can be stressful events not only in terms of shopping, planning, cleaning, and dealing with disagreeable views. To help with this stress, I am simply going to suggest a few games and some general ideas keep in mind for the holiday events.

Since most families don't have a large hobby game base, I personally suggest games that are broadly familiar to most people, have a large player count, and are social by nature, in other words, either Hoyle's games or party games. Hoyle's games is obviously a broad category ranging from Rummy, to Poker, to Spoons, to BS, and to Bridge. Depending on the size of your gathering and what they know I recommend games like BS or Poker (with no money, just chips) since most people know these games and they can accommodate a large number of people. Some games I would recommend that are similar to Hoyle's games but aren't include Wizard, Sequence, and Uno which can all be easily played and learned.

WIth Party Games, there is a number that I can suggest ranging from the classics of Charades, to more modern takes like Concept and Code Names, or even some enjoyable ones that involve music. In each of these cases ensuring that everyone (or at least most playing) understand the rules and to encourage everyone to participate. Party games are the most fun when everyone is involved and having a good time. In my opinion, the best family-friendly Party games include Cranium, Charades, Apples to Apples, and Picture Code Names.

Now the holidays can be stressful and my family has always found that a light fun game can help any gathering event. Feel free to take a look at the various games I have mentioned and I hope that they help with your gatherings this holiday! All something to keep in mind as we continue the holiday spirit of family and cheer!