Bedtime round of Catch Phrase

Have you ever played a party game just before bedtime?

That’s what we ended up doing last night. Caleb was anxious to play Catch Phrase most of the afternoon yesterday. But with company coming over for dinner we had to just keep putting him off. So after the guests left we finally sat down to play.

It started out with just the 4 boys, but Brooke was hanging in the wing chiming in with answers whenever she could. So she took the role as the buzzer presser. But that could last only so long so she grabbed mom to join in the fun.

Now when we play Catch Phrase, we don’t keep score. The fun is all in the guessing the word and watching each other come up with creative ways to get their teammates to get it right. But I really think the funnest part is just the anticipation of the buzzer going off as the sounds speed up and you can feel the anxiety increase. And when it finally does go off, everyone lets out some kind of sound – either a cheer or a moan (depending on the team you’re on). So why write anything down and keep score? That can just cause contention. The scoring isn’t where the fun is had, it’s in the playing – no matter who gets caught with the buzzer the most.

Now don’t get me wrong – when we play in a party setting with adults, keeping score when it’s men vs. women is a great addition to the fun. Since our get togethers are usually couples, breaking it up by male/female teams brings in some great trash talking fun. But when we play as a family, that’s not part of it.

And even though we had a loud round of Catch Phrase before bed, there was still time for bedtime stories to help settle the younger ones down before snuggling under the covers – with big smiles on their faces.