• Get families together and engaged in competitive activity.Family portrait of young family on picnic image by YURY MARYUNIN from <a href='http://www.fotolia.com'>Fotolia.com</a>
  
  Family party games give family members the opportunity to team up in athletic and intellectual competition. With careful planning, you can select games that family members of all ages can participate in with ease. These games not only encourage family togetherness but also give all party guests the opportunity to join together in familial units and show their skills.
  
  

Two Truths and a Lie

• Play a game designed to get families to know each other a bit better. As you begin your family party, break the ice with a round of Two Truths and a Lie. To play this game, gather families together and ask each family to conference and come up with two things that are true about their family, and one that is a lie. For example, a family could say, "We own a bunny, Mom always burns the toast and Dad wears his lucky socks each time the Steelers play football." After all families have selected two true things and one lie, the families take turns sharing their selected statements. The other families playing the game must then try to decide which of the stated facts is not completely true. As families tell outlandish truths and lies, laughter will likely ensue and all party guests will get to know each other a little bit better.
  
  

Capture the Flag

• Capture the flag is an enjoyable way to get participants' hearts thumping. To begin this game, give each family a piece of white fabric and permanent markers or fabric pens. Ask the families to decorate their pieces of white fabric to create family flags. Once all families have completed their flag decoration, take them into a field or other open space and allow each family to hide their decorated flag. Tell all players that the goal is to have the last hidden flag. Allow players to run about, searching for flags from other teams while, at the same time, protecting their own.
  
  

Sponge Race

• A sponge race is a great, family-friendly way to beat the heat. To prepare for this game, gather buckets, see-through containers of the same size, and large sponges, also of the same size. Fill one bucket per family with water, and place it on one side of the playing area, laying a sponge next to each. Create a mark near the top of each clear container using tape or a permanent marker, and place them on the other side of the playing area. When game times arrives, tell families that they must take their sponges and fill them with water from the bucket, then transfer that water to the see-through container by quickly running to the other side of the playing field and squeezing out their sponges. As families work together to complete this task, they will necessarily become soaked and have a splishy-splashy good time.