How-To: Organize the Game Cabinet

Who loves Family Game Night? I do, and I love to buy my kids games for Christmas and their birthdays! But all those games can be a bear to store in a small house! We have a small wooden cabinet we got at Ikea, years ago that sits at the bottom of the stairs and serves as our catch-all for games.

What happens with the game cabinet, is that pieces get left out, or you get small things like hand-held games or card games and they get "lost". It can become a hot mess in no time if you don't keep it organized.

In a few simple steps, you can have an organized game cabinet that's all ready for Family Game Night!

First, take everything out and group like things (by size or style) together to better asses my storage needs.

Next, weed out games with broken or missing pieces and games that your family may have grown out of. These are perfect to donate to a local charity. It can be sad to part with some favorite childhood games, so consider re-purposing game boards or pieces.

For all the small games and cards get some small plastic or wicker containers that will fit in your cabinet. Got some already in your stash, even better! Be sure to label them, with easy-to-read tags so your kids know where things go when they're done!

The final step is like a puzzle, play around with the boxes until everything fits.

Sometimes I have to take a game out of it's box, especially if it comes with built-in storage. 

I also put a small tin with an "extra pieces and instructions" label on it inside the cabinet.  When I find a piece, it goes in there until the next time we play the game.

We still have a few games elsewhere around the house. . .but for the most part, our games are neat, orderly and contained.

What's an area of your house that needs organizing?

catch you soon -