As most 5 year olds are these days, my son is pretty technologically savvy. With no shortage of games available to him between the gaming console, smart phone and tablet, I’m always surprised how much he enjoys an old fashion game night at home.
We have all the classics, including Monopoly, Candy Land, and Hungry Hungry Hippos (a personal favorite), but unfortunately they stay packed away at the top of the hall closet, hidden by all the stuff a family accumulates over time. Out of sight, out of mind. I cherish the (few) times we make the effort to climb in the closet and dig out the games. I know that a few years from now the last thing he’ll want is to stay at home and play board games with mom and dad.
That’s why this idea for a DYI board game storage unit from Home Made Carmona is such a great find! She has devised a system to keep games easily accessible, even for little players. With busy schedules, ideas like this make it just a little easier to postpone the to-do lists and chores in favor of family fun.
If you have a game collection to organize, here are a few tips for storage shared in the post:
Store Games Upright: In our opinion games should never ever be stored on their sides. Game pieces are jostled about when flipped on their side and you open to a chaotic mess. Um, no, not ok.
Avoid Direct Sunlight: Games must be stored out of the sunlight to avoid fading boxes.
Avoid Stacking: When you stack games one atop the other, over time the roof of the box below begins to sag. The only games I stack are lightweight.
Line Shelves: Over time boxes tend to “stick” to painted shelves and can risk peeling your game box. Shelf liner works wonders to keep your boxes protected.
Use Flat Pull-Out Shelves: Don’t use drawers or pull-out shelves that have any lip to it, it makes it difficult to reach in and grab a game. Straight flat shelves enable you to slide a game out without having to “claw” at it to get a grip. Also be sure that your drawer slides are the correct length to pull shelves out far enough to allow the game behind to be easily lifted without having to move other games out of the way.
Personalize Organization: We opted to organize our games by categories then from top to bottom by frequency of play. Our categories are “Family Games”, “Friend Favorites”, “Rosenburg Games”, and “Everything Else”. Whether you go by alphabetical order or categories, customize it to how you and your family thinks. And definitely label!
Add the Bells & Whistles: Add door pulls to the pull-out shelves if it makes it easier for you to grab…my husband preferred it without, but find ways to customize your storage to be most effective.
