How to Organize Your Child’s Games

Posted by Mamanista on Jul 30, 2008 | 148 Comments

shallowgamesaverboxorng_l.jpg  My mother still has an entire closet of boardgames. My brother and I spent many happy hours playing them during our childhood, and she’s been saving them for grandchildren. Now that Baby Mwah has arrived, she wants to reclaim her closet space and has given me a deadline for moving the games.

Unfortunately, those flimsy cardboard game boxes have broken and bent.  I love having organized closets, so I’m transferring them to Game Savers before I move them.  These sturdy plastic containers were designed by a mom frustrated with her children’s messy game closet. She saw how the cheap boxes would break and spill all the tiny pieces after just a few uses.  bluegameannotatedsmall.jpg

There are Game Savers to fit most types of boardgames. They stack neatly, hold all the tiny pieces that fall out of broken cardboard boxes, and even come with pre-printed labels so you can find the game you want quickly.

Game Savers will keep your games organized and secure, and they are available in three configurations that work for dozens of different games like Candy Land, Risk, Parcheesi, Monopoly, Life, Chutes and Ladders, Clue, Sorry, and many more. Want to know which size fits your games? Click here to see if your games will fit.

Want It:

Game Savers are available online at www.gamesavers.net for between $10-$15. Game Savers are also available at The Container Store.

Win It:

To win a set of three Game Savers, leave a comment on this post by August 7, 2008 letting us know your favorite game or your favorite organization tip.

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  • Cindi said:

    Hi, What a great idea. We could certainly use these wonderful game savers. Our one closet is full of games. Our favorite game right now is
    “Cranium!” Please enter me in your drawing. Thanks, Cindi

  • Naomi said:

    Wow, what a totally cool idea. My kids are just getting to the game playing age, too. I always liked LIFE as a kid and Scrabble is timeless…

  • Nancy Jachcik said:

    My children’s favorite game “Chutes and Ladders” My favorite however is “Clue”

  • Leane said:

    I luv Candy Land!

    Great invention and Great giveaway! Thanks.
    To organize, I usually put all the little pieces inside a ziploc bag so they can’t fly around loose when the box gets pulled out.

  • Jenna said:

    My son is only just starting the game period and these look awesome! To keep his play things managable i rotate his toys and books regularly so there is less for him to take care of and things stay new an interesting!
    Thanks,
    Jenna
    mountaingoats at hotmail dot com

  • Melissa said:

    I love to play “Life” with my nephews… this would make it so much easier for cleaning that up!

  • Go Amie said:

    Our favorite family game is Candy Land.

  • Christi said:

    Funny to see this today when we’ve been looking for missing pieces from Operation! It and CandyLand are probably our faves!

  • Tanya Moyer said:

    Great idea! Our favorites are CandyLand and Dominoes! Great giveaway! Thanks for offering it!
    ~Tanya
    the4moyers(at)msn(dot)com

  • sarah buki said:

    I love to play scrabble or monopoly

  • Deb - Mom of 3 Girls said:

    I hate those cardboard game boxes – what a great idea for a better way to organize them! My favorite games are Sorry and Monopoly. :)

  • Heather R said:

    I have two favorite games: Clue and Apples to Apples.

  • Karen said:

    Well, that’s a smart idea! My most favorite game is Pictionary. :)

  • Kimberly V. said:

    It’s an old game but I used to love “Don’t Spill the Beans”. I also love Life and Monopoly.

    This is a great idea! THANKS!

  • Ann said:

    What a great idea!! Our favorite game still is Monopoly! Thanks for the great giveaway!

  • misty said:

    Monopoly. for sure. Thanks so much for the opportunity.

  • Gina Stratos said:

    We love Sorry! My kids love Candyland.
    gkstratos@yahoo.com

  • divrchk said:

    My kids are loving Sorry! right now. I have the board games in falling apart boxes on a book shelf. I need some organizing help!

  • Kate laird said:

    I have no organization advice other than do not do as I do.
    My fave game is scattegories. With the kids it is hungry hippos!

  • Ellie said:

    I have a huge game collection- these are great! My favorite game is Quarto.

  • Michelle said:

    Our favourite family game has been Apples to Apples lately.

  • Game Savers | Mom Giveaways said:

    [...] Game Savers Posted by Courtney July 31, 2008 If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Where: Mamanista [...]

  • Courtney said:

    Our favorite board game right is Candyland. My son insists on playing it at least once a day.

  • Mary A said:

    Clue is an all time favorite. Thanks for the giveaway.

  • Genevieve said:

    My girls like Hisss. I like Clue and Risk!

  • Reiza said:

    Scrabble is probably my favorite game.

  • kelli said:

    We love Set. It’s a great game!

    I love to organize puzzles (not the wooden kind) by putting them in Freezer Zipper bags with the picture from the box taped on.

  • Stacy F.` said:

    My favorite board game is Life. We always have a rule that you have to name your spouse and children, so my husband tends to be named Ryan Reynolds a lot…

  • Kristan said:

    my favorite game is trivial pursuit. better find a new favorite since it will be a while before i can play with my 1 year olds!

  • Ginny said:

    My favorite game has been Monopoly for so long, my mom said I started playing it at 3, love it!

  • mannequin said:

    What a wonderful idea!
    I love the old boxes but sadly it comes to a point when they can be taped no longer. My favorite game is and always has been Scrabble. No one will play with me though unless I bribe them.

  • Lona said:

    My favorite board game is Sorry. I’m a simple gal…

    Thanks for hosting this great giveaway!

  • Liz Cranage said:

    Our favorite board game for all ages is Monopoly and with the older set its Scrabble. We play a lot of games at my house the favorite card game is Skip-Bo

  • Liz Cranage said:

    already receive it

  • Kim T said:

    We enjoy Monopoly and Monopoly jr, but I think they’ve changed Monopoly junior into something electronic.

  • Stacy said:

    Always label your bulk grains, because after a feew weeks you can’t tell what is what.

  • Rachel Watts said:

    Just got back from the beach where we had a great time playing Cranium.

  • Piseco said:

    Oh my goodness! I can’t even imagine. We have over FIVE HUNDRED board games, no joke, and they are in boxes of all crazy shapes and sizes! But I can see this working very well for the kids’ games. My son’s favorites are the Labyrinth games from Ravensburger (the aMAZEing Labyrinth, Labyrinth card game, Labyrinth Treasure game).

    I love Settlers of Catan and all its variations and expansions.

  • Mary @ Adventures in Mommyland said:

    We like cranium WOW. Organization tip- clean up as you go along, when cooking, playing, etc. Great giveaway, thanks!

  • Elizabeth M. said:

    My favorite game is Scrabble!

  • Bes said:

    Monopoly is my favorite!

  • Alex Herring said:

    We play boardgames all the time and it is such a bummer when pieces are missing. This is a fantastic idea. Thank you so much.

  • bb said:

    It’s gotta be Chutes and Ladders :)

  • Shelly said:

    I love Sequence

  • Brian Morin said:

    What a great idea. My favorite game to play with my kids is Cranium Cariboo. It’s really easy to play and anyone can win it (without the adult letting the kids win)

  • jeanne said:

    I absolutely love these. What a wonderful idea. Our favorite game is Monopoly and I think I have all the different editions of it. So true that the boxes get weak, pieces fall out and its just such a mess. Not anymore with these awesome cases.

  • Steve Scott said:

    We are playing Stock Market.

  • Carol said:

    We all love Monopoly!!

  • Louise Brouillette said:

    We’re heavy into card games this summer!

  • Jodi said:

    What a neat idea. My favorite game is SORRY, but my some of my kids love Clue and my oldest loves monopoly.

    purehrt555(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

  • Aimee said:

    What a clever idea! Something definitely needed to keep those pieces from disappearing. I’ve been enjoying playing Sorry! with our children. Thanks for the chance to win.

  • Nora Scott-Platt said:

    We love double trouble and Sorry this would be great.

  • Paula H said:

    We love Pass the Pigs and Scrabble. We bought a storage ottaman to help keep the games in one place.

  • Jenn S. said:

    My favorite games are Careers and Life. We so need some game organizers, this is a terrific idea!

  • Denise said:

    Trivial Pursuit has always been a favorite of mine.

  • Ashley R. said:

    My son & I recently went out of town with some friends. My friend Andrea’s Gma had passed away a short time before, and while going thru her things Andrea found a Tiddly Winks game. Neither of the kids had ever played it before and were skeptical. By the end of the night they were kickin’ our fannies!

  • Kelly Kimball said:

    I loved payday growing up. My 8 yo son loves monopoly and Life. Our life box broke, these are such a great idea. Thanks

  • Vicki Wurgler said:

    scrabble is my favorite-this is so wonderful for keeping all the pieces to a game together and not losing them

  • Heather B said:

    Our game closet is a MESS! what a great idea

  • Jenny said:

    We love to play Risk!

  • Casey said:

    Favorite game is Monopoly.

  • Susan Ledet said:

    What a great invention! Scrabble, Life and Monopoly are our favorites.

  • Jennifer Hedden said:

    Monopoly

  • Chris F said:

    I just have too many memories of playing UNO to name anything else!

  • Adrienne Gordon said:

    We keep them in one spot.

  • charline s said:

    Checkers all the way

  • Rodney K said:

    Scrabble is my favorite game.

  • sandy said:

    love board games and we have original monopoly and life still here and we love um

  • susan varney said:

    checkers

  • AmandaK said:

    No matter how many times we play (10 times a day), we love UNO! In fact, we’ve gotten my brother in law in the game, too!

  • christopher h said:

    fantastic idea, we’re big monopoly fans

  • Kathy D said:

    I loved Cnadyland as a kid. My mother did not like playing it with us But one of our babysitters who later became a foster sister would play it with us. I wonder if that is why my mom let her move in LOL

  • Alissa said:

    I grew up with Sorry, and to date it’s one of my favorite games. It’s great with just one other person or a family. A+ in my book!

  • Margaret Smith said:

    Thanks for this giveaway. This is such a great idea. Right now, our favorite game is clue. We try to have a family game night once per week and lately this is the one that we’ve been playing.
    Thanks again and please enter me.

  • Serge said:

    Awesome idea!!!!!

  • Krystal deblasio said:

    Great idea. My favorite game is monopoly.

  • Dave Creek said:

    I’m a teacher that uses games a lot in my class and I use baggies to keep pieces together. I love to play Racko.

  • K. Cleaver said:

    We keep taping our boxes together. These would work so much better!

  • Tonya Froemel said:

    Our favorite games are Monopoly and Candy Land.

  • Angela K said:

    My family lives for Monopoly and Uno so it’s hard to keep up with the cards and the game pieces. Or a kitty would take off with the Draw 4 card. It would be so helpful!

  • Elena said:

    This week my kids’ favorite game is BINGO.

  • Rebecca Couick said:

    I personally love Monopoly! The kids like Monopoly Jr, so that works out.

  • Suzie G said:

    This is so cool! Our favorite game is Monopoly Jr.

  • dawn said:

    This is such a good idea. Games are a big thing at our house. I love Scrabble.

  • Ilissa H. said:

    My favorite game is Bananagrams! So much fun! It is kind of like scrabble but it is a race. Thanks for the chance!

  • Michelle said:

    My daughter plays a mean game of Monopoly; she’s ruthless. My favorite game from my childhood years was “Go to the Head of the Class”.

  • Denyse said:

    Fantastic idea. My faviroite game is Momopoly.

  • Paula Harmon said:

    I try to keep the games in their original box (of course the box wears down and usually breaks at the corners)…I use clear tape and tape around the edges of the box to make it stronger and last. AND the kids must put away the board game before they get another one, it helps keep pieces with the right game.

  • Vicky Boackle said:

    scrabble is the best.

  • Kristyn said:

    I am a special education teacher and we use a lot of educational games, but also games to teach social skills. My kids destroy my boxes! Basically we just have to use ziplocs. This would be a great idea!

  • kari F said:

    Amazing someone didn’t think of this sooner. I’d LOVE to try one. Right now, my kids love Apples to apples

  • Jennifer M said:

    Please enter me! Our favorite games right now are CandyLand, Monster Mash, and Memory. And the boxes are beyond smashed!

  • Erma Hurtt said:

    I love to play “Life” with my kids.

  • trudee carreiro said:

    my favorite game is monopoly

  • hetal gandhi said:

    our favorite with kids is chutes and ladder and without kids Pictionary and taboo

    herry123_us@live.com

  • Terri D said:

    Our favorite game is trivial pursuit.

  • Angela J said:

    I like Pictionary.

  • Tiffanie W. said:

    One of my all-time favorite games is yatzi or uno. The family will sit around the table drinking coffee and playing all night.

  • missy hetherington said:

    monopoly is the best game

  • Maja said:

    monopoly

  • Sherry R said:

    Our favorite game is Cranium!

  • Barbara Fox said:

    My favorite game is SCRABBLE.

  • CHERYL A FRANCISCO said:

    My favorite game is Haunted Mansion clue. thanks for the entry!!
    cherylfrancisco@hotmail.com

  • Marion Burgess said:

    This is a really good idea, my favorite game is Scattergories.

  • Aniela R. said:

    These are great! My favorite game has always been Clue.

  • Sharon Jones said:

    Scrabble for sure!
    THANKS

  • Ed Nemmers said:

    Stratego

  • Karen Rennirt said:

    Wow! They should have come up with these years ago. I have thrown out so many games because the boxes would break and pieces would get lost. My kids really like Monopoly.

  • Alison said:

    These are great!! My family’s favorite game at the moment is the Mexican Train Game (a version of dominoes!).

  • Patricia Adams said:

    my son s motto everything has its place and everyplace has its thing this would be great for him thank you

  • Christy said:

    Our favorite game is Apples to Apples, but we’ve got plenty of games with small pieces!

  • Carissa D. said:

    Trivial Pursuit is a favorite here.

  • Dean said:

    great idea!

    loved battleship and stratego as a kid, love scrabble and chess now

  • shar said:

    love this one, always liked word games as a kid, perquackey etc.

  • Donna Hunt said:

    What a great idea! My favorite game growing up was The Winning Ticket–it was such a fun lottery game! Thank you for the contest!

  • Pamela Hansen said:

    electronic life is so cool

  • Hesper F said:

    Monopoly is our favorite!

  • Chrysa said:

    This is really a great idea. We love any type of trivia game!

  • michele said:

    Awesome idea. We enjoy Disney Princess Monopoly, Candy-Land, and Zoofarie (like Candy-Land). Please enter me in your giveaway!

  • Helen said:

    This is genius! My kids love Monopoly and they tend to misplace the pieces!

  • Janet F said:

    For years my favorite game has been Scrabble.

    Thank you!

    janetfaye (at) gmail (dot) com

  • monte said:

    Great idea. My kids would love this !

  • Michelle H. said:

    This is an awesome idea. Right now our favorite game is “Boggle”, but we could really use this for “Monopoly”.

  • gina snow said:

    i want to win

  • Samantha said:

    These Game Savers are a great idea! It’s so hard to store board games when the original box goes. I’ve heard of people using those giant size Ziploc bags, but then they’re hard to stack. I love this idea and so wish there were a Container Store in my area! It’s really hard to pick my favorite game…I guess I’ll have to say “Balderdash.” Thanks for the opportunity!

  • Terri L said:

    My favorite game has always been Scrabble!!!

  • Veronica Garrett said:

    My favorite game is Monopoly.

  • Gianna said:

    Trivial Pursuit.

  • Michelle Rosborough said:

    We love playing Monopoly

  • kathy pease said:

    my favorite is sorry i love knocking people off :)

  • Kathy said:

    I love Sorry — so many fond memories of playing that with my brother! And now my daughter loves it, too.

  • Lisa P said:

    Wow, these things are genius! Probably never heard of it, but our current family fave is called Yoga Garden.

  • Monique Rizzo said:

    We love Scattergories. We play it all the time. Thanks for the chance!

  • Kirsten said:

    Who couldn’t use this? I wish we would had something like this years ago. This is great!

  • Elizabeth McCurry said:

    I put the little pieces in a ziplock bag. I put rubber bands around any cards.

  • Christine said:

    We love Diego 123. This would be awesom for all the game boxes that have seen better days. thanks, justicecw@hotmail.com

  • amy delong said:

    we are a monoply family!!these are a great idea,thanks ahdrad2932(at)msn(dot)com

  • Samantha Pruitt said:

    my favorite game is monopoly esp. cuz it takes forever!

  • Sylvia Porter said:

    i always love to play upwords and make up bogus words! hahaha!

  • SECAVEN said:

    that’s a great idea. i usually get new boxes and kind of make my own system work for things like this. definitely a need for this at my house. my favorite game is “monopoly”.

  • Becky Grady said:

    My favorite game is Phase 10.

  • Caryn Bailey said:

    Monopoly, Clue, Life…

  • Linda Beckwith said:

    My favorite game to play with the kids is monopoly.When I was growing up it was MYSTERY DATE!

  • CAndie L said:

    Our favorite game is UNO Attack. Our game saving tip is to make sure it is put back as soon as you finish using it. Basic I know, but critical

  • Lily Kwan said:

    My favorite game is Scrabble.

  • Donna Kozar said:

    I like Monopoly.

  • Christine said:

    What a neat idea! My son could definitely uses these. The game we play the most is Candyland.

  • It’s Time to Bring Back Game Night | Mamanista! said:

    [...] post on “How to Organize Your Board Games” had a lot of reader feedback.  Thanks for sharing all of your favorite games. Your comments got [...]