When your adult children come to visit, how do you spend time together besides meals? Do you play cards or board games, for instance?
Oh I love when D comes to visit. We go to yoga, shop, get mani’s together. As a family we go to dinner or have dinner together at home,sometimes play cards or watch a movie.
No games anymore, although we often did when they were all living at home. We talk mostly, with 5 girls, there is lots of talking! Swim in the warm weather, watch sports, sometimes watch movies, but, yeah, mostly talk!
We do play board games. (Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride etc). Either I’ll make dinner or we’ll go out to dinner or lunch. Sometimes we’ll go to the movies or watch tv (SNL or Comedy Central shows).
My daughter’s in college; when she’s home she is usually eager to see her friends. So I spend a lot of time trying to get her to make time for me on the schedule!
When I do get some of her time, we like to go stand up paddleboarding or kayaking or or hiking or just go for long walks or to outings to museums and the like. She’s a creative kid with a lot of creative friends so if we are at home I feel I spend a lot of time listening to her latest songs that she’s written, watching youtube videos of her and her friends’ performances, reading stuff she or her friends have written, or other things like that. I really enjoy that. We like to cook together, too, but that falls within the “meals” category. I try to avoid grilling her too much about her life.
Also talk. We are a family of talkers. The significant others are talkers, too. At my house it is difficult to get a word in edgewise. We interrupt and talk over each other. We all know these are very bad habits. We try to do better.
And museum exhibits, movies, restaurants. A couple of family members go to church. The rest of us hang out in a nearby coffee shop and then all go to brunch afterwards. The “kids” used to all go to the mall together but these days there is so much better shopping where they live, they have given it up. When our kids come in for the holidays, friends and neighbors stop by to see them so that keeps things busy as well.
Sometimes we play scrabble. It is pretty cut-throat. I always lose and no one wants me on their team.
We do play board games - more in the winter. H will play cards with them - I can’t stand playing cards!!! I make the snacks. 
My son and his fiance came over tonight. Food is always part of a visit. Lots of talking. We sat around the firepit.
My girls are coming this weekend. We will talk of course! Cook and bake! Go shopping. VIsit some resale furniture shops. Visit my mom.
Another very typical thing for us all to do is to go to a local park for a long walk or run. No matter where we are - at one of our homes or out of town, we are likely to seek out a park.
Not a big movie family.
Board games, movies, cooking, eating out. D1 will go on walks with me, D2 not so much. We like to go to museums and our local arboretum, too.
Eat, drink, talk, laugh.
^^Ditto.
I do different things with different kids. My daughter and I will cook or shop together. We all like to hike and kayak. With one of my sons we’ll binge watch a show. One of my kids still has friends here so they’ll go out with them. We’ll pick veggies or fruit together at a local PYO place.
Great question. We’ll watch movies or binge-watch a TV show. Last Christmas we played Bananagrams, and D & DH are long-time Scrabble opponents. Starbucks or Peetes every day. Go visit Grandma. Go out to dinner. Stay up late talking.
When the oldest was home with her husband this summer we went to the dog park and many community events. He is a history buff so we also go to battle fields and other sites. Also a lot of baseball games (local minor league team and some big leagu) because she loves baseball and has no access to games where she lives. They stayed about a month.
The youngest lives on a private lake in the Adirondacks so we always go to her. Lots of hiking and kayaking. She and I are also planning our third trip to Disney world this calendar year (she is a disney addict and pays for my trips).
I cook their favorite meals, D bakes, we all go to the theatre and cinema, H and S play video games, some nights we play cards, and then there is obligatory binge watching of Netflix or Amazon. D and I sometimes do walking tours of London to areas that are new to us. Oh and the whole family sings in the church choir together!
I just did a spa weekend with D2. We go out to eat, watch movies, talk and do a lot of shopping.
Keep those ideas coming. This is a great thread.
Our family has problems with what to do when grown kids come to visit. We still live where they grew up, and they have long since become bored with the area. They don’t like visiting us because there’s nothing interesting to do. Fortunately, one of them still has friends in the area, but the other doesn’t, which further discourages him from visiting.
Visiting the kids is much more pleasant because they like to show off the attractions of the areas where they live – favorite restaurants, historical sites, tourist attractions, etc. And since they seem to move every year or two, this never gets old. But I’m the only one who visits them; my husband refuses to travel. I would like to make it more attractive for them to come to us so that they can spend a little time with him at least once a year or so.
Our best kids “visiting” times are the times when we DON’T have to go anywhere! When we can just hang at home - inside or outside - with little obligations and lots of free time for talking, cooking, eating, playing, walking, etc.!
We also do a lot of eating, drinking, laughing, etc! We all also love hiking, cycling and going to museums so we try to fit that in when possible.
Our older son lives in Chicago so comes home for all holidays which are generally filled with family functions so there isn’t much down time. He also comes home several times during the summer but he always wants to head straight to the beach (we have a house there) so the eating, drinking and laughing occurs there!
S2 is still in college so his home visits are longer (semester breaks, summers) which are generally filled with work and his home friends. We are fortunate to live right outside DC so our kids love to come home as there is always something fun to do.
Eat, drink and be merry. Watch movie or show on TV. I do spa thing with my girls when we’re on vacation.
Eat, talk, laugh, play cards and board games, watch movies, take walks, make s’mores around campfires, golf, play tennis