We do an extremely simple game night. During "Turn Off the TV" Week our PTO offers non-TV family activities every evening. One night is "Game Night". We provide refreshments and ask families to bring a favorite board game. The teachers join in. Generally, it ends up the teachers and kids playing together and the parents playing together, but it's fun.
We do something a little more elaborate in November in conjunction with the Social Studies Department and their required lesson materials. We call it "Colonial Games" Night. The PE teachers take the lead and open with a 5-10 minute Power Point presentation on the lives of children during the Colonial period. They do a really nice job and both adults and children enjoy it. The families then disperse to different areas of the school for various Colonial games-Trap Ball, Barrel Hoop Races, etc. and other activities such as Colonial dress-up area where they can put on Colonial type clothing and take pictures, prepare Colonial recipes such as spoon bread, visit a Revolutionary Re-Enactment Camp outside and attend and participate in a mock-up of Colonial "schooling".
We vary the activities from year to year. One year we made hornbooks, one year we had Colonial "stitchery" lessons, one year we had "Colonial Christmas" and made decorations, Christmas foods, had Colonial manners lessons, sang Colonial Christmas carols, etc. I see a lot of potential for this type of forum. It could be a Civil War experience or Native American, etc.
The PTO responsibility is actually lessened because we share it with the staff. We take care of publicity and take the coordinator lead by calling meetings with all the staff involved, following up on details, purchasing the cooking materials, cleaning and maintaining the costumes and game supplies and providing however many volunteers they tell us they will need. We have a wonderful time with it every year and the membership always carries it over to the next year and we have an outstanding attendance at both of these events.
