Easter weekend is one of those rare gifts in the New Zealand calendar. Four days off, minimal obligations, and the whole family actually in the same place at the same time. The kids are home. The extended family might be visiting. There's food, there's chocolate, and there's a very real window to create some genuinely great memories before everyone goes back to their regularly scheduled lives.

The question is what to do with it.

Our answer, predictably, involves games. Specifically, having the right game for each day of the long weekend so that every gathering has its own energy, its own moments, and its own memories. Here's our Easter weekend game guide.

Good Friday: The Relaxed Opener

Good Friday has a particular energy to it. People arrive gradually, there's food being prepared, conversations are picking up from where they left off, and nobody's quite ready for anything too competitive just yet.

This is the day for Bocce Ball.

Bocce is the perfect opener because it works at whatever pace people want to play it. It's relaxed enough to enjoy with a drink in hand, engaging enough that even people who weren't planning to play end up joining in, and social enough that the game becomes a backdrop to catching up rather than the main event. You can play with two people or eight. Nobody needs a rules explanation. And it looks genuinely lovely set up on a lawn or at the beach on a crisp autumn afternoon.

Set it up near where people are gathering and let it find its own rhythm. It will.

Saturday: Time to Get Competitive

By Saturday, everyone's settled in, the vibes are good, and it's time to turn the energy up a notch.

This is Cornhole day.

The Natural Wood Cornhole Set from Backyard Games NZ is made for exactly this kind of afternoon. Set up the boards, sort into teams, and watch the friendly rivalry kick in. The beauty of Cornhole is that it works for literally everyone in the group, the grandparents who've never played before, the teenagers who think they're going to dominate, and the middle-aged uncles who take it more seriously than anyone expected.

Want to make Saturday properly memorable? Run a tournament. Use the bracket format from our Cornhole competition guide, add a small prize for the winners (chocolate feels appropriately Easter-themed), and you've got a self-sustaining activity that keeps people engaged for hours. The final round, with a crowd gathered and the score close, is exactly the kind of Easter moment that gets talked about at next year's gathering.

Sunday: The Main Event

Easter Sunday is the big one. Everyone's together, the energy is high, and you want a game that matches the occasion.

This is the day for Giant Kubb.

Kubb is a Swedish throwing game that's genuinely brilliant for larger groups. Two teams, wooden blocks, throwing batons, and enough strategy to generate real competition without anyone needing to take it too seriously. It scales perfectly from six players to twenty, works beautifully on grass, and tends to produce exactly the kind of vocal, enthusiastic sideline energy that makes a family gathering feel like a proper event.

If you haven't played Kubb before, Easter Sunday is the perfect time to start. It takes about two minutes to explain, rewards skill over time, and has a habit of producing dramatic last-minute comebacks that keep everyone watching until the very last throw. Fair warning: once you play it, you'll be buying your own set before the weekend's over.

Monday: The Slow Finish

Easter Monday is a different kind of day. The big gatherings are done, energy levels are slightly lower, and it's more about savouring the last stretch of the long weekend than firing up another full-scale competition.

This is the day for the Backyard Chats Tumbling Tower Good Chats edition.

It's Giant Jenga with conversation prompts on every block, and it's perfect for a smaller group winding down from a big weekend. The game creates natural conversation, genuine laughter, and the occasional surprisingly heartfelt moment. It works for the core family group after the extended relatives have headed home, and it suits the slower, more connective energy of a long weekend's final day.

Bonus: it works equally well inside if the weather has other ideas by Monday.

The Easter Weekend Bundle

If you want to set yourself up for all four days without any last-minute scrambling, the Backyard Bundles from Backyard Games NZ has you covered. It brings together a collection of games that covers every energy level and group size across the full weekend.

One bundle, four days of memories. Honestly, it's the best Easter purchase you'll make (second only to the chocolate).

Make This Easter One Worth Remembering

The best long weekends aren't the ones where everything was perfectly planned. They're the ones where everyone was together, something made them laugh, and nobody wanted it to end.

A great game does that. Every time.

Browse the full range at Backyard Games NZ and get sorted before the long weekend arrives.