A couple of times during the year our Lutheran Church has movie or game nights for families. They pop popcorn and provide lemonade and families can bring other treats. It's a great time for parents to connect and because there are so many parents around you don't feel like you have to have an eye on your kids every single second. We also have a "sock hop" every fall with a kid friendly DJ. Admission is pairs of new socks or a free will donation to be donated to our neighborhood elementary school that has a lot of low income kids.
We also have a Moms and Kids group that meets on Thursday mornings. It is mostly stay-at-home moms or moms that work part-time or afternoon shifts in nursing. We meet for an hour in a room next to the nursery. While we do a Bible study or discussion with one of our pastors who is a mom, the kids are next door in the nursery with volunteers who are mainly retired ladies. Because I may possibly be going back to work full-time next year, I am looking into the possibility of maybe starting a similar group on Sunday mornings. Moms could attend while their kids are in Sunday School or in the nursery.
We also have BRIDGE groups (not to play the card game). They are small groups that meet weekly to discuss the previous week's scripture and sermon. There are a couple of groups that are young families that meet in each others' homes. The kids play together while the adults talk. We also had one that used to meet in the nursery at church. The kids played while we talked.
We have also done Tables of 8. Four couples are paired up to meet for dinner once a month. Each month there is a host who provides the main dish and the home, another couple brings salad, another brings bread or a side dish, and one brings dessert. Each month you are paired with three different couples. Our church did it just for adults, but it would be easy to incorporate kids too.
At Christmas time our confirmation youth will provide free babysitting one afternoon so that parents can go out Christmas shopping without the kids.
Wednesday night when confirmation classes and music groups are meeting, there is pizza available for a minimum cost. It allows families the opportunity to spend a little more relaxed time together and with other families without trying to rush home for dinner and then get to church. I think it is $2-3 for a slice of pizza, a cookie, and a glass of lemonade.
Our church has also started doing a local missions "trip" every August. Families can sign up for different local outreach activities--helping to paint a shut-ins home, helping to stack food at the food pantry, baking cookies for Ronald McDonald house or the women's shelter, pulling weeds/planting flowers in the church yard, etc.
We have also had a family camp at our local church camp for a weekend and this year they are organizing for families to travel and camp together at a Christian music festival.
I love how our church has really been focusing on families and providing so many opportunities for families to do things together.