The holidays are a time for parties, and parties are a time for games.
Some of the most fun games are those that require interaction and silliness, and perhaps a bit of skill, but little else.
Back in the olden days, when people had parlors, they were called parlor games, because that was how people entertained each other in the days before television and video games.
If you are having an office party, a gathering of friends or neighbors, or are getting together as family, some of these may be just the thing for a bit of fun.
To make things even more interesting, be sure to give prizes.
They don't have to be elaborate — a small favor, a candy bar, something from the dollar store — but they will up the competition. Everyone likes to be a winner.
Mixers and ice-breakers
If you have a mixed group that doesn't know each other well, these are some fun ways to get started.
MIX 'N MATCH
Cut out various Christmas pictures from magazines, comics or other places — the more unusual the better. Past them onto cardstock or cardboard and cut each picture into two oddly shaped pieces. Shuffle them all up, and give one to each guest. Guests must find the person who has the other half of their picture. When they find a match, they have to write a caption to go with the picture and paste it on a wall or lay it on a table. When all the matches are made, read the captions and vote on the best and give that pair a prize.
WHO AM I?
Write the name of a Christmas character on a Post-it Note and stick it on each guest's forehead. That person must try to guess who he is by asking questions of other players. He can only ask questions that can be answered with a yes or no. The first one to guess gets a prize, but keep going until everyone guesses their identity. The last one may get a booby prize.
ALL I WANT
Players sit in a circle. The first person says her first name and something that she would like for Christmas that begins with the same letter. For example, "My name is Mary, and I want a motorcycle."
The next player says his name and what he wants, and then must repeat what the other person has said. And so one, with each one having to repeat the entire list. If someone messes up, he is out, and play starts over. Christmas gifts cannot be repeated by other players with the same letter. Go until only a few are left, and give them prizes.
IN GROUPS
Have all players stand around the room. Then call out a number between 2 and 10. Players must immediately form groups of that number by locking elbows with each other. Players who can't join a group are out. Call another number, and new groups must form. Be sure to call numbers that will have odd numbers left over. Keep going until only one group is left.
Circle games
ADVERBILY
Players sit in a circle, and one player is chosen to leave the room. The other players decide on an adverb. Try to use as many seasonal ones as you can, such as frostily, merrily, grouchily, icily, sincerely, gratefully, etc. The other player returns and asks players questions. They must answer in the style of the adverb. When the person who is "it" guesses the adverb, another player is chosen to go out.
MERRY NUMBERS
Players sit in a circle. The first one starts by saying "one." The next player says "two," and so on around the circle. BUT… whenever a number comes up that has a "five" or is a multiple of "five," that player must say MERRY, instead. If the number contains a "five" but is not a multiple of "five", the player says MERRY for the one number only. For example, 52 would be "MERRY-two."
If a player forgets to say MERRY or hesitates too long, he must drop out. Play continues until there is only one person left.
STORY TIME
Each player is given a large piece of paper and a pencil. The object will be to write a story, one sentence at a time. The caller (who can also participate) tells what the first line should be. Everyone writes something down, folds down the paper to cover it and passes it on to the next player. The caller than announces the second part, and so on, until each player gets his original story back. Open the stories, and read them one at a time.
Stories can be about anything, but try to add some Christmas flavor, and elaborate on each part as much as you want, throw in description, etc. A simple outline would be something like: A girl … and a boy … met … and this happened … and they did this … and she said … and he said … and somebody else did this … and the consequences were … and the world said. …
Card-table games
NEIGHBOR
If you have room to set up several card tables, this is a fun mix-it-up game.
Each person needs a set of cards numbering from 2 to 6 and 8 to 12, which are placed face-up in front of him. (You can use regular cards, something like Skip-Bo cards, or just make your own out of cardboard squares.)
At each table, one player rolls a pair of dice and turns over the card with the number he rolls. If he rolls a number he has already turned over, play passes to the next person who has that number still up. If he rolls a 7, he has to turn one card back up, and play passes to the next players.
When one player gets all his cards turned over, he yells "Neighbor," and play stops at all tables. Players add up the numbers on the cards that are still face up in front of them, and the two players with the highest score move on to the next table. If you want, you can keep track of the scores and award a prize to the person with the lowest score at the end.
HOUSE A-FIRE
Each player needs a large sheet of paper and a pencil. Each table has a die. The goal is to be the first to finish a picture of a house. You draw as follows: When you shake a 1, you draw a house. When you shake a 2, you draw a roof. When you shake a 3, you draw a door. When you shake a 4, you draw one window. Your house must have two windows. When you shake a 5, you draw a Christmas tree in one window. And your house is done. But if you shake a 6, your house burns down, and you must start over.
You can add elements to your house in any order, except: you can't add anything until you shake a 1 and have drawn a house; and you can't add a Christmas tree until you have both windows. If you shake a number you can't use, the turn passes to next player.
Quizzes
Test knowledge of Christmas carols and songs with one of these quizzes. You can either set a time limit and see who gets the most, or give a prize to the first one who gets them all.
WHAT'S NEXT
1. Where do the "hopes and fears of all the years" meet?
2. What are all the things that "repeat the sounding joy"?
3. Where do you go in a one-horse open sleigh?
4. Where do you find a "lowly cattle shed where a mother laid her baby"?
5. Who looked out on the Feast of Stephen?
6. What was said to "certain poor shepherds in fields where they lay"?
7. What should you go tell "on the mountain, over the fields and everywhere"?
8. Of "all the trees that are in the wood," which one bears the crown?
9. Where has snow fallen, "snow on snow, snow on snow"?
10. Whom do you "haste, haste to bring him laud"?
11. Where will you hear silver bells?
12. Why do you "deck the halls with boughs of holly"?
13. Why had you "better not pout?"
14. Where will we "face unafraid the plans that we've made"?
15. What should you have because "it's the best time of the year"?
16. What does it mean when you see "candy canes and silver lanes aglow"?
17. When "friends are calling 'Yoo hoo,' " what do they want you to do?
18. Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree "won't mean a thing" because?
19. What is it that "every mother's child is gonna spy" to see?
20. Where will you be "if only in your dreams?"
21. What did the shepherd boy say to the mighty king?
22. What joyous strain did the "mountains echo in reply"?
23. Who wants a pair of skates, and who wants a storybook?
24. Where do reindeer pause?
25. What should the shepherds "rise up, and follow"?
Answers:
1. Little town of Bethlehem. 2. Fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains. 3. Dashing through the snow. 4. In royal David's city. 5. Good King Wenceslas. 6. The first Noel. 7. That Jesus Christ is born. 8. The holly. 9. In the bleak midwinter. 10. The babe, the son of Mary. 11. On every street corner. 12. 'Tis the season to be jolly. 13. Santa Claus is comin' to town. 14. Walking in a winter wonderland. 15. A holly, jolly Christmas. 16. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. 17. Take a sleigh ride. 18. It's a blue Christmas. 19. If reindeer really know how to fly. 20. Home for Christmas. 21. Do you know what I know? 22. Gloria in Excelsis Deo. 23. Johnny and Nellie. 24. Up on the housetop. 25. A star in the East on Christmas morn.
SHORT AND SWEET
Name the carols and songs abbreviated here:
1. AIAM
2. AFTROG
3. GRYMG
4. WSWTFBN
5. DDMOH
6. GCMR
7. SN
8. OCOCE
9. CW
10. TCS
11. LISLISLIS
12. IHTBOCD
13. TLDB
14. WTKOOA
15. T
16. IWAIW
17. FTS
18. ISMKSC
19. OHN
20. TTDOC
Answers:
1. "Away in a Manger." 2. "Angels From the Realms of Glory." 3. "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen." 4. "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night." 5. "Ding! Dong! Merrily On High." 6. "Good Christian Men, Rejoice." 7. "Silent Night." 8. "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." 9. "Christmas Waltz." 10. "The Christmas Song." 11. "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" 12. "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." 13. "The Little Drummer Boy." 14. "We Three Kings of Orient Are." 15. "Toyland." 16. "I Wonder as I Wander." 17. "Frosty the Snowman." 18. "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. "19. "O Holy Night. 20. "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
WHERE ARE YOU?
Where would you be if:
1. You are enjoying "mattak" — dried whale skin with a strip of blubber inside — for Christmas?
2. You are celebrating Saint Lucia Day on Dec. 13 to open the Christmas season?
3. You are celebrating St. Nicholas Day on Dec. 6 with the help of Black Peter?
4. You are in the birthplace of Charles Dickens?
5. You set up a creche and are waiting for Padre Noel
6. You are where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow heard the bells on Christmas Day?
7. You are caroling in the least densely populated state in the U.S.?
8. You are celebrating Christmas in the world's smallest country?
9. You are in the city where the editorial "Yes, Virginia There Is A Santa Clause" was first printed?
10. You are celebrating St. Stephen's Day on Dec. 26?
11. You hear "Mele Kalikimaka"?
12. You are visiting the place where Christ was born?
13. You go ice-skating at Rockefeller Center?
14. You are celebrating Hogmanay on New Year's Eve?
15. You are in the place where legend says the first Christmas tree was set up?
16. You see Christmas lights on the old London Bridge?
17. You hope the benevolent witch Befana will bring you gifts?
18. You see a Christmas tree through the window of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin house?
19. You are celebrating Christmas in the country with the largest Roman Catholic population?
20. You see a star on top of the tallest skyscraper in the United States?
Answers:
1. Greenland. 2. Sweden. 3. The Netherlands. 4. England. 5. France. 6. Cambridge, Mass. 7. Alaska. 8. Vatican City. 9.. Baltimore. 10. Ireland. 11. Hawaii. 12. Bethlehem. 13. New York City. 14. Scotland. 15. Germany. 16. Arizona (Lake Havasu City). 17. Italy. 18. Wisconsin. 19. Brazil. 20. Chicago.
Action games
ELF MARATHON
This is especially good for the kids. Have them all line up at the start line. Then they must squat down and grasp their ankles from behind. When you say "go," they try to race to the finish line. If they let go of their ankles, they must start over. The winner gets a prize.
PASS THE ORANGE
Divide the group into two teams. They sit in a line facing each other. Give the first person in each line an orange, and he must cradle it in his feet. When you say "go," he must pass it to the next player using only his feet. That player must pass it on to the next, and so on down the line. If the orange drops, you must pick it up without using your hands and pass it on. The first team to get it down the line wins.
A variation on this game is to have players stand and tuck the orange under their chins and pass it down the line that way.
REINDEER ANTLERS
Divide the group into teams, and give each team eight balloons and a pair of nylons. Each team must choose a leader (or victim). When you say, "go," teams must blow up the balloons, stuff four into each nylon, tie the nylons on the leader's head, and he must run to the front and sing a verse of "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer." The first team to finish wins.
EMPTY STOCKING
Divide the group into teams. For each team, have a Christmas stocking filled with identical objects. You can use any small items such as buttons, beans, coins, paper clips, etc. But there should only be one of each item in each sock. Each team leader lines up on one side of the room, opposite of his team. As you announce each object to be found, the player must run to the leader, reach into the sock and feel around until he finds the object. If he pulls out the wrong thing, he must put it back and try again. As soon as one player has found the object, announce the next one. The first team to find all the objects wins.
SOCK MATCH
Players sit in a circle. Find as many shapes, sizes, colors and styles of socks as you can. Mix them all up, and put them in a pile in the middle. When you say go, players must try to find as many pairs of socks as they can. The one with the most pairs wins.
In the dark
SOUNDS LIKE
One player is blindfolded (old ties work well) and given a stick. The other players form a loose circle and slowly move around him. He tries to touch a player with a stick, and when he does, that player must grab the stick. The blindfolded player then asks him to make a noise — such as chuckle like Santa, giggle like an elf, open the creaking door of Santa's workshop, squeak like the Christmas mouse, etc. The blindfolded player tries to guess who the other player is, and if he does, that player must put on the blindfold. If he guesses incorrectly, he must find another player to question. Use the stick gently!
REINDEER ART
Have each player wear a blindfold, and give them a piece of paper and a crayon. When you say, "go," have them each draw a reindeer. You can give a variety of prizes for such things as the one who finishes first, the one that looks the most like a reindeer, the one that is the funniest looking, etc.
MURALS
Divide into teams. Hang a large pice of paper on the wall for each team. Each team decides what Christmas scene it will draw and who will do each part. Then the first players must put on a blindfold and go to the wall and draw their part. They then pass the blindfold to the next player, who must go to the wall, and by feeling the edge of the paper, add his part. When all the murals are finished, give a prize for the best one.
SNOWBALL SCOOP
Put a large bowl on a table and fill it with cotton balls. Each player will take turns sitting at the table, blindfolded, holding another bowl on their head with one hand. Using a large spoon, he will five chances to scoop cotton balls out of the big bowl and put them in the bowl on his head. At the end, the one who scooped up the most cotton balls is the winner.
e-mail: carma@desnews.com