Caroline Dennigan
Family Party Games [your guide to a fun time!]
The family that plays together stays together! Hands up who wants to play some fun family party games? And Christmas and New Year are just about the perfect time to start!
Here are some ideas for games that are both entertaining and fun for all ages. Perfect for Christmas, New year, sleepovers, rainy days and birthday parties. These are all games that the children can all get involved in and even help prepare. Best of all, the games are totally free, and don't come with a huge amount of packaging you have to dispose of afterwards!
SHOOT THE CAMERA
What you will need
A cheap camera
Music
To play
Everyone sits in a circle and the music begins. Start the game by passing the camera to the person on your left and so on. It's a bit like pass the parcel and when the music stops the person holding the camera has to quickly take a random photograph of the person sitting opposite them. You never know where the camera is going to end up so there is an element of surprise when someone gets their photograph taken. It's great fun sharing the photographs afterward!
PUZZLE CARD GAME
What you will need
A selection of old colourful greetings cards or postcards. (One card for each player)
Pair of scissors
Cut up the cards into pieces. Don't make the pieces too small because they need to be fairly recognisable and easy to handle.
To play
Shuffle the cards and place them on the floor face up. Each player has to pick up a puzzle piece one at a time and then start to put the greeting card back together.
It's great fun because more often than not 2 players will start collecting pieces for the same card! The winner is the one to put their card together first.
WHO AM I?
This game makes a great ice breaker if there are guests that don't know each other or are a little shy.
What you will need
Post-it notes
Pen
To play
On each piece of post-it note write the name of an animal. As the guests come in, stick a post-it note to everyone's forehead.
The guests need to find out what animal they are. To do this they can only ask questions that will result in a YES or NO answer. e.g Do I have 4 legs? Am I green?
It's great fun and when you think you know what animal you are, you need to act it out! Someone will soon tell you if you are right or wrong!
HUNT THE THIMBLE
What you will need
A thimble or other easily recognisable object
To play
This is a classic party game which is especially fun for younger players. Everyone leaves the room except for one person who hides the thimble somewhere in the room.
Once hidden, everyone comes back into the room and they need to find the thimble. There is a variation where the person who hid the thimble says HOT or COLD when someone is close to the hidden thimble.
The person who finds the thimble then goes on to hide it and so on.
PASS THE BALLOON
What you will need
A few balloons and a lot of puff!
To play
No hands allowed! Get everyone into 2 or more teams depending on numbers. Each team forms a line and at the starting point, the 'referee' gives each team a balloon. The object of the game is to get the balloon safely from one end of the line to the other without touching the balloon with your hands!
If the balloon pops then it's back to the start with a fresh balloon. Winning team are the first ones to get the balloon from one end to the other.
Disclaimer: Should any of these 'fun' party games result in falling out, shouting or eventual divorce, then Ash Tutors bears no responsibility forthwith!