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Ideas for holiday games


candlesbytammy1

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Every year I host Turkey day. The past several years we all eat and then play Deal or No Deal on DVD. We all put in $1 and the person who ends up with the most money wins the pot. (I also have little treat bags filled with candy, pencils, kleenex, etc.. to hand out to everyone, even the little kids that may not play the game.) It doesn't matter if we play together like a bingo or if it is something like the deal or no deal where we do it individually. I just need some ideas that we can play for a game that doesn't require being smart, something for fun.
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We play a game called pig, take a deck or two of card (depending on how many people) pass out one card to each person. Starting with the dealer pass start another card around the table, as the dealer looks at the card and passes it they take another card and pass it. So multiple cards are being passed at the same time. When someone gets a pair they lay down the card and put their finger on their nose. Everyone around the table passes cards and watches for someone to put their finger on their nose. If you see someone do this you put your finger on your nose. The last person to put their finger on their nose is out. Then you deal again, start passing and keep going until one person is left, they are the winner.

It is fun to watch how many people keep passing cards when others have their finger on their nose. It is a concentration game that requires everyone to mutli-task.

When we play the kids can play too, this makes it fun for them because usually they are left to play games on their own.

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me and DH started a game when we were dating years ago.. where when we see a load of christmas trees or a tree on top of a car or for sale lots we see who can call "christmas tree" the fastest lol sounds dumb but it gets fun Actually my hubby called me earlier and said he saw a load going down the road kinda early but we do live in christmas tree country so i guess they need to start there shipping! kinda cool gets me excited!
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I have created a family trivia game in the past. I think up 20 to 30 questions about family history for the adults (What was great grandad's middle name?) and easy family questions for the kids (who is Jimmy's dad?). We divide the room up and keep score. It's loads of fun and really gets everyone reminiscing about the "old" days. Even the kids love it.
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We always play games after holiday meals. Usually it's my job to find a new game. Here are some of the hit's I've had:

 

Family Fued

Battle of the Sexes

The biggest Hit had to be the Cranium Pop 5 game. We've played this at least 5 different gatherings now. It is hysterical.

 

This year my sister wants us to try Apple to Apple.......

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  • 2 weeks later...
We play Dirty Santa..you can play with kids! But older kids usually are better because they can get feelings hurt. Everyone who plays brings a wrapped gift (set a dollar amout of your choice). You can have a theme if you want (we play with bottles of liquor) once we did a chocolate gift theme. Everyone draws a number at the start of game. #1 draws from pile of gifts and unwraps. #2 can then "steal #1's gift or choose from pile and unwrap and so on. For example by the time you get to #10 he has choice of gifts #1-9 or anything in pile. However a gift can only be stolen 3 times. (Hostess usually doesn't play but keeps order and count of how many times gift is stolen) The stealing is why some kids don't do well. It's really fun and can get kind of crazy. It can take up some time if you have lots of people to play but it's a good time everyone is kind of made to be involved.
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The one time I played Apples to Apples we must have done it wrong because I pretty much hated it!

 

Catchphrase is our stand-by game. I also like Mad Gab (where you guess the phrase out of words that sound kinda like it). Scene It can be fun too, but you probably want to get one the kids can play like Harry Potter or something. I've also had fun with that LCR dice game with the chips (I've seen it recently at Barnes & Noble).

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We used to play a game called Hollywood Craps.

 

For four people.....things you need:

2 dice

A single deck of cards

Poker Chips or Pennies

 

You take a single deck of cards and take out the Kings, Aces and Jokers. Deal out the deck to 4 people and line up the cards in front of you for all to see. Take turns rolling the dice and when the numbers come up, remove the corresponding cards.

 

I.E. roll a 2 and 3 you can take off the two and three cards, or you can combine them to take off a five. If you roll a 12, you can take off the ten and two or a Queen.

 

When you roll a number you don't have, it's a miss and you put two to four pennies/chips in a central pot. (decide it before you start) The pot gets claimed whenever someone rolls doubles or wins. You can actually do this tournament style four at a time and have the four winners play in a final after dinner.

 

It's not rocket science.

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We play a game called pig, take a deck or two of card (depending on how many people) pass out one card to each person. Starting with the dealer pass start another card around the table, as the dealer looks at the card and passes it they take another card and pass it. So multiple cards are being passed at the same time. When someone gets a pair they lay down the card and put their finger on their nose. Everyone around the table passes cards and watches for someone to put their finger on their nose. If you see someone do this you put your finger on your nose. The last person to put their finger on their nose is out. Then you deal again, start passing and keep going until one person is left, they are the winner.

It is fun to watch how many people keep passing cards when others have their finger on their nose. It is a concentration game that requires everyone to mutli-task.

When we play the kids can play too, this makes it fun for them because usually they are left to play games on their own.

we have done this similar but with sets of 4 (2 decks of cards) and spoons.. 1 less spoon than person playing... you can "sneak" the spoon out and keep passing cards and the last one gets no spoon and is eliminated....

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  • 1 month later...

A little late, but thank you all for the ideas. I ended up doing something a little off the path and everyone ended up loving it.

The first game was the name the chocolate game. I had about a dozen candy bars cut up into little pieces. Everyone got to sample a piece and write down what they thought it was. everyone thought it would be easy but when you throw in some off candy bars that people haven't had in years, it makes it more interesting.

The second game was chinese m&m's. I had a large bag of m&ms spread out on a medium table, everyone got a set of chopsticks and a plastic cup. They had 1 minute to pick up as many m&m's with the chopsticks. It was fun watching everyone gathered trying to pick up the m&m's.

Thanks for the ideas!

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