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 Samples
of
Party & Indoor Games
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1. FAMOUS CHARACTER BACKS - Pin a
card on each player's back with the name of a famous character
written on it. A player should not see the name of the
character he or she is given. Each player is given a different
character. Characters could be famous people living today,
historical figures, or famous fictional characters. Examples:
Cinderella, Robin Hood, Abraham Lincoln, Babe Ruth, Ronald
Reagan, Shirley Temple. Players visit, socialize, and try
to figure out their character identities. They can ask general
questions, but the other players are not allowed to name the
character, or give any information beyond yes or no to specific
questions. Example: Have I ever been a president of the
United States? Yes. A player is allowed to make
only one guess as to who he or she is during any one visit with
another player. For example:
Am I President Abraham
Lincoln? No.
To make another guess, the player must visit
with a new player. After visiting with the new player, and
making another guess, he or she could visit again with a
previous player and make another guess. When a guess is correct,
the player moves the character sign from his back and places it
on his front. The activity continues until all players have
guessed their identity, or time is called.
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2. FAMOUS CHARACTER CHARADES - Players individually or as teams
take turns acting out a scene (without using words) depicting a
famous character. Other players try to guess who it is. For
example, a charade might show a person signing a paper resulting in
people gaining their freedom. This could be Abraham Lincoln signing
the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the salves.
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3. PAPER CHARADES - Each player draws a scene depicting
an event in the life of a famous character. No words are
allowed. The other players try to guess who it is.
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4. ORANGE RELAYS - Two teams. Starting player on each team
places an orange under his chin and tries to pass it to the next
player on his team. The pass must take place chin to chin. Hands
are not allowed to touch the orange. If the orange falls to the
floor, the passing player must place it back under his chin and try
again. First team to pass their orange to all their team players
wins.
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5. FOUR FACTS AND A LIE - Each player writes four true
facts about himself and one lie on a card. The cards are then
shuffled and passed out to the group. Each player in turn reads
aloud the card he received, and tries to guess the identity of
the person who wrote the card. If he can't guess correctly, the
other players try to guess until finally the identity is known.
Players should also try to guess which statement was the lie.
The next player then reads his card.
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6. WHO CAN DO IT THE LONGEST? - Players are challenged to do
some action longer than anyone else in the group. For example, all
players start at the same time to whistle a steady sound. The
player able to sustain his whistle the longest without taking a new
breath wins. Try other contests:
Who can
stand on one foot the longest?
Who can keep both eyes open without blinking the longest?
Who can remain still and silent the longest?
Who can bounce a ball the longest?
Who can balance a book on his head the longest?
Who can do sit-ups the longest?
Who can jog in place the longest?
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7. PASSING THE SCISSORS CROSSED OR UNCROSSSED - Players
sit in a circle. The leader passes a pair of scissors to the
next player and says he is passing it crossed or
uncrossed. Players are to pass the scissors along and try
to discover how to do it correctly. Many players will assume it
has to do with whether the scissors are crossed or not. For
example, the leader passes an open pair of scissors and says, "I
pass the scissors to you crossed." The next player may pass the
scissors closed and say, "I pass the scissors to you
uncrossed." Each time the leader (and anyone else who knows the
trick) indicates it was passed correctly or not. But confusion
mounts because sometimes the scissors are passed in an open
position and yet the correct words appear to be: "I pass the
scissors to you uncrossed." Players try to guess the trick by
doing it correctly each time. Don't say what the trick is until
everyone discovers it. The trick is that it matters not whether
the scissors are open or closed. It's whether the passing
player's legs are crossed or uncrossed that makes it correct or
not correct according to the words said.
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8. BLOW OUT THE CANDLE - Players try to blow out a candle while
blindfolded. Players could take turns, or two players could try to
blow out the same candle at the same time from different
directions. Player able to blow out the candle wins.
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9. PARTY PUNCH - Freeze ice cubes with food coloring so
you will have red ice cubes and blue ice cubes. Then, serve
lemonade at your party. When each person takes his drink, drop
one or two red, or blue, ice cubes into his glass. Those with
blue ice cubes will soon have green lemonade. Those with red
ones will soon have orange lemonade. How's that for adding
punch to your party?
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10. LAUGH BALL - Players sit in a circle with very solemn
expressions. One player holds a ball, and starts laughing. He
stops suddenly, and throws the laugh ball to someone else. That
person immediately starts to laugh. He continues until he throws
the ball to another player. A player is to laugh only when he has
the laugh ball in his possession. Anyone caught laughing without
the ball is out of the game. Last player remaining wins.
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11. MAKE ME LAUGH - One player sits in a chair and tries
to avoid laughing. The other players in turn try to make him
laugh by telling jokes and acting silly. It might be fun for
the players to draw a silly face on a paper bag, cut holes out
for the eyes, nose, and mouth, and wear the paper bags as they
try to make the sitting player laugh. One successful comic on
television made it a part of his act to wear a paper bag over
his head and be known as the unknown comic.
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12. BLIND MARSHMALLOW FEED -
Players are divided into
pairs. Each player is given five marshmallows. The leader of the
game then sees to it that all players are blindfolded. At the
starting signal, partners try to feed each other the five
marshmallows they were given. First pair to successfully eat each
other's marshmallows wins. |
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13. BUBBLE BLOWING CONTESTS - Give each player a piece
of bubble gum. First player to blow a bubble wins. Then, see
who can blow the biggest bubble.
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14. TREASURE CAKES - Wrap various coins (pennies, nickels,
dimes, quarters) in tinfoil and place them in your cake batter.
Players finding a treasure in their piece of cake get to keep it.
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15. PAPER CUP RACES - For each player, poke a hole in
the bottom of a paper cup and place a string through it. Tie
the string so it goes from one part of the room to another
part. Each player's racing string should be the same length.
Place the cups so the open side faces the player and is at the
starting position at one end of the string. Players try to
propel their cups to the finish line by blowing into them. No
touching of cups is allowed. First player to blow his cup to
the finish line wins.
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16. POPULAR GAME PARTY - Invite friends over to play a
particular game, such as Monopoly, Flinch, Rook, Sorry, chess,
checkers, Crazy Eights, etc. You could do the same with electronic
and computer games.
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17. CHALLENGE PARTIES - Players select goals or
challenges they will try to reach by their next scheduled
party. Players discuss their goals and how they can help each
other reach them. Set a time for the next party. At that
party, share achievement results and stories. Celebrate each
person's victory. Set new goals and the date for the next
challenge party.
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18. THEME PARTIES - Establish a theme for your party which
would indicate how people might dress, and what activities you might
have. For example:
Monster Parties in which players dress
as their favorite monsters. Activities might include
monster chases, monster stories, scream contests, horrible
desserts, monster dancing, etc.
Animal Parties in which players dress
like particular animals. Activities might include: horse
play, pig feeds, pin the tail on the donkey, cat and mouse,
monkey see monkey do, horse shoes, billy goat, etc
Thanksgiving Party in which players
could dress like pilgrims. Activities could include early
colonial games.
Hero Parties in which players could
dress like their favorite heroes. Activities could include
feats of extraordinary strength, courage, and skill.
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19. VICTORY CELEBRATIONS - Be on the lookout for good
things to celebrate. This could be achievements, outstanding
performances, opportunities, new responsibilities, good fortune,
making the team, etc
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20. WORK PROJECT PARTIES - Early American settlers enjoyed
getting together to work on a common project, enjoy each other's
company, and then have a party or feast. Work is more enjoyable
when we do it with our friends, and it has the added benefit of
building bonds of friendship as we work toward common goals.
Projects could include jobs around a particular player's home, such
as painting, putting in a new lawn, cleaning the garage, etc., or it
could be a project for someone outside the group that could use the
help, perhaps for people who would have difficulty doing it
themselves (elderly, handicapped, sick), or simply as a gesture of
goodwill to a hardworking family that could use the extra boost.
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21. FAVORITE FOODS PARTIES - Each person brings one of
his favorite foods: desserts, salads, hot dishes, or whatever.
People enjoy the food and each other's company.
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