Christmas - parlour games?

MothFilledWallet

"Guess the object" was a good one in our house.
You lay out a blanket with a random selection of unusual (not to unusual for very young kids) objects under it and they have to guess by the feel. Things like an old garden tap, a loo roll center, a pine cone, a rubber duck....etc and somewhere in the a small bag of cooked squishy spaghetti to confuse things. For 'older' players a suggestively carved candle,a big salami wrapped in clingfilm or a couple of tomatoes with a banana along side can cause some giggles while being "Just a candle/salami/fruit"

For the little ones:

'Find the treasure' if you don't mind things being moved around, using the hotter/colder system with a few clues to avoid serious digging around. Eventually they'll locate a bag of gem stones/glass potting beads/toffees in shiny golden wrappers....something shiny is the key.

Older kids:

Same as above but with a riddle instead (think Harry Potter with the mermaid poem) but mini soaps, flannels or something like an old unused diary with faked crazy exploits of the host/hostess.... you can't be crazy enough! I got one one year where the hostess was touring with a Victorian freak-show as a bearded lady when she met my her husband who was called "The Wild man of Sussex" (on account of his record breaking 3ft long nose hair)....hairs got tangled one night, eyes met....etc

Adult:

Just keep the brandy coming

Goldiegirl

What about 'The Ministers Cat'.

About 15 years ago, on a Sunday morning shortly before Christmas, the 1970 film version of Scrooge was on TV, and they played this parlour game.

It seemed that everybody I knew saw it too.

At work on Christmas Eve we all played it, and at get togethers with friends between Christmas and New Year we played too.

Just Google it, and you'll find how to play, and there's a You Tube clip too

meritaten

The old song 'Old Macdonald had a farm' can be played as a game too. This is what we used to do when stuck in the car with three kids. The kids are given slips of paper with animals names on them - but, they are NOT farm animals for the older kids and adults - when its their turn to sing the line Old macdonald had a farm - and on that farm he had a ............they start making the noise of the animal - Zebra perhaps (who sound like a cross between a horse and a donkey), Tiger, Snake - it can be hilarious as peoples guesses get wilder and wilder. and of course if the kids have no idea what an animal sounds like and make it up.........rofl!

cornishchick

Reading this with interest as there will be about 18 of us here on Christmas Day.. would be lovely to turn the TV off at the wall Christmas eve and just spend time with family and friends.
Time is the most precious commodity we have.

Pont

Logo works well for all ages. We split into teams here - I always want the oldest and youngest on my team - I like to win ;-)

Cranium is always popular too.

We buy a new game every year - house full (all ages 6 - 87) Christmas night. TV banned - love it!

Am looking at The Best of British (?) this year.

We play the usual Charades every year. We also, after a few beers, have 'Local Charades' - have to act out local characters (can be a little near the knuckle, but fun).

UserX

Gosh, I took the dog out for a walk and this thread is beginning to explode!

'Sequence' has just fallen into my Amazon basket as it will be a great stocking gift for my own youngest DD. And I love a load of the other ideas - must look up The Minister's Cat.

cornishchick - we've been a TV-free family on Christmas day for as long as I can ever remember (and I'm in my mid 40s!) so no TV is the norm for us. We usually do the grown up presents on Christmas Day evening but now we've decided to dispense with them altogether we thought we ought to get prepared with some game ideas.

When I was a kid my grandad - who was a wicked old git! - taught me & my siblings to play Newmarket, gambling with pennies from his penny jar, and it was such a wheeze. Then he'd get drunk and almost invariably fall off his chair!

oldhaggis

How about a giant pass the parcel game? Put cracker type jokes, silly forfeits (eg sing three blind mice while standing on one leg), individual chocolate coins or sweeties in every other layer. The final prize can be a little game or toy of low value. The joy is in participating, rather than winning and the sillier the jokes and forfeits, the more fun there is to be had.

Also musical hats (like musical chairs but with silly hats) is always good for laugh, especially when there isn’t much room. It doesn’t have to cost anything. The children could be helped to make the hats out of the used Christmas paper. That’s if it hasn’t all been ripped during the unwrapping process…

Pont

One thing I used to do when my daughters were much younger was to hide small gag gifts all over the house on Christmas Eve. They were then given 'easyish' cryptic clues to find the locations. Kept them occupied for ages!

Might have to re-invent this for Christmas Night and include everyone (kids are now 21 and 18 but they're still game)! Inside the tumble dryer, inside the coffee machine etc.

I'm a big kid at heart!

Lemanie_2

A really good family game is Tell Me - essentially there are a load of cards with categories on them and an alphabet spinner. The first person to shout out something in the category beginning with the letter on the spinner wins that point. It can get very competitive!!

Pont

Awhh - listen to us all - we're all Waltons at heart!