Party games

[ladyofastolat]

I'm on the lookout for children's party games played at traditional children's parties. We've got a list already, but would like an even longer list, so they can be whittled down to the best ones. So far we've got:

Musical chairs
Musical bumps (I was unvanquished champion of musical bumps as a child, but the ground was a lot closer then. I suspect that playing it now would result in bruises and broken things.)
Musical statues, ideally in its Musical Monsters form
Pass the parcel
Sleeping/Dead lions (naming dispute ongoing)
Pin the something on the whatever
Grandmother's footsteps
Oranges and Lemons (although even as a child, I never quite worked out what the point of the game was, and it always took so long, and once the chopper who came to chop off my head thumped my nose, and I cried.)
What's the time, Mr Wolf?
Poor Pussy

Quite a few more games come to mind, but I think they're more playground games than party games - e.g. The Farmer's in his Den, Red Letter, I sent a letter to my love, etc. We always clamoured to play Murder in the Dark when I was little, but never knew what we were supposed to do, so just milled around in the dark for a bit until someone screamed, whereupon we all went "er...", dithered a bit on confusion, and moved on to the next game.

By the way, the age of the special little birthday boy is 40, so don't worry about games being too complicated or likely to end in tears. But we don't want any of that teenage hanky-panky stuff, or games that involve singling people out to do embarassing things.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

"In and out of the dusky bluebells"? -Neuromancer

[purplecat]

Consequences goes down well at G's parties

We have something called the "Letter Box Game" that I can bring with us. It involves running around the "house" posting letters in the right box. We probably have enough sets of letters for about a dozen people to play.

Treasure/scavenger hunts always seem popular but take some setting up.

Kim's game.

Build a bridge from straws and pins.

I vaguely recall some game which involved a race to dress one member of your team in random silly costume.

Various versions of charades, including one which involves drawing popular book/tv/you-name-it titles.

Names on backs.

Wink Murder generally works better than Murder in the Dark, I've always found.

[helflaed.livejournal.com]

One real biggie up here is "Corners"

It is sort of a variant of muscial statues, except that everyone runs to their choice of corner when the music stops. In each corner is a picture, and then everyone in (for example) the Tardis corner is out. Repeat until only one person is left.

Just don't make the mistake I did and hand out tpy waterpistols as prizes or they will NEVER stop playing with them!

Balloon race. Two teams, people standing one beind the other. The person at the front passes the balloon over his head to no2, who passes it between his legs to no 3, who passes it over his head etc until the person at the end of the line gets it and runs to the front. The team which ends up with no1 at the front again is the winner.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

I remember a game called something like 'Mummies' in which you have to wrap someone in your team up in toilet paper until they're completely covered. Can't remember any more details though.

[sally_maria]

The chocolate game? You could try smaller groups but I've played it at a church party with 20-30 people at least. Or have two lots of chocolate on the go and make one of them when you throw a one.

Or does that come under "singling people out to do embarrassing things"?

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

My mother and I were talking about Oranges and Lemons the other day I I said I had never really understood the game. She explained that half of the arch was 'oranges' and the other 'lemons' but no one else knew which. The trapped person then has to choose oranges or lemons and whisper so no one but the arch hears, and then tags on the back of whoever it is. When everyone has been picked there is a tug of war, everyone holding on to the person in front with the two arches in the middle...

[segh.livejournal.com]

The most popular game among my Brownies was Mary and the Spaceships (modernised from lambs). Everyone stood in a circle holding hands; within the circle was Mary (blindfolded) and three spaceships, who were required to make spaceship noises while Mary hunted them by sound. At intervals the leader sounded a whistle and all those in the circle took one step in, until Mary was hunting in a tiny space. Or until she caught all the spaceships, of course.