It's not often you get all your family or friends in the room together so Christmas is the perfect opportunity to have some fun and games with them. In fact, a study by Julianne Holt-Lunstad and Timothy Smith in the Public Library of Science Medical Journal found interaction with family and friends to be "not only beneficial psychologically but also directly to our physical health." So, here at RYVITA® HQ, we've put together list of games that require nothing more than household items so there's no excuse to not give them a go!
1. Hot Potato Pants
Hot Potato Pants is an excellent variation on passing the hot potato and promises to leave the family in stitches. Fingers crossed you don't get caught when the music stops!
Equipment: a bag or box that can be passed around. An assortment of funny clothes.
How it works: First you put all sorts of embarrassing and somewhat funny clothes in a bag or box - think bikinis, underpants and hats! Now in the form of hot potato you pass the bag or box around and when the music stops, the person with the bag pulls out an article of clothing and dons it on top of their own clothes.The game ends when all the clothes are gone. The winner is the person wearing the least clothes from the bag. If you take any photos, why not post them on our Facebook page and we will send the best 10 a packet our Ryvita Fruit Crunch.
2. Sweet Skirmish
Equipment: a cup and straw for each player. A dice. A bowl filled with small round sweets.
How it works: Everyone sits in a circle with their straw and cup. The bowl filled with sweets sits in the middle. The first person takes their straw and must suck to pick out a sweet from the bowl which they place in their cup. The aim is to get as many sweets in your cup as possible. However, while the player is busy collecting sweets the person to their right is busy rolling the dice. Once they role a six the players turn is over and it passes to the person on the right as does the dice. The game ends when the bowl of sweets is empty. The person with the most sweets in their cup at the end of the game wins.
3. Panic Word
This team game is great for bringing out the families competitive side.
Equipment: 100 pieces of paper. One pen. A stopwatch or timer.
How it works: On each of the 100 pieces of paper, write down a word. Divide into two teams and sit down opposite one another. Place the cards in a pile in the centre of the two teams. Divide the players into 2 teams and seat them opposite each other. Set the timer or stopwatch for one minute. The first player from team one then draws a piece of paper from the pile and starts the one minute countdown. That person must then describe the word on the piece of paper to their team without using the word itself but all within a minute! Each team takes a turn until the all the pieces of paper are used.
The winner is the team that guesses the most words within the minute.
4. Opposites
This is the perfect giddy game for family gatherings and its one the kids are sure to love which makes it our personal favourite.
Equipment: A chair, hat and straw for each player.
How it works: One person volunteers to be the leader. All the other players must aim to do the opposite of the leader. For example, if the leader stands then the player should sit. If the leader put their hat on, sits down and put the straw on the floor, the players must take their hat off, stand up and put their straw in the air! Any player caught doing the same as the leader is out. The game should start off slow so everyone can get the hang of it then gradually become faster and faster. The last player not out is the winner.
5. Charades
Charades is a classic Christmas game for all the family. So brush up on your technique with our quick guide below.
Equipment: your brains!
How it works: Divide into teams and provide each member of the other team with a title of a movie, book or tv programme. These should not be shown to members of your own team. Nominate a person to go first from one of the teams (take in turns between teams afterwards). First, indicate to your team whether you're going to mime the title of a movie, book or TV programme- To indicate a movie, pretend to crank an old-fashioned movie camera; to indicate a book, pretend to be reading; for a TV programme, draw a square in the air for a TV screen. Next, indicate how many words are in the title by holding up the same number of fingers. Next, indicate which word you want to start acting: hold up three fingers for "Third Word", and so on.
Signals:
· To divide the word into syllables: lay down x number of fingers on your forearm (where x is the number of syllables.) To act out the first syllable, lay down one finger on your arm, etc.
· When someone calls out a correct word: point at that person and nod your head like "yes".
· To signal the word ‘sounds like' the one you are about to act: cup your hand around your ear.
· To signal a little word: bring your thumb and index fingers close together.
· To signal a longer version of the word: pretend to stretch an elastic band between your fingers.
· To signal a shorter version of the word: make a chop with your hand.
· To signal acting the whole phrase at once: sweep your arms in a big circle.
· To signal the word is in the past tense: wave your hand downwards behind your back
Do you know of any fun and free family games? Why not tell us below...
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