Games to keep the party going
New Year’s eve is all about “fun and games”, but if your evening began early and 12 a.m. seems a long way off, here are some games to keep the party going ‘tween dinner and the midnight hour.
Needed:>Two decks of cards and six to eight good, small, inexpensive prizes (wrapped or unwrapped, but not cheap throw-aways which no-one would want.
To play: Place all items on a central table or stool. Shuffle each deck well. Distribute one deck as evenly as possible among the participants. Start the game by drawing a card from the deck not distributed. One by one, call out the cards drawn from the deck. The person who has that particular matching card may select one prize from the table. Other players must note well who takes which prize. Once they have made their choice, they should try to keep the prize hidden on their person, behind their back or in a pocket etc. Continue until all the prizes are distributed.
Now comes the fun part. Keep calling off the cards, and the person who has the next card must try to remember who has what prize. For example, if they want a particular object and know that ‘Player A’ has it, they must indicate this by saying, “John, I’ll take the ballpoint pen” — or something to that effect. John must then give the pen to that person. John could also win it back later if he is lucky enough to remember who has it. If a player “misses” by incorrectly matching a prize to a player, he/she forfeits that turn. Play continues until all cards have been called. Whoever end up with a prize gets to keep itB>
CELEBRATION SONGS (Teen/adult): <$>Break the groups up in twos or threes, depending on the number of guests. Give each group a decent length of time to prepare and write a short song, which will be their entrance into the New Year. Select a panel or a couple of people to be the judges. At the end of the evening, each group must recite (or sing) the words of their song, and the winner is awarded a prize. A great ice breaker game for people to get to know each other.
WHICH COUNTRY (Adult memory Game): Prepare ahead of time a list of events which took place this year in Bermuda and abroad. Divide into groups, and give each group exactly 30 seconds to guess in which country the event took place. Group with the most correct answers wins. (Variations can include: the Oscars, the Grammy awards, etc
WHO DUNNIT (Teen/adult): Before the party, write a short little script on “who did it” and accompanying “character cards” for each person. When the guests arrive, hand out the cards which explain the scenario and which role each of them represents. Secretly tell the “murderer” where he/she did it and with what. Throughout the evening the guests are allowed to ask each other questions and give each other “clues” as to who they think the guilty party is. At the end of the game or after dinner, everyone gets to guess who the mystery person is. The winner/winners get(s) a bottle of sparkling wine or something else.
NEW YEAR RESOLUTION GUESSING GAME (Adult): Hand each person a piece of paper and ask them to write down a New Year’s resolution (which is obviously not too personal). Tell them to have fun with this idea. Fold and put all the New Year resolutions in a bowl, and ask each player to pick one.
Now comes the guessing part: Everyone must write down who they think wrote down the New Year’s resolution. Whoever guesses correctly the most times wins a pri
NEW YEAR DREAM BOARD (Children): Give each child an A3 piece of paper or cardboard. Ensure that there are lots of magazines they can cut out and use. Ask them to make a dream board of what they really want to do in 2007, or what they would really like (e.g. a bicycle, etc.). They can either paint, draw themselves, paste some pictures — anything they would like to do on their “dream board”. This is a fun exercise for children and will keep them entertained while the adults enjoy themselves.
