Festive Frolicking
#7 Table Games
If your family has a tradition of moving away from the dining table for Charades and traditional ‘parlour’ games for after Christmas – fantastic.
I love all that.
Literally my jam.
But actually, sometimes it can all dissolve a bit when the meal has wound down.
Plates being loaded into the dishwasher, cups of tea on the go, children hot-footing it upstairs to play with their new stuff…
…and trying to persuade everyone to reassemble can be tricky.
So how about a few table games up your sleeve?
The great thing about this is that everyone is already in situ, you already have a playing surface and it prolongs the ‘being all together’, time.
Also, you can often use things you’ve probably got around the house already or don’t cost very much.
Busting out a quick game/activity for those times between courses, if you are a ‘courses’ kind of Christmas family is a ninja move, too.
The gap between the turkey and the pudding could be a great time to squeeze out some extra hilarity.
As with all of this topic, I am less interested in the specifics than the principles, but some ideas below to get you started.
Keep your list of games and what you might need for them under the table ready to go at a moment’s notice.
I have divided these into
- Quick divertive things
- Clear the table things.
Quick Divertive Table Games
Dice Stack
2+ Players
You will need
- A pair of chopsticks each.
- Some dice, I’d go for about 5-10 per player.
(I just had a quick look on Amazon, if you haven’t got enough, you can get 10 for about £2.99 and 100 for a tenner)
Play
Race your opponent to stack all the dice – one on top of the other, only using the chopsticks.
The first that stacks them all, is the winner.
The Rizzla/Yes/No Game
I mean, it doesn’t have to be a Rizzla, it doesn’t even have to be cigarette paper (if you don’t want to buy that, I get it) but it sticks well.
Easy one – you’ll have played it before.
Play
Write the name of a famous person on your paper, and pass it to someone else (who doesn’t look at it).
The other person licks it and sticks it on their forehead, or somehow attach it (post-its somewhat work).
Then you take it in turns to ask questions about your person.
The other people can only answer Yes or No.
Keep playing until everyone has guessed their person.
Spoons Card Game
You Will Need
- A deck of cards (2 for a large group)
- Spoons (one fewer than your group size).
You do need the middle of the table to be clear or things will go flying.
The Aim:
Get 4 of a kind (4 Aces, 4 nines etc)
Set-Up
Deal four cards to each player.
Place the remaining deck next to the dealer and all the spoons in the middle.
Dealer’s First Move
The dealer draws a card from the deck.
If they want it – they keep it.
Then they discard one card, passing it to the person on their left – to keep only 4 in hand.
Keep It Moving
Each player does the same – pick a card, decide, and discard one to the left.
Spoon Grab
Once someone gets four of a kind, they grab a spoon.
When everyone sees that, they go for a spoon too.
The loser of that round is the one without a spoon.
Remember to make them prove they had 4.
I am a terrible (or should I say, brilliant) hustler with this game.
I will try my luck, so be warned.
There could be other similarly dodgy people around your Christmas table.
Keep score, or don’t – it’s fun either way, but slightly violent and you probably will get red hands.
Novelty ‘Ready Made’ Card Games
We had a family tradition of playing a game called 2s and 3s, which is essentially a non-proprietary hybrid of some of these.
The great thing about the latest crop of family card games is that the rules have often been simplified from the card games they have been inspired by.
This means, quite young / slightly sozzled people can manage.
Although they usually state ages 8 and up, I’ve played some of them with 5-year-olds, and they roundly trounced me.
You might know some of these already, but all of them are fantastic.
My slight favourite is the Taco one…
Some great ones:
- Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza
- and their festive version: Santa Cookie Elf Candy Snowman.
- Taco vs Burrito
- P For Pizza
- Exploding/Zombie Kittens
- Throw Throw Burrito
- Uno
If there are more than 4 of you on Christmas Day, you definitely need to buy at least one of these.
They are fantastic.
Decide on a few that you like, use these (or Google/Youtube has loads) – and keep everything handy to entertain the troops during those 10 more minutes that the potatoes need.
Or indeed you’re all full up to go into the other room yet – for more competitive gameplay!
Action:
Gather together your table games kit and write/print a list (with rules if necessary), ready for Christmas Day.
On the day keep them handy, I find under the table is good, but wherever makes sense.
Keep the games short, don’t labour it, if people aren’t joining in, just move on to something else or top up glasses.
If little people are likely to get tearful if they don’t win – have them join up with someone else as a team.
The whole aim is for light-hearted fun.
This is definitely the day for bending game-play rules if people are getting a bit serious, fractious or overexcited.
Award a draw, or have runner-up prizes … or whatever it takes, frankly.
Being too draconian about it is just going to give you a headache and defeat the object.
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