Holiday Games

[apartment j]

So, we're going to have a house full of guests for the entire week of Christmas. We will have diverse ages and, well, diversity all around. I do have some touristy activities planned outside of our home, but please help me plan some games and activities for our evenings at home. In particular, I would like to purchase some board games that work well for a group. ( the game doesn't actually need to have a board. i mean games that come in a box with rules) Thank you

 

[McKelly]

Catch Phrase is a group favorite at our house.

 

[C&Jx2]

Pictionary
Headbands

 

[wgeo]

Have you ever played the Saran Wrap Ball?

If you have lots of people it can be really fun, depending on ages you could even have a "younger" ball and an "older" ball. You wrap up prices in saran wrap so that it is a tight ball (prices like a piece of candy or a quarter - or lipstick or anything really). Sit in a large circle and one person starts to unwrap the ball, and if they are able to unwrap a prize they get to keep it. Meanwhile the person next to them is rolling dice, as soon as they roll doubles the ball gets passed to them. It is super easy to play and can be quite rowdy/fun. I'll attach a link that describes it better.

https://momluck.com/saran-wrap-candy-ball-game/
The good thing about this, is its a no skill, all luck kind of deal so everyone can have fun.

 

[Kitty 34]

We play the following:
Catchphrase
Taboo
Apples to Apple
Scattergories
Pit
Uno Attack
Tripoley
Hearts
Quarters
and probably others that I can't remember right now.

Have fun:

 

[DisLiss]

We like Exploding Kittens---from the kids right on up to the adults. We get a kick out of Headbandz, too. They both work well for all ages and the allow people to enter or leave the game easily because you can play multiple rounds in a relatively short amount of time.

I don't recall the name of the game, but perhaps someone else will recognize it and chime in---(I found it: "Spontuneous") but you are supposed to try to stump people by coming up with a word that they cannot come up with a song lyric for (but that you can). Now, on its own, it can be pretty impossible if people playing don't have the same taste in music, but what we did last year, was to add a rule that all songs had to be Christmas songs. And that made it easy for all ages to play, plus it fit the holiday as well. So if my team gave the word "mantle", the first team to sing 5 words from a Christmas song with that word would get the point. If no one could do so, but my team could ("Over the ground, lies a mantle of white"), then we'd get the point.

ETA: Apparently there is a similar game called "Encore", too. I found that one while looking up "Spontuneous".

 

[MrsDuck]

We LOVE Forbidden Island - a really fun cooperative game. We also LOVE Mysterium... every single person we've played with also loves it - no matter what walk of life they're from.

 

[DisLiss]

Taboo
Scattergories

ooh, these are two we used to play all of the time back in the day. We should dig these back out.

 

[DisLiss]

If you're not easily frustrated by never ever winning, then Oregon Trail is a quick game to toss in for something different. It's cooperative, but we all die every time we play. Perhaps you'll fare better.

 

[LovesTimone]

Cards - you can pick up cards, and other simple card games at the dollar store

Puzzles - we did/do this in the mountains or beach vacation rental that we have rented in the past, you can get ones for the kiddos and the adults.. I like it as anyone can work on it whenever... I just set it out on a card table or somewhere that you don't have to clean it up so that it can be worked on the whole time... once done we put it back in the box and leave it at the cabin or beach house rental for the next guest... Another reason is that this is good to help everyone kinda wind down at the end of the day...

Our friends play Bunko

Greedy Santa - which is fun, you could hit up the dollar store for a bunch of items, dollar lotto tickets, candy, treats individual packages of thing like little debbies, rice krispy treats, gum, mints, socks, nail files, clippers, nail polish, ear buds, you can really get creative... then wrap everything up in the left over wrapping paper... everyone gets a number, and number one picks a package and opens it, you have to open the package so that everyone can see what you have., then number 2 and so on... say number 5 wants what number 2 has, then they can take it, and number 2 has to go pick another item from the table or steal something from someone else, if the person doesn't pick from the table and steals another item, then that person can pick from the table or steal something... you can not steal the item that was just taken from you right back and a item can only be stolen 3 times... once everyone gets a turn... number 1 can steal from anyone, except the item that has been stolen 3 times... then this normally causes a chain reaction... it's all done in good fun...

 

[Searc]

So, we're going to have a house full of guests for the entire week of Christmas.

You're a saint.

 

[cabanafrau]

I'm thinking of picking up the Family Feud trivia cards for the holidays this year to add to the collection. Just cards, no board, seems relatively easy for a variety of people to participate in pretty casually. I'm hoping that it might be a way to include and entertain some of my more challenging guests who have resisted everything else over the years and wind up corralling and trapping others in medical, political or just plain boring conversations.

 

[Hikergirl]

Man Bites Dog
What Do You Meme
Apples To Apples
Yahtzee
Left Right Center
Pass The Pigs
Liars Dice
Would You Rather
Wits and Wagers

 

[Wendy31]

We like Exploding Kittens---from the kids right on up to the adults. We get a kick out of Headbandz, too. They both work well for all ages and the allow people to enter or leave the game easily because you can play multiple rounds in a relatively short amount of time.

I don't recall the name of the game, but perhaps someone else will recognize it and chime in---(I found it: "Spontuneous") but you are supposed to try to stump people by coming up with a word that they cannot come up with a song lyric for (but that you can). Now, on its own, it can be pretty impossible if people playing don't have the same taste in music, but what we did last year, was to add a rule that all songs had to be Christmas songs. And that made it easy for all ages to play, plus it fit the holiday as well. So if my team gave the word "mantle", the first team to sing 5 words from a Christmas song with that word would get the point. If no one could do so, but my team could ("Over the ground, lies a mantle of white"), then we'd get the point.

ETA: Apparently there is a similar game called "Encore", too. I found that one while looking up "Spontuneous".

So, how weird is this....

I just read this thread & your post about Spontuneous.

I then went back to Facebook & was scrolling through my feed, and an Amazon ad for Spontuneous showed up!

 

[tjmw2727]

Set up a jigsaw puzzle if you have room and just leave it for folks to work on ...

We like
Catan
Sequence & Uno - these are good for multiage players

 

[RUDisney]

It's easier to play Head Bandz on your phone with Heads Up.

 

[laughinplace199]

Exploding Kittens is a favorite in our house. Last Christmas Eve, we had a big group of kids (ages 7-19) playing it.

 

[frog3101]

Clue
Yahtzee
Life

 

[ImDMous]

One Night ultimate Werewolf is always a favorite. Goes to 10 players, everyone gets one card with their role on it and there's a phone app to help with timing the different rounds if you want to use it.

 

[Moliphino]

Apples to Apples for a mixed age group, Cards Against Humanity for adults only.