On the web, I could only find left-right stories for Christmas or baby showers, so I wrote this left-right story for a family reunion, but with a few changes, you could use it for any occasion.
This is a fun game. Everyone stands or sits in a circle. You hand a gift-wrapped prize to some of the participants (fairly evenly distribute the prizes around the circle). Read the story below. When they hear you say "right", they will pass the prize one time, to the person on their right, and the same with the word "left". When you say "The End", any person holding a prize gets to keep it. You can change the story to suit your needs.
LEFTy WRIGHT reached into his RIGHT pocket with his RIGHT hand and pulled out the downRIGHT long string of firecrackers that his friend, Mike LEFTtoe, had given him. LEFTy strolled RIGHT into his neighbor's RIGHT nice yard, pulled a downRIGHT battered book of matches out of his LEFT pocket and mumbled, "alRIGHT! One match LEFT."
Then LEFTy veered LEFT and snuck RIGHT into the house. LEFTy was RIGHTly amazed to see so many downRIGHT good-looking (or you can say goofy-looking) folks to his RIGHT and to his LEFT. This must be the __________ family reunion. alRIGHT!
LEFTy dropped down on his LEFT knee, then his RIGHT knee. Then he silently fell LEFTward onto his belly. RIGHT on, no one saw him, but LEFTy would have to act downRIGHT fast.
LEFTy placed the firecrackers RIGHT on the floor, struck the match with his LEFT hand and lit the downRIGHT short fuse. And that is how all the folks at the __________ family reunion learned to tapdance.
By Fortunately from Fairview Heights, IL
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Great fun for a family reunion. It is called "Guess-for-the-Goodies" Everyone can bring something to guess, i.e. jar of candy, box of change, bag of beans, guess the length of string, etc. Anything someone can come up with.
I wanted to share a game idea that's great for family reunions, neighbor game-nights or whatever, it's so fun and hilarious! I've never heard of it before, perhaps some of you have.
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My three sons and 2 daughter in-laws will be here in the beginning of January. We found that the plane flights were twice as many frequent flier miles or money at Christmas. We will celebrate Christ's birth then. We usually also have "game" night and I am looking for something new to purchase and play with them. They are all in their 20's and 30's. Any suggestions for new games that would be fun to play with them would be appreciated.
Phase 10 is a great game. Me and my family ( all adults) play it often. Its a card game. You can find the Phase ten cards in most wal-marts in the toy aisle where the games are at.
Apples to Apples is a pretty fun game to play. I am in the age group you mentioned and my friends and I have a game night every so often and that is the game we play and it gets everyone talking and laughing.
My family enjoys a game called Apples to Apples. It is a fun word association game that you can play with a lot of people (of varying ages, too). Everybody receives a hand of cards with a descriptive word, a single separate card is flipped over by "the Judge" and everybody chooses one word card out of their hand that goes best with that card. It will often get silly because some people won't have a card that fits so you may get some funny descriptions.
We love to play 5 Crowns and Sequence. A lot of fun. Some people don't play games with face cards, but as long as we aren't gambling we think it is great and we have fun.
I was going to suggest Apples to Apples, too!
Dominos is a fun group game. There are many variations so it doesn't get boring. We also play Phase 10 and Uno.
Yep, Apples to Apples!
I'd have to chime in with the chorus and suggest Apples to Apples as well. It's a great game for family and guests.
I bought it recently for our family and it's always a hit when guests come by or just with family. You can try it out at www.playyourredcard.com and try it out before you commit to it.
Hope that helps!
I'm trying to think of a few games that would suit a Family Picnic that would include young and old alike. We've been in a slump with a generation gap with no kids, and grandparents passing or unable to come. This is the first picnic in a couple of years, and I'd like to put some new ideas into the entertainment part. I want to refresh, surprise and put new life into the continuation of this gathering into the future.
I have a few ideas for you and hope they help. We have a lot of BBQ's and we started to have scavenger hunts, everyone loves them, We also took our tractor hooked a trailer to it and give hay rides, another thing is get poster boards and get each family member to send you copies of their baby pictures and give a prize or prizes for the most right and the most wrong. I also play with the kids watermelon spitting, toss the clothes pins in the jar (I use a big jar with wide mouth); Also you can do things like a egg on a spoon and the team that gets theirs to the other end without dropping it wins, (Oh , they have to carry the spoon in their mouth and hand behind their back, also sack races are fun.
Hope these ideas help you and you have a wonderful family reunion. If you would like to bounce anymore party ideas, just email me at froggypjs10 AT hotmail.com Patti
What an incredible imagination and excellent ideas! I am so glad I asked! You sure got the old brain churning now!
Thank you so much!
The picture board sounds interesting especially. The picnics had been going on for a long time until the older generation began disappearing and we seemed to get in this generation gap between sadness and no children. The children will be youngish or teenagers and little in between. The were no picnics for a few years and this one is first one again since.
I think the picture boards would be an excellent way to address, remember and heal this issue and help to chase the apathy away and revive the spirit of it again. I do have lots of old family pics on hand. Would you be able to explain how you go about this one?
All the ideas are fantastic and I'm entertaining them all right now. They are all great ideas! Lots of them have me laughing my head off just imagining them. Thank you again!
It sure helps to eliminate some of my concerns for success. We're not so organized as some of you are. No fee up front....never seem to break even, but that's ok. It will be at my house and I've got lots of land, an outhouse, shade, trampoline and pool. Will be potluck, which is always a success. My biggest concern is keeping it dry should it rain. We're having an incredibly wet year and the thought of 70 people suddenly cramming into my house doesn't attract me, if you know what I mean. I've looked into renting a tent, only to find that it will cost $480 for 3 days...ugh! The picnic is only a day affair. Any ideas on how I could "weather" this one?
I did have a tractor and did the wagon rides once, but the tractor bit the dust, lol! (hobby farm, not a working farm)
I also have horses and could give rides, but it would be something right out of the blue for the horses. They are mostly pets. They are well trained from the ground and I can actually dance with one of them, but I don't ride that often and a saddle and little kids is also going to be "new" for the horses. I know I could ask one of them to be a "good egg" for me, but the thought of all the things that could happen with little fingers, 1200 lb. size and all this newness for the horses scares me to death.
I'm getting pressured for this activity, cause most people who are not horse oriented, think they can just get on a horse and ride it. Not so, and I'm very reluctant and am coming across as a "crumb bum" on this issue, but Murphy's Law is ruling my thoughts on this one. Raising the risk of anyone getting hurt that day is somewhere that I just don't want to go. How do I handle the pressure on this issue? There's no way I can get the training needed in place on time.
One of the games we played at our annual family camping weekend (about 30 family members of all ages) was what I called The Collector Game. I didn't tell anyone what the game was so that even the timid didn't back out. Before the game began, my husband & I scattered small piles of "droppings" (peanuts in this case) over a large area. I divided everyone into 5 teams. I then appointed a person, from each team, as the collector & assigned each team an animal that they would represent. On the word go all team members ran around in search of the "droppings".
When they found a pile they had to make the sound of the animal they represented loudly enough for their collector to hear. They had to remain at the pile, making their animal sound until their collector located them and collected the pile of droppings in his pail. Each then moved on to locate more piles/animal calls. When time was up, they raced back to the start point. The team with the most "droppings" won. This was hilarious with grown men crowing like roosters and kids quacking like ducks, barking like dogs, baaaing like sheep, etc, loud enough to wake the dead, all over the campground. Even the timid had a fun time as did all the other non-family campers who witnessed the game.
Most of these are old games from many community picnics and family reunions.
Count out any type of item or mix of items and put them into a jar. Let each person put there name on a slip of paper with their guess of how many items there are. We have used keys, bathroom items such as Q tip, bobby pin, clothes pin, adding stones to throw the counter off (don't count the stones). Even just a jar of candy that can be the prize too.
We also purchased a cheap bingo game and gave dollar store prizes, even a bottle of soda or a roll of paper towels for prizes.
Now you have it Now you don't is a good game for older less active people. 2 sets of numbers on little cardboard squares - one set in a little tin or bag - other set is distributed between the players. Usually about 3 to 5 per player. A "Caller" then picks and calls a number. The holder of the number then picks a prize from the table of prizes. The next person may take another prize from the table or take the prize of another "winner". When each person runs out of numbers they get to keep their prize or prizes. Some people end up with 2 or 3 prizes and others can end up with none. We usually like to make sure there are enough small prizes so everyone gets one. Say 50 numbers and 50 small prizes. It is amazing how there is always 1 item that will travel all around more than any other prize. Children to Grandma get a big kick of it.
Cut out parts of pictures of everyday household items such as laundry soap, hair spray, cooking oil, mayonnaise, cake mix, Stove top stuffing mix, cat or dog food, anything that is well known to most people. Paste the partial pictures on a piece of white cardboard and number each item. Each person gets a piece of paper and must figure out what the product name is They may only see one letter, but it is distinct and know the product immediately. Others will be harder. The person who names the most products correctly wins. The same can be done for men with motor oil, car polish, men's deodorant, anything a man would recognize.
Easy - Guess the weight of a watermelon/cantaloupe or any item. That item is the prize. Ask your grocer to weigh it for you before you leave the store.
Easy - Peanut scramble for elementary aged children. For interest, add some individually wrapped candy like tootsie rolls or hard candies. Give each child a small lunch bag or plastic sandwich bag to gather the peanuts/candy. Just make sure you clean up all the bags that are dropped.
All but the "Now you have it, Now you don't" game can be put on a table for people to work on as they have a moment. The host will determine the winners near the end of the party/picnic.
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