FAMILY PARTY GAMES FOR CHRISTMAS

Tap the pan

How to play
Take it in turns to leave the room while the rest of the assembled players decide on a task he or she must perform on their return. It should involve someone or something in the room - for example, turn a photograph upside down or eat Uncle George's mince pie.

Give one of the group of players a saucepan and wooden spoon to tap it with. When the first player returns, he or she moves around the room trying to work out what the task is. As they get closer to the object or person in question, the tapper taps the pan faster and more loudly; as they move further away, the tapper taps slowly and more softly.

This continues until the player identifies the object or person and performs the nominated task. The tapper then leaves the room to take his or her turn and the player to their left becomes the tapper.

In the frame

How to play
Provide an empty picture frame (or one cut from cardboard) for each player to hold in front of his or her face.

The object of the game is that the player holding the frame must stay completely poker-faced and still (apart from the odd blink) for a whole minute while the other players try to make him or her laugh by making silly faces and sounds or by telling jokes.

There must be no physical contact between players. You could have a lucky dip box of small prizes for anyone who can go the whole distance without cracking a smile. Play passes to the left.

Cut the chocolate

How to play
You need to prepare in advance by placing a large bar of chocolate in the freezer to get very hard. Unwrap it and place it whole on a large plate with a blunt knife and fork.

Have to hand a hat, scarf and a thick pair of gloves, as well as a dice for throwing (or more than one if there is a large group), and let players take it in turns to try for a six. As soon as a six is thrown, that player has to don the gloves, hat and scarf and try to cut the chocolate.

Meanwhile, the dice remains in play so the next six could be thrown at any time. When a six is thrown again the person trying to cut the chocolate must quickly remove the hat, scarf and gloves and pass them (along with the knife and fork) to the person who got the six.

Players can eat any chocolate they manage to cut. This game obviously becomes easier as the chocolate begins to thaw!

Forfeits

How to play
One person is nominated as 'judge' and one as 'chooser'. Each of the remaining players sacrifices a piece of personal property (a piece of jewellery, wallet or item of clothing), and all the items are put into a bag or box.

The chooser then draws items out of the box at random and holds them over the judge's head out of his line of vision. The judge must come up with a forfeit for the owner of each item to perform before he or she can reclaim the property without knowing which item is being held up or to which player it belongs.

Players can take it in turns to be 'judge' or 'chooser', but the previous judge and chooser must put items of their own into the box in order to take part.