Make Christmas afternoon as lively as the morning with our selection of traditional party games
Christmas Day tends to be all excitement and anticipation until after lunch, when many families simply slump into comfy chairs and doze off in front of The Wizard of Oz. It's not much fun for the children, though, so this year why not get a round of good, old-fashioned party games going to delight and stimulate the whole family?
Charades
This time-honoured classic has the royal seal of approval, as it's supposed to be a favourite of the Queen herself.How to play
Get each person in the room to write the names of ten books, films, plays, television programmes or songs on scraps of paper, then fold them and throw them into a large bowl.
If there are lots of you, split into teams and mime to your own team-mates. If there are fewer than eight of you, it's best to simply take it in turns to fish a piece of paper out of the bowl and mime to the assembled group, letting them first know what category of subject has been picked out.
The first person to guess correctly then takes his or her turn, and so it goes on. It's best to have a time limit of, say, two minutes per mime to keep things lively. If you make any sounds during your mime then you are 'out' and must replace your piece of paper before play passes to the next person. Whoever guesses correctly keeps that piece of paper so that scores can be tallied at the end.
Who's in the hat?
This requires quick thinking and great powers of description!How to play
Get everyone in the room to write down the names of ten or more celebrities, book characters or other notable names on scraps of paper, then throw them all into a hat. As with charades, first decide whether to split into teams or play as individuals.
Players or teams have one minute to take it in turns to pick names out of the hat and describe them as quickly as possible without using initials, rhymes or the name itself.
Each time a correct guess is given, the player selects a new name, and continues until the minute is up, the aim being to get through as many names as possible in that time. Keep the correctly guessed names to one side so that you can keep score.
The vicar's cat
This is a word game for all ages, and one that children will particularly enjoy.How to play
Each person takes his or her turn to describe and name 'the vicar's cat', using letters of the alphabet in order. For example, the first player might say: 'The vicar's cat is arrogant and his name is Albert' and the next may continue with: 'The vicar's cat is belligerent and her name is Bessie'.
Keep going until a player hesitates for too long, when they have to drop out or - to stay in the game - do a forfeit chosen by the previous player.
Variation: You can make this game more complicated by insisting that each new player recites the whole list so far. So, player three would have to say: 'The vicar's cat is arrogant and his name is Albert; the vicar's cat is belligerent and her name is Bessie' before going on to think of an example for the letter 'C'.
The yes/no game
Another word game that should be played at speed!How to play
Give each player in the room five matchsticks. Divide players into pairs. One of each pair thinks of an object (it could be an ornament, an animal or anything else that springs to mind) and their partner then quizzes them to find out what it is.
The first player must answer all questions without saying 'yes' or 'no'. As soon as a 'yes' or 'no' is given, that player is given one of his or her opponent's matchsticks.
Play then rotates so that partners swap and change until everyone has played against each other. The first player to lose all their matchsticks - or the one with the least at the end of the tournament - is the winner.
Tap the pan
A game of suspense and deduction.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
A hilarious game that requires nerves of steel!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
Messy, frustrating but ultimately rewarding!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 much do you value your own property? This game will put you to the test.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.