Simple Christmas idea #27 -- Play a simple game

Have fun with charades or SPOONS...

Or any other game that gets people moving, laughing, and being silly. Twenty Questions, Blind Man's Bluff or other old fashioned parlour games that get people together and having fun are a great idea for these long wintry evenings. I won't get into the rules of charades (the silent acting out of a word or phrase in competition between two teams) because everyone has their own way of playing.

We had an interesting game of "Mafia" after Christmas dinner, but it's too convoluted to explain here. I can, however, tell you about SPOONS. I think I'll have to talk my family into cutting their fingernails so we can have a crazy game or two. The basic idea is this: take a deck of cards, and pick out as many sets of four as there are people playing. Put as many sturdy spoons as there are players MINUS ONE into the middle of the table or circle (we've played it on the rug in the past). Deal all the cards. On the count of three, every player passes one card to the left, until someone gets four of a kind and grabs a spoon. The person who doesn't get a spoon is "out" -- but can remain in the circle because dealers have been known to accidentally deal in people who were previously out. Remove a spoon each time a person is "out" -- when only two players are left, the first one to get the spoon is the winner!

If you're looking for a good list of Victorian parlour games, click here, and have fun!