What Shall We Play at Our Family Parties?

In the holiday seasons family parties abound. They are held in the evenings and at soirées; for their sake tables are prepared, laden with kinds of sweets and delicious dishes, and the corners of the houses are adorned with flowers and green boughs. Sometimes colored paper is called in to help, hung as crowns over the doors and windows; and candles and electric lights are multiplied, so that the drawing room looks smiling and joyful.

The lady of the house remains, until the last moment before the guests arrive, worn out with this matter and that, to make certain that everything is ready, and that the table lacks none of the dishes customarily served in the holiday seasons...

Yet one point remains in the housewife's mind in a state of questioning and doubt: how shall we occupy the guests? How can we create a merry atmosphere in which ease and good acquaintance prevail among all? And here, most often, the shortcoming occurs, and the evening stays tepid and stiff, despite its material lavishness, and despite the effort the housewife expends to no purpose...

The truth is that the organizing of games suited to mixed evening parties seldom receives much attention from any lady among us; she seldom realizes that on these games depends, to a great extent, the success of these parties, and their coming off harmonious and complete...

...These are observations which “The Woman's Voice” offers its gracious readers, hoping they will hold the benefit hoped for.

The important thing, before all else, is that the housewife prepare everything she will need in the course of the games, so that no confusion or long waiting occurs during play. And here, Madam, are some games with their explanation:

1 - The game of things out of their places:
Before the hour of the party, place some twenty objects in half-hidden spots of the drawing room itself: say, a white sheet of paper among the flowers, a hairpin in the curtain, a rose on the picture frame, a small ball in the fruit basket, a large button on the table, and so on...

Distribute papers and pencils among those present and ask them to note down in silence, for ten minutes, all of these things that they see. When the time is up, the longest list is read out and its owner is given a prize.

2 - The sentence-building game: The guests play it seated. The first begins with a single word; the person beside him adds a second word, and the third a third word — on condition that he neither ends the sentence nor uses “but” or “any of the conjunctions.” In either of these two cases the loser leaves the circle, and play continues, forming meaningful sentences that never end...

This game suits a large number of

guests, and those of a good mental level.

3 - The game of acting out the verbal nouns: This is one of the games accompanied by movement, and it is a favorite at family parties.

One of the guests goes outside the room, and the company agrees in whispers on one of the verbal nouns — say “laziness, love, drowsiness, anger,” and so on... Then the person comes in from outside and asks one of those present to give him a cigarette, another to light the fire, and a third to kiss his neighbor, for example — on condition that these acts be performed in the spirit of the noun secretly agreed upon. If it is “laziness,” the acts are performed in the spirit of laziness, “in pantomime,” and so on, until the noun is guessed; then a second person goes outside and the game begins anew...

4 - The musical circle game: It is worth mentioning that games accompanied by music spread among the guests an air of gaiety and merriment...

Seat the company in a circle and bring some objects that provoke laughter: old spectacles, a false nose, a dog's face, an old hat trimmed with flowers, the aged grandfather's tarboush, and so on... To the strain of the music the guests pass one of these objects from hand to hand, and the person who receives it when the music stops puts it on, and it stays on him until the end of the game, when all these objects have run out.... This game stirs up life and a welcome spirit of gaiety.