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Games & Activities

Here are a few parlor games to keep kids occupied and having fun during your party.

The Memory Game:

Players sit in a circle.  The first player starts by naming something they ate at their holiday dinner -- "At my dinner, I ate turkey".  Moving clock-wise the next player repeats what the first player said and adds another item -- "At my dinner, I ate turkey and stuffing".  Each player then goes in order repeating everything that has been named and adding one item.  If any player misses a menu item they are out, until only one player remains.

Bird, Beast, or Fish :

You have to think fast for this game.
Everyone sits facing the leader. The leader points to one of the players and says either "BIRD," "BEAST," or "FISH." The chosen player must come up with the name of an animal that fits the category before the leader counts to ten. No repeating! If the player does not respond in time, she is out. The game continues until only one player remains. As you can guess, after a few rounds it can be hard to think of an animal that has not already been mentioned! 

Cornucopia:

The old "Fruit Basket" game with a Thanksgiving name.
The players sit on chairs forming a circle. There should be one more player than there are chairs. The player without a chair is the leader. The leader points to each of the other players and gives them a name, such as "Squash," "Corn," "Apple," "Turkey," anything related to Thanksgiving.

After everyone is named, the leader calls out two of the names, "Corn and Apple." Those two players must quickly switch places. The leader continues calling like this (keeping up a brisk pace) until suddenly she says "The cornucopia has tipped over!" Everyone, including the leader, then scrambles for a new place. The one who ends up without a seat is the new leader.

The leader may give the same name to more than one person. This makes the switching of places a little more confusing and a lot more exciting. 

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