General Chat

I was pleased to see yesterday that my Granddaughter-in-law took her two boys out (4 and 6) on a scavenge hunt. Apparently they both had books and things like binoculars, magnifying glasses etc to make it interesting but they had to tick things in the book that they found. apparently they loved doing it. When they got home the eldest insisted on carrying on by hiding things around the house for his Mum and brother to find.

when our children were young, and we used to have the grandsons here for a week in the school holidays I used to organise things like scavenge hunts round the garden

This reminded me of party games that are probably not now played by the more sophisticated little ones at children's birthday parties.

Like 'Hunt the thimble', no idea why it was a thimble but that was a stock game at any parties I went to as a child and we adapted it to hide something else at our children's parties.

I think pass the parcel may still be used, but some of the parties I went to had forfeits in as well.

Musical chairs, riotous and sometimes a bit dangerous but great fun.

there must be lots of silly games lost (depending on the age of the children of course)

there was always postman's knock, much enjoyed at youth club parties :-D

any others?

Blind Man's Buff, Oranges and Lemons, Nuts in May, The Farmer wants a Wife among others.

One game which was very popular with my sons, at the age of about 7+, was a "Treasure Hunt" with a difference. I used to hide a pack of cards all over the house (leaving out some rooms) all in full view so that they didn't have to start moving books or ornaments. I had a second pack and gave them one card each to find the matching pair. It was slow to start with, then got faster as they found each card and remembered where others were. I kept a score and the winner got a small prize.

That is a good one not heard of that.

Nowadays parties seem to be way over the top with bouncy castles, magicians etc.

I remember friend talking about playing Pin the tail on the donkey and I used to love Blind Man's Buff. :-)

There were also playground games with the Dinner Ladies.

Farmers in his den already mentioned

Big ship sails on the Ally Ally ooo sp.

Older girls entertaining by singing.

It is good some of the games are still going strong, but peer pressure to have the best party is very strong. Also , alot of parents dont want parties at home but at a venue where catering etc., is looked after.

People live in smaller houses also so no room for a large crrowd;

My grandchildren like to play I Spy, or look for a particular colour of car while travelling.


Sue

:-D

My two boys used to like the I Spy books that you could get and would like to "spy" things if we were on a journey.

I was a dinner lady and the smaller children used to like playing "what time is it Mr. Wolf".

Kath. x

Not a party game but I took a friends children out blackberrying once.

You would think I had taken them to a theme park.

We play 'party games' when we go camping.
2018, we had a Pirate theme, and had a treasure hunt where the children were given the first clue - then had to find the 'gold dubloon' (chocolate coin), where the next clue would be. This went on for ages. They had to bring back all the coins - none were to be eaten! :-D
After that - they devised their own treasure hunts.
We also played Pin the eye patch on the pirate, and hoop-la.

As for blackberrying - last year the 3 boys pleaded to go, in the small lane outside the site - I drew the short straw. A few blackberries remained uneaten, so the crumble was more apple than blackberry and apple!

It's also the time when I teach/remind them how to hoot like an owl!

Used to love going blackberrying as a kid.

The best; IMHO; party I ever did for my kids was for my then dinosaur mad son...filled an inflatable wading pool with sand, buried dinosaur fossils and footprints made out of dough in the sand. Gave them bucket and spade from dollar store; which became their loot bags afterwards; to dig up the bones. Then did the volcano for them to get the lava flowing everywhere....needless to say it was an outdoor summer party!! All the food was dino-themed too.

Although they do all three have tablets I am pleased that the two Great Grandsons and one Great granddaughter are taken out walking or doing outdoor activities.Gt Grandsons go camping with their parnts and extended families and Great granddaughter looks after their chickens, collects the eggs etc.

Yes I remember all the playground games from when I was at school (And that was a long time ago. Skipping with a long rope was the favourite though.When I was a lunch time supervisor, our kids were more likely to be found smoking behind the bike sheds than plating the big ship sails...... :-D

I have to say organising the children's parties I used to hate having to do all the prep for the games.

As an adult I (actually both of us) dislike party games of any sort. I remember my parents used to have the family (my aunts and uncles) over for various 'parties' and we would have to play silly games which, even as a child of about 10 I hated. They used to play pass the orange under your chin in teams and I can remember feeling embarrassed as the adults all laughed hysterically through the game. Then there was blind man's buff. Errgh hated it!!

I love outdoor activities with my 8 year old granddaughter, and you can still get the I Spy books - we have the tree one at the moment.

Last summer we really enjoyed doing a local Treasure Trail which I downloaded (I think it was about £10). Lots of looking for clues and seeing things we had never noticed before, even though we had walked thast route many times before. Fresh air, walking, history, improved her reading and as we spent some time along the seafront stopping off for ice cream. Win, win! I shall certainly look at getting another one for in the summer, as there are a few based in our area :-D

I remember that orange under the chin game Ann! Also the similar game played with a balloon.

Oh yes the balloon between the knees. :-D

I have just had a birthday and when I was opening a present my 4yr old granddaughter shouted no you have to pass it round.

pass the parcel I had forgotten about it.

:-D :-D :-D

I've just remembered a variation of the balloon / orange game.
This involved the outer casing of a matchbox ie. not the tray, but the sleeve it slides into.
The players are in teams and the matchbox is passed from one to another on the end of one's nose.
Health and safety would certainly frown on that now.

I love party type games and have organised many in my time and still do for the Grandchildren. I was a Brownie and Rainbow Guider for over 17 years so I have had plenty of practice and so has my daughter who was a Rainbow Guider before she moved away. The sillier the better for me and I always join in I have been grubby and extremely wet at times and love it :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

Takes all sorts LG :-D :-D How about eating food blindfold and guessing what it is? Ugh!!!

Yes Gwyn my family played that one too. Hopefully nobody ever had a cold. :-D :-D :-D

Yep and a good one for Halloween is mix up a bowl of cold custard and mashed jelly. Put in the jelly Halloween shapes and then pick them out with your teeth (individual bowls of course) :-D :-D :-D. Another one I always enjoyed the reactions too was a small 'feely bag' filled with cold cooked pasta, along with anything else cold slimy and squishy the girls loved trying to guess what they were. Cruel, cruel leaders we were ;-) :-D :-D :-D

Edit... I forgot to add we didn't expect the girls to do anything we were not willing to do, so we got mighty messy too :-D Also they were never made to do it so some just stood and watched and had a good laugh

Can't imagine it happening now but when I was 15 I went to a party in a boy's house and we played actual party games including the guessing what we were eating one. I did do it but hated it. (But liked the boy at the time, this was a few weeks before I met my OH).