Christmas games to play with grandparents

However much you prepare for the Christmas season, there is always going to be the odd evening or afternoon when the weather’s too bad for a walk and no one can face watching yet another repeat of Singin’ in The Rain, or playing yet another game of Monopoly. The answer? Some good old-fashioned fun. From parlour games to electronic games – we’ve come up with some fun ideas that might help you, your children, and your older parents to get through the festivities with a smile.

Parlour games

Evergreen favourites, such as charades and Who Am I?, are good fun, but there are plenty of other parlour games to play, many dating back to the pre-computer and smartphone era of Victorian times.

Cotton wool

This is a very silly game, but one which should appeal to people of all ages. The players sit around a table and you put a small ball of cotton wool in the centre. All players then attempt to blow the cotton wool off the table. The player it falls closest to can pay a previously agreed forfeit if you like!

Reverend Crawley’s game

For this game, a sort of Victorian version of Twister, you’ll need 8-10 players. Everybody stands in a circle and links hands with two different people, neither of which should be the person next to you. Once a human knot has been created, the group must try to work out how to untangle themselves without anyone letting go of any hands. By contorting and twisting, you may end up with one two circles of players. Watch your back!

Kim’s game

A really simple concept, but frustrating in a good way, this memory game is apparently named after the book ‘Kim’ by Rudyard Kipling.  First, you must fill a tray with 10 or more random objects and ask everyone playing to try to memorise the items. The tray is removed and everyone has to list as many of the items that they can remember. If you want to make it really competitive, split the groups into two separate teams.

Spoons 

This one is a frantic, but fun combination of a card game and a parlour game. You need a pack of playing cards and some spoons. Make sure you have one less spoon than the number of players.The spoons are placed in the middle of the table and everyone is dealt four cards. The dealer then starts to deal the remaining cards out one at a time, face down, to each player in turn. Players must either pass the card on, or keep it and pass on one of their other cards.The first player to get four of a kind must grab a spoon from the pile and as soon as the other players realise, they must all try and grab a spoon. The person left without a spoon is the loser. The winner is the only player left with a spoon.

Card games

Card games don’t require any physical energy, but plenty of concentration and with everyone sitting around the table it is likely to get competitive, but it should also be a lot of fun. Get the grandparents to teach some old-fashioned card games to the grandkids, such as gin rummy, cribbage, whist, brag, etc. The kids will be surprised at how much fun these games actually are.

Scrabble alternatives

Scrabble is a perennial favourite word-based game, but there are some fast-paced alternatives you can try, such as Boggle, where you have to write down as many words as you can make from a 4×4 grid of letter within a timed period.

Bananagrams is a game where you play with similar tiles to Scrabble, but there is no score for individual letters. Tiles are placed face-down in the middle of the table in a communal pool. Each player starts at least 11 tiles (depending on how many people are playing) and must begin to build a word grid. As soon a player has used up all their tiles, they shout  “peel!” and take another tile from the pool. All other players must also take a new tile and start to rearrange their grids. The first player to use up all tiles with none left in the pool shouts “bananas!” to win.

Electronic games

Last, but not least, why not get your teenagers to play their favourite old video games with their grandparents?

Nintendo Wii, Playstation, and Xbox all have games that are family appropriate from Wii Bowling, and Mario Kart, to Supertetris. Studies have shown that the over 65s are increasingly interested in gaming and this activity can bring cognitive and emotional benefits to the elderly.

Here’s to a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

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