Thread: Adult Party - Do Games Work?

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Hi everyone

I'm moving into a new house the week before Halloween and so we're throwing a Halloween/Housewarming party! I'm very very excited because I've never had a whole house that was mine to decorate before - I want this to rock!

My problem is - we're a couple in our mid-twenties and so are most of our friends. I've read some great ideas for entertainment here but a lot of them I think our friends might feel self-conscious taking part in. I know for the most part people will just expect to show up in costume, eat some nibbles and get stonking drunk

I want it to be fun though, so I'm thinking it'd be nice to have activities set up that people can take part in, without having to try and get everyone organised at the same time, get people's attention etc. For example: I'm already thinking having a pumpkin-carving station would be nice, so people can carve a pumpkin, but no pressure for everyone to get down to it at once etc etc.

Does anyone else have any suggestions? Or experience with parties for my age group, with a group of friends who don't all know each other - some are mine, some are his, some are both so some people will only know a couple of others!

Thanks

Hkitten- I am actually in your "age group" and throw and adults-only party each year. The first year I did Tempt Your Fate (if you search it on the forum you'll find the rules) and it was a huge hit. I didn't know if people would really do it or not that first year- I was shocked that they participated and had a great time.

Last year we did the winking murderer game and they loved that too! Again, I wasn't sure how much they would get into it- but they really did. It only takes 1 or 2 outgoing people in your group to get excited about games (and prizes!) and it really gets the ball rolling! We have a mix of people- some know one another, others don't know everyone (or anyone) but with the booze flowing it always seems to work out.

We also always have decks of cards and board games out around the house for people if they want to do something in small groups- oh yeah and beer pong in the garage (complete with a trophy and all). Be sure to keep the halloween-themed tunes going throughout the night as well!

I don't know if this reply was helpful- but I've found that our guests do a great job with costumes and have a great time- even the more shy ones come out of their shells. Happy Haunting!

I'm in my early 20s and this is my second year throwing a party, I'm planning on doing the Tempt your fate game, a costume contest, and a best death contest. Everyone loved the costume contest last year, most walked around modeling for the other guests.

We're also going to be having beer pong and ring of fire along with a few other drinking games.

I'm in the same age group & my friends sound similar to yours. I have still been to affraid to try game like that but many seem to have success. We do a costume contest & I always have a photo op area.

We also have non Halloween activities like darts & air hockey. And always have decks of cards laying around.

Halloween Princess - what types of things do you do for the photo op area? This is something I always want to do every year, but have never quite accomplished. Last year, I bought a big old-looking gold ornate frame that had red splatter on it (quite appropriate, I thought!) and had people hold the frame how they wanted and took their pictures that way.

We are in your age group as well (ok, maybe slightly older) and last year we did the Tempt Your Fate game. I had some pretty wacky "fates" in there and my hubby made me tame it down a bit because he was worried that people wouldn't do any of them. I did (but threw some crazy ones in there anyways) and we were both really suprised at how much people really got into it. When I called for someone to come tempt their fate I had people fighting over who was going to go this time (they all wanted a turn).

This year we are going to do the fate game again and throw in the winking murderer as well. You would be suprised at how loose people can get.

We generally don't do games. Our parties have grown to 40-60 people and at about 10pm we black out the house and crank up the music. There is lots of dancing and its pretty loud and chaotic (but fun!). We do have a costume contest and stop the music to announce the winners.

I thought I would post here though and mention a game that another friend did at another (non-halloween) party that was fun, simple, and it didn't really matter who was playing and when. It was just a cocktail party with maybe 15-20 people.

I don't even know what it was called, but it went like this. The hosts bought a bunch of $1 lottery scratch tickets and put them on strings. When guests came in, they got one an put it around their neck. The game was, if someone got you to say the word "no", you had to give them your ticket. If you had several tickets, you had to give them ALL to the person if they got you to say no. So you can see what happens, some clever person engages people, gets them to say no, and and eventually this person has a huge pile of tickets around their neck. ... so of course everyone tries to approach them innocuously and try to get them to say "no" and get all their tickets.....! It really was fun. I was doing pretty good for a while buy approaching people with a pitcher of margaritas and asking "Margarita?" (many would say "no thanks"....).

We buy glow sticks every year for our guest, people have fun with them when the house blacks out. This year I bought 100 necklace ones, but also 25 much thicker, shorter kind, that will throw a lot of light.

I was thinking of maybe adapting this no game to the glow sticks, and the scratch tickets. Once the lights went out (we then turn on some blacklights and dim "effect lights, its not like pitch dark or anything....) you be able to see who had the "fat sticks"...and could try to get them.

Thoughts? Ways to adapt it? Maybe something about secretly giving out the fat sticks to some people before the blackout and then they activate them once the lights go out??

God I love Halloween.....!

We're a little bit older, but have been doing games at our parties the past 4 years. Everyone says that these are their favorite part of the party because it's something other than standing around chatting, eating and drinking. Our party started with about 15 guests the first year (we were new to the area) and we're expecting 60+ this year--people actually approach me in my kids' school and mention our party and try to get invited.

We've done the Tempt Your Fate game each year, with huge success.

Another fun one has been a donut relay. We tie donuts (the mini chocolate covered ones are best--the powdered sugar gets MESSY and can make you choke a bit) to string (be sure to use twine, and not yarn--otherwise you get fuzz in your mouth). Then attach the strings to a pole suspended in the front hallway. We only have room for about 6 donuts at a time, so we break up into several heats, and then the winners of each heat compete in a final stand-off. Silly and good for a lot of laughs.

Last year we did a "head waiter" game where we broke up into teams and in relay fashion, each member had to carry a decorated "head" (fully inflated balloon) on a plastic plate from one end of the room and back, then pass the plate to the next person. If the head fell, they had to try to get it back on the plate without using their hands. Turned out to be even funnier than we had anticipated as other teams' members would try to blow the balloons off the plates as they passed by.

We also added another relay-type game (think we found the idea here, but possibly another forum) where you put a cucumber into one leg of a pair of pantyhose and then tie the other leg around your waist. Then you have to use the cucumber to hit a mini pumpkin and roll it across the room. Then pass off the pantyhose to the next team member waiting on the other side. Definitely one to save towards the end of the night for the most laughs and best hip action...

This year we are planning a ton of "minute to win it" style games with Halloween themes/props. It's also going to tie into our Tempt Your Fate game. All the ping pong balls will be made to look like eyeballs, etc. We're going to have people compete head-to-head in the games, and the winner will decide whether to tempt their fate, or to make the loser tempt theirs. Should be good for some laughs.

Have fun, and remember that your attitude towards the games will affect your friends' attitudes--make it silly, fun, a little stupid, maybe a little raunchy and they will follow along.