The see-how-many-marshmallows-you-can-get-through-the-wreath-and-into-the-bucket-in-a-minute game.
The Can-you-stack-the-cups-with-one-hand-in-a-minute game.
So intense.
The How-many-ornaments-can-you-balance-on-a-yardstick-and-papertowel tube-without-it-falling-over-in-a-minute game.
The Can-you-get-the-red-pompom-on-a-string-up-on-your-vaseline-covered-nose-in-a-minute game.
So much harder than you would think, by the way. And Mason totally rocked it. Look at how into it everyone was!
I think competitiveness runs in this family.
My precious, slobbery Christmas baby.
The Nut-stacker game. Get it?
The How-many-ornaments-can-we-hang-on-the-string-without-using-our-hands-in-a-minute game.
And probably my favorite......the Can-you-get-the-cookie-from-your-forehead-into-your-mouth-without-using-your-hands-in-a-minute game.
So dang funny.
And then the Try-to-open-the-present-with-ski-gloves-on-before-doubles-are-rolled. Then your turn's over & the next person puts the gloves on & tries to get it open. Around the circle. But inside one box is a smaller present to open & so on & whoever gets down to the final gift on their turn gets to keep it.
The games were so much fun, and then we tried to end things on a more spiritual note with some beautiful Christmas music from some of our more musically talented family members (which would not be me).
Max said it was the best Christmas party ever.
But then he was the one who won the cash in the gift-opening game.
Then, one of our favorite families in our neighborhood, the Arnetts, invited everyone over for cookies & cocoa & then they heard that Santa might stop by........
......and sure enough! He did!!!
We thought for sure that Caroline would take one look at Santa & start screaming her head off, since she's in that I-don't-like-strangers phase. But she didn't. She saw that candy cane & didn't care about anything else!
Thank you Arnetts, for the super-fun shindig!
And especially thank you that I don't have to take any kids to the mall Santa!
We're so lucky to have such great friends & neighbors & family to spend the holidays with.
99 comments:
Oh my gosh, I am totally stealing all those ideas for my Christmas party next year. Looks like you had a blast.
I love breaking tradition a little bit and go a little crazy. I might have to copy. rock on
Totally copying some of your games...Looks SO fun!
Hi... your post very interesting.
I am a new blogger...
Nice Post...
I want to follow you....
What a great idea ... so different and so fun! Visiting from Tip Junkie.
Those are so awesome! Great photography, too!
What camera and lenses do you use?
Saw this on Pinterest. Great ideas! Definitely want to do this with my husband's family this year for Christmas!
merricksart.blogspot.com
Wow, wow, wow. Just stumbled upon this post. =) This is the kind of family I always have wanted to be in!! Love the game ideas...we only have two kids and they only have two cousins, but by george I'm going to do my best to have holidays like this. Thanks for the inspiration!!!
Just found this on pintrest. Love it!
Tremendous ideas for great family times....I think I might try some ideas for my class party.
Great party ideas
Great family time...Love the ideas
Love all the ideas but I can't figure out how the red pompom on a string works. What do you have to do to get it to your nose?
Just found you on Pinterest! Love your Christmas party and your photos are Beautiful!! Your pictures made me feel like I was right in the room with you!
We always do the Gift Swap party with neighbors and added "Ugly Sweaters" to the mix a few years ago. I feel we'll be switching it up this year adding some of your great Minute to Win It ideas!!! Susie
Just found you on Pinterest and love your blog! I am a aspiring photographer and I love your work! I would love to follow your blog, but I don't see where to do it! Is it private? Beautiful work and great ideas for Christmas! There aren't nearly as many of us, but this would be so fun!
Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a wonderful family time!
I'm not copying your ideas...I'm coming to your next Christmas party!!!!!!!!
Wonderful idea! Can you tell me how you set up the buzzer to call end of time and prizes????? Thank you! Looks like so much fun!!!
Found your site through pinterest. I LOVE all these games and will for sure be using some of them for our Christmas this year! I love how much fun it looks like everyone was having. :)
Totally and completely FUN! So stealing parts of this- thank you for your inspiration!
Your photos are really great!
How creative!! My sister and I have been talking about doing games with the family on Christmas day...hope you don't mind if I borrow your ideas!!
Your games totally rock!!!! I'm gonna "borrow" some for our staff party this year! THANK YOU!!!
I love your party theme. I'm in the process of planning a little brother/little sister holiday party. I'm totally going with this theme!
Great! Thank you, will pass this post on to the christmas party palnners of the family....
I found your blog through Pinterest and I can't wait to try those party games at Christmas.
Please tell us how the red pom pom on the nose game goes. Do you put the string in your mouth and try to flip it up to your nose?
We too would like to play these games for our neighborhood Christmas party. We need a little help understanding the red pompom game also. We can't wait to play.
At our Christmas, each family is asked to contribute something-a reading, scripture, song, etc. A few years ago my immediate family started with a game-last Christmas, my mom, who is 92, said "ok Jean, when do we get to play a game?" It was great! We did minute to win it games & we had a blast-ESPECIALLY my 92 year old mother!!! God bless & have a wonderful CHRISTmas!
Nicole,
Your family functions look a lot like ours! It is soooo much fun to play together. I have a question about the reindeer nose game. Is there any way I can contact you for more specific directions? Thanks, Gail
You don't know me, but my niece told me to check out your blog - and I can see why! These ideas are fantastic and I'm totally going to use them for our Christmas party (all adults) on December 10th! I love it! What fabulous ideas. Beautiful blog - gorgeous pictures! Thank you for sharing! Love it!
LynnEl in Illinois!
Fantastic games...so much fun!Thank you for sharing Christmas joy. Will try a few of your games this Christmas.
We're Masons too and I think my family would love this! (even though we're all adults...) Totally copying for our Christmas Eve party :) Happy Holidays!
these look like so much fun. I'm stealing them for my kid's Christmas party.
I was wondering, on the "getting the pompom on your vaselined nose" game...do you put the string in your mouth or hands or what? I'm having a Christmas party and am going to use these in a couple weeks. Do you have any suggestions for a kids minute to win it?
Love, love, love these ideas and your blogpost makes me wish I was part of your family!!! What a wonderful night! I hope you don't mind me sharing these on www.juliecantrell.com I'll be sure to credit you, link to you, and send folks your way. Awesome blogsite!!! j
Awesome! Great ideas! Can't wait to try some of these this year!!!
How fun! When we watched this show last year I told my husband the ideas would make great party games.
oh wow! so much fun! great ideas! thanks for sharing! the pictures made me feel like a part of the family too! LOVE IT!!!!
So obviously I am not the only one who is loving the minute to win it game, by all the posts....can I be adopted by your family????? oh wait I have for kiddos of my own. I Would like to try and do this, this year. Did you have a game plan, a rough draft of sorts? Where did you get your ideas? (Besides the TV show)
I saw others ask about the pom pom, how did that work? I know it is a busy time of year right now, thanks and I hope to hear back from you.
We played alot of these games for Christmas last year. So much fun!!! We also do a chinese Christmas and instead of drawing numbers, the winner of each game got to go first. Just an idea. Your photos are great!! I was wondering if you could tell us what type of camera you use? Hope your Christmas is as fun and eventful this year.
Thank you so much for planning my holiday party for me! Can't wait to use these activities! Happy Holidays!
Thanks for planning my holiday party for me! I can't wait to use all these ideas. Happy Holidays!
Amazing Idea's!! Thanks so much for sharing. I can't wait to do some of these games at my Christmas Party this year. Another fun idea is getting teams of 2, tie one of their hands to each other, give them a box, wrapping paper, scissors, and tape and then give them 2 minutes to wrap the "gift". The best wrapped gift wins! It's fun to hear them "working together" lol
Great idea! What kind of camera do you have?!?
Love it!!!! I am going to copy some of your games;). Can I ask how you shot Santa in low-light?? Mine never turn out so well!
Great ideas--can totally see how I might adapt them for even a Halloween themed party--thanks.
Oh what fun you had! We will definitely use some of these games at our family parties this year. You have a beautiful family!
This post brings me a lot of joy. My husband created most (maybe all) of those games for Minute to Win It and I love seeing families play his games. :)
I noticed several comments asking about the reindeer game. What do you do with the string? Could you explain how to do that game? Want to do it with my daughter's class party. Thanks so much for all the ideas! kellybradshaw2@msn.com
Oh my word! This was a great find!
We have a tacky Christmas party every year for our Community Group and we did some of these. I also made up a few others... "coal in your stocking"- trying to get as many pieces of coal as you can in a minute, "Breezy Christmas Cards" --who can blow the Christmas card from one end of the table to the other the fastest (talk about getting dizzy!), etc... I had to do the cup stacking and you weren't kidding about it being intense. WE were competing boys against girls for fastest time and I won, but was shaking all over. ha! So fun!!!! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Thanks for inspiring us!!! What a lovely tradition =) We linked back to your post here! http://theeducatorsspinonit.blogspot.com/2012/01/family-fun-ideas-for-your-next-party.html
Had A TON of fun doing these games New Year's Eve with our family (ranging in age from 3-65 years old!!) Thank you!!!
PS...we used $1 scratch off lottery tickets for winners in each minute game. FUN, FUN, FUN!!!
~Just Jen
InSinkErator H-WaveSN-SS Involve Series Wave Hot Water Dispenser with Stainless Steel Tank, Satin Nickel
Seriously, I want to be a member of your family this Christmas. This looks like a blast!
what memories you are creating as a family! I love it!!
Games look like fun. So many kids though. Overpopulation is killing God's planet.
@Tamra - nobody asked your opinion of large family gatherings. keep your yap to yourself.
So awesome!! You would love what we implemented for our family for your own: We made a list of every person in the family, and the time they entered into the family via birth or marriage. Then we put the list in order and each person was assigned a number based on the time they entered the family. For example,My husband's dad was born first so he got #1. His mom is younger so she got #2. I married into the family in 2004 so I got #16 and so on.
The group was divided into the "Odds" and the "Evens". The goal of the holiday was to win the "Herzog Cup" through a series of activities, card games, board games, and other challenges.
I made "Jerseys" for each team member before we got down there for Christmas and wrapped each one. We opened them all at once and everyone was so excited to find out if they were an "Odd" or an "Even" and who was on their team! This will be a lifelong event. The next person born into the family will get a number and the next person who marries into the family will get their jersey given to him/her at their wedding.
To kick off the event, I wrapped up the "Herzog Cup" (a trophy) multiple times using as much tape as I could and the first team to unwrap the cup got it in their possession! Everyone stood in a circle and rolled the dice. If you got a "6" then it was your turn to try and open up the present.
You had to put on oven mitts before you started, and there were a couple of utensils to help you on your way if needed.
Here is my blog post about it (best Christmas ever) and now I will be using some of your ideas this year! http://blogbyaherzog.blogspot.ca/2010/12/christmas-2010.html
Wow! I found a link to this post on Pinterest today while browsing my "friend feed." I cannot begin to tell you how much seeing your family enjoy these games means to me. My husband is the supervising producer of Minute To Win It who made up the games for the show. He always says he wishes he had a career that made a difference in people's lives. I showed him this so that I could prove to him that the games he has created for MTWI have brought a lot of people together and made a lot of people happy. :) Makes me proud and happy.
Such beautiful photos and a fun amazing party - thank you in advance for fun get-togethers this year!
Can I be a part of your family?! Y'all look like you have a blast together!
these ideas look like so much fun! I know my kids would love doing this. Thank you for all the ideas!
Wow! there are a lot of comments on here! Just wanted to say that your photos are beautiful! Games look fun too!
Your games look like so much fun! And your pictures are great, so clear! I was wondering what camera you have? I'm looking into buying a new one, but kinda shopping around....
Hi, I am a complete stranger to you, but came across your blog via pinterest. Looks like you had a blast and it has inspired me to do something like this with my family this year. I love the opening of the presents with gloves, that's so cool! Are you LDS?
Congratulations on creating such a wonderful night. You've inspired me, your family, friends and countless others by having fun with the true spirit of Christmas! I will be using many of your ideas this year!
Look at all those children!!! What a glorious thing for all!!!
What kind of camera was used to take these pics?
I was wondering about the Vaseline on the nose game. I didn't quite get it. This looks like a total blast and a great way to spend a Christmas party with famille that includes everyone, young and old. I'm hoping to pull it off this Christmas, thanks for the idea!
Folks who are wondering about the vaseline pompom on the nose game.. I saw something similar on this blog.. seems like it's probably the same: http://www.parties4me.com/2010/12/christmas-minute-to-win-it-games.html
I love your idea and how close your family looks. What fun
I love these ideas! I will have to try some of them!
May I be so bold to ask what you used for prizes? Thanks for the ideas!
Can you give more detail on the pompom on a string game? Using all of these Friday at my after-Thanksgiving party. FUN!
Wonderful ideas! Works so well for short attention spans! LOVE. Thank you for sharing!
Our cousins gather and host a Pride & Prejudiced party on Boxing Day. We began when the BBC version was only available on VHS and we played games between each rewind. Even now, on DVD, we stop in all the same places and play small quick games. Thanks for the ideas. We will incorporate some into our special day.
Oh my goodness... hilarious. Can you please explain the rules to the red pom pom game. That one looks completely awesome and I would love to try that one.
These pictures rock! And that house is BEAUTIFUL!! What a fun night. Thank you for such a great post.
The lighting in these pictures is beautiful! How'd you do that????
What lens did you use in these pictures. The pictures rock!
Your pic are amazing I am learning photography now. What lens and settings did you use for the close up ones ? Please !
Just read your family Christmas party 2011 blog post. I have one thing to say.....
If that is your idea of a Family Christmas Party, please adopt me because that just looked so incredibly perfect!
How cool!! Thanks for the great ideas! Even better-- the way you captured all the fun!! Great photography! You caught all the emotion in the room and made me feel like I was there!
What kind of camera and lense did you use?
Awesomeness. So glad you let us spy into your sweet little family for a night. I needed these ideas to try to get our fam out of our "play the Christmas story movie one more time" rut!
These posts are very precious...I love the facial expressions on everyone elses faces...during the games...PRICELESS!!
Thanks for sharing! These look like so much fun...can't wait to try them out with our family this year!!
Thank you so much for posting your Family Christmas Party. I have a party on Thursday and will be using almost all your games! We play a Minute To WIn It at Senior Family Home Evenings and it is fun and since Grandma usually doesn't do fun things we are going to do this and liven the party up!! My only question is, how do you do the red pompom on the nose one? I hope I hear from you. Oh and your family is darling, especially your little girl!! noritasdream@gmail.com
What wonderful memories for your family and friends. THank you for sharing.
Wow! Looks like so much fun! What kind of camera did you use? Those pictures are so beautiful!!
Lindsey @ GrowingKidsMinistry.com
very first picture... boy in blue shirt... look at his tongue! too cute!!!
Omg this is SUCH a great idea!!! Looks like yall had a blast! I am definitely going to have to mention this to my family! :]
Hello... I found my way here via Pinterest... great games!!!! and wow, I'm SO envious.... my children and I don't have any extended family and can only dream of a Christmas like this. Xx
What GREAT ideas! We have a big family, and my brother in I live in 2 different states far from home; we were not able to be there in December, but are going in April, so we have decided to do what we did many years ago, have "Christmas" in April! Some of these games will be great to try!
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