M & M or Skittle Ice Breaker Game

Posted on November 3, 2013 by Aunt Mo

Getting to Know You Game

Take a bag of M&M’s or Skittles candy and tell everyone to grab a handful…or specify a number (I prefer this if you have a large group so it doesn’t take so long- I suggest each family member take 4 or 5 candies) You might also choose to split up in smaller groups such as children under 12, 12 and over, young adults etc. if you have a larger group such as a family reunion.

Assign a different meaning to each color, blue= family, green=hobbies, yellow=animals, brown= work or school etc. Participants must tell one thing about themselves for how many candies they have in their hands using the colors as their guide. They may also eat them as they share their information. (“Blue…I have two sisters.”, then eats the candy. “Yellow…I have a dog named Kodi.”, and eats the candy etc.) If you have two or more of the same color you have to tell one thing per candy regardless the color.

This is a good ice breaker because you can play it as soon as your party is supposed to start and those that come a little late can participate when they arrive.

Dinosaur Party Game

Posted on November 2, 2013 by Aunt Mo

Carnivores vs. Herbivores Game

This is a fun dinosaur game to play outside. Divide family members into two teams, the Carnivores and the Herbivores.

Give each Carnivore a small sheet of dinosaur stickers. When you say "Go", the Carnivores chase the Herbivores. A Herbivore is "caught" when a Carnivore places a sticker on his or her back. The Herbivore must "freeze" until another Herbivore releases him or her by removing the sticker.

Play until the Carnivores run out of stickers. Distribute stickers to the Herbivores and repeat the game.

NOTE: This game comes from our Caveman Reunion Theme.
Caveman Reunion

Treasure Hunts and Scavenger Hunts part 2

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Aunt Mo

Scavenger Hunt Clues Using Pictures

Take a picture of the location of a hidden clue but only take a portion of the picture. In the example below you can see that just a portion of the word is shown. You could do part of a clock, drinking fountain, corner of tent, a car wheel with interesting rims etc. When the hunters figure out what the clue is a picture of they run to that location to get their next picture clue and so on until they find the treasure. This does take some advance planning but makes for fun hunt for even the very young that may not be good readers.

Secret Codes Hunt

Writing secret codes is another way to generate clues. Using numbers in place of letters is an easy way to create the code (1=a, 2=b, etc.), but using a backwards letter code can make things a little extra challenging. Decipher the clue to find out where to look for their next clue.

Urban Race

As a Youth Council advisor for our town, I had the fun opportunity to participate in a Great Urban Race at Utah State University. The teenagers learned a lot about the university by unscrambling clues and completing challenges to complete the race. The kids loved it and I couldn’t help but think what a fun activity it could be for a family reunion, especially if you held your reunion in a town that your family had ties to.

Urban Race is the team race that’s part photo hunt and part trivia. Teams must solve clues to find checkpoints throughout the city. To move on they must take photos or perform certain tasks to earn points.

The fun part of an urban race is that the use of cellphones is okay. Teams may call family members left back at the reunion site to get help with difficult trivia. Everyone gets a chance to participate in the fun.

Riddle Clues

Scavenger Hunt Ideas & Riddles | Treasure Hunting | Riddle Me

The most difficult part of a treasure or scavenger hunt for me is making up the clues, it’s also time consuming. I found a website that can help with that- it’s called “Riddle Me”. They have over Over 10,000 Riddles on 1,200 objects and can target different age groups and types of gatherings. Their program also lets you be in control over the time of the activity, because it lets you decide how many clues to print in a scavenger hunt.

Treasure Hunts and Scavenger Hunts

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Aunt Mo

Puzzle Treasure Hunt

Take a picture of where the treasure will be hidden. Cut up the picture of the location into several pieces. (The older the participants the more pieces)

Hide the pieces in a designated area. Players search for the pieces then try to assemble the puzzle to get the prize or treasure.

Sandbox Treasure Hunt

Sandbox treasure hunts are tried and true hunts. Hide pennies, nickels and quarters in sand or saw dust. Be sure and keep the sawdust and sand contained in a #10 tub, children’s pool or on a sheet of plastic.

Who’s Got the Key? Treasure Hunt

Gather as many spare keys that you can find. You will need a lot of keys so ask family members to bring their keys also. (You can purchase large lots of key blanks on eBay for under $10.00) Buy a lock and key. Put the lock on a treasure chest or box of some sort with hidden treasure in it. Hide all of the keys including the key that will open the lock. Everyone searches for a key, when they find a key they try it in the lock- if it doesn’t work they search for another key until someone finds the correct key and opens the treasure.

Digital Camera Treasure Hunt

This is such a fun idea for a family reunion. You’ll need one digital camera for each team. Give each team a list of things to take pictures of. If you want to put a family history spin on this hunt, challenge teams to find:

Someone who served in a war
Oldest relative at the reunion
Youngest relative at the reunion
Relative that has won a trophy
Someone that had a rotary dial phone
Relative who came the farthest distance to the reunion
Someone who has lived out of the country
The couple that has been married the longest

You get the idea- it’s fun to really make teams talk to their older relatives to find out the information. Be sure and take a team picture with each relative.

Cousin Bobbie planned a digital camera hunt as part of our Thanksgiving fun a few years ago. We had to find as many things on our list as possible, take a picture of them and return back to the meeting area and determine the winner. We had to find things like a scarecrow, pumpkin, cat, turkey and Christmas lights.

Family Reunion Helper

Your number one source for family reunion organization

Category Archives: party games