Brilliant party games to make a chiminea gathering go with a swing

Winter? Pah! You fearlessly throw ice cubes down the very string vest of winter, without a care in the world, thanks to your chiminea. As long as it isn’t actually raining or sleeting you’ll stay warm. Actually, although you’re not meant to light a chiminea indoors, you can fire her up under a car port or similar open shelter and you’ll stay dry as well. How cool is that! Anyway there you are, friends and family, gathered around your chim with a glass of something festive in hand, decked out in your best Christmas jumpers. You’ve eaten a load of lovely festive snacks cooked on the chiminea, now you’re in need of entertainment or the event will tail off and you’ll end up trailing back indoors. It’s time for some fun and games. Here are five of the best party games, perfect for grown ups as well as children.

A party games classic – Giant garden jenga

Why are the best games often the simplest? Jenga is a super-simple game of skill invented by Leslie Scott, named after the Swahili word for ‘build’. You take turns taking one block at a time out of a tower of 54 blocks, putting each removed block back on top of the pile. If you fail to remove a block or make the tower collapse, you lose. You can either buy several ordinary, small jenga sets for your guests to enjoy outdoors at the table or take turns playing giant garden jenga on the patio or lawn.

Outdoor blind man’s buff

You don’t need equipment for blind man’s buff. Just a blindfold. It’s a game for children but like most kids’ games, it’s also enormous fun for grown ups… especially when you’re in party mode, if you get my drift 😉 If you only have a small garden it probably isn’t much good unless you take to the streets, but if you have a large space including outbuildings, bushes or trees, you could keep yourselves occupied for ages hiding and seeking.

Twister – The 1970s classic

Roll back time to the ’70s and you’d find many a family decked out in slacks and polo necks, slugging back the Mateus Rose, eating prawn cocktails followed by Coronation chicken, then repairing to the lounge for a game of Twister. It’s enjoying a come-back, so grab yourself the board game and prepare for mass hilarity. Twister is a crazy game invented by the US toymaker Milton Bradley Company and Winning Moves. You spread the big plastic mat on the floor, then spin the spinner to see which coloured dot you have to move your hand or foot to, for example, ‘right hand red’. If there are only two of you it’s quite a challenge. But four or more players means you’ll have to contort yourself into some savagely tricky positions to get where you need to be. You touch the mat, you lose. Add a few glasses of wine to the proceedings and it’s impossibly funny to take part in, even funnier to watch.

Annoy people with the railway station game

This one’s a bit of a joke, always ridiculously entertaining. A few of you need to be in the know, the rest have to try to figure out what the rule of the game is. To start with, someone who has played before names a railway station. The next person along also names a railway station, and it’s either right or wrong. Those in the know groan when someone gets it wrong, cheer when they get it right. What’s the rule? The railway station is only correct when you say ‘errrr’ first, as if you’re thinking hard. If you don’t say ‘errr’ before you say the railway station’s name, it’s wrong. You won’t believe how annoyed the ignorant players become when they fail to guess the rule, even when those in the know are ‘errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring’ like mad, exaggerating it like crazy.

Consequences – All you need is paper and pen

Consequences is another really silly game that makes parties special. Grab a pen and paper each. Then jot down these categories, with a space between each category for the answer.

• Name
• Name
• Location
• What he said
• What she said
• The consequence

First, make a circle. Then you each write down the first answer, picking the name of someone you know, or a celebrity, or a pet, whoever you like. Then fold the paper down so nobody can see your answer, and pass it to the person on your right. Then you all write down the second name, fold the paper over again and pass it on again. Once all the questions have been answered, you take turns unfolding the papers and reading out the stories you’ve created. Here’s one from last year: ‘Santa Claus and Madonna met in the frozen fish section at Morrisons. He said, “I don’t know how you can bear to touch one of those with your bare hands”. She said, “I just scored twenty of them from my mate down the road”. In consequence, they moved to Alaska and lived unhappily ever after’. Yes, it’s daft. But daft is what Christmas fun is all about! No chim? OMG… how can you have an alfresco chiminea party without one? Luckily we can still deliver one to you before the big day, so get busy with the mouse.