My last workout of 2012 consisted of several hours of deep cleaning my house in preparation for our second annual New Year’s Eve party. The party started at 7 p.m. with a potluck dinner for which each of my friends generously brought a dish and drinks to share with the 11 kids and 11 adults in attendance. After dinner there was a concert put on by the kids, who told jokes, danced, played music or sang a song. My favorite joke:
Five-year-old: “Why can’t Cinderella play soccer? Because she always runs away from a ball!”
After the talent show we forced everyone to watch a slideshow of pictures from the last year. I’d asked for photo submissions and put together a mix that included everyone — or rather, poked gentle fun at everyone.
Then it was time for the highlight of the night, the Minute to Win It games.
Scoreboard poster made by my 10-year-old
I’d never watched the NBC game show Minute to Win It, but after my husband played some of the games as an ice breaker at a work mixer, we went online and learned how to play some of the Minute to Win It games at home. You guys, it was an absolute riot!
Here’s my husband playing “Penny Hose” (retrieve two pennies from the legs of pantyhose without touching your hands together):
Me and Mike “Hangin’ Low” (tie a banana to a string and use it to knock two oranges into a hula hoop on the floor):
I distinctly recall one of the guys proclaiming, “I don’t need no stinkin’ banana!” 😉
We also played “A Bit Dicey” (stack six dice on top of a popsicle stick hanging from your mouth), “Flip Your Lid” (set a red Solo cup on the edge of a table and use one finger to flip it through the air onto a beer bottle), “Office Tennis” (two people use clipboards to bat a crumpled paper ball into a wastepaper basket), and “Nut Stacker” (the men feared this one but it involved the harmless use of a candy cane to stack seven metal nuts in a tower).
My team, Material Girls (named for our cone party hats used in inappropriate ways a la Madonna), tied for first place but lost in the tie-breaker “Gangnam Style” dance-off (I link to the YouTube video for my parents, who might possibly be the only ones not to have seen that video yet).
You know it’s a successful party when the guests stay until 2:30 a.m. and TWO sleeping little kids somehow manage to pee on THREE different beds. I finally tumbled into bed at 4 a.m. I cannot remember the last time I stayed up that late. Still, I must not have partied too hard because I was up at 7 a.m. and managed to crank out that 2-hour bike ride on New Year’s Day.
Have you ever played Minute to Win It games? What’s your favorite party game?
Fit Fun Mom 