Board games are great to play with a bunch of people. Set a night or afternoon aside and bring on the fun.
Get the Invites Out
Invite your guest through email or texting and ask them what their favorite board game is. Take a poll by their suggestions and narrow it down to a few games everyone will enjoy. Check out Evite.com for emailing your guest with a fun invitation.
Get Game Space Ready
With most games you can up to eight players at a time or you could set up stations, tables with four at each game. You will have different games at each table. Once your players are seated put up a whiteboard or chalkboard with the game menu and players.
Fun Incentive
For the winners of the game have a grab bag ready with fun gifts that don’t cost a lot of money. Have the winner reach in and grab their gift such as a deck of cards, a game of Yahtzee, Uno etc.
Snacks
Keep your game players energy up with make ahead food and drinks. You could have a buffet table with small sandwiches, appetizers and fruits. Have bowls of pretzels, nuts, and chips available as well. Desserts need to be on this menu, make brownies, cookies or your favorite that is not to messy but will favor those with a sweet tooth. Make it easy on your self with plastic forks, spoons etc and paper plates and cups and plenty of napkins.
Get Your Game On
When choosing your games think of fun, brain teasers, silly, classic and new.
Suggestions:
Trivia Pursuit
Operation
Scrabble or Scatttergories
Checkers
Connect Four
Mental Floss
Yahtzee
Uno
Pictionary
Backgammon
Clue
Make your party one to remember, Enjoy!
Photo Courtesy of Salvatore Vuono at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
If your a foodie as I am, you love anything to do with food, recipes, cooking and eating delicious meals. There are many books on the market, memoirs, mysteries, humor and novels to name a few that are geared toward food lovers. A love for food, reading and great conversation can be shared with friends and family with your book club.
Get your book club going easily with these tips:
Get your Group together:
Contact family members, co-workers, friends and ask if they are interested. I am sure you know of a few people off the top of your head that like to read or cook, they should go at the top of your list. Invite at least 7-10 people to start.
First Meeting:
Your first meeting should be about picking a book everyone will enjoy. Have a list of at least 3 books available for your guest to choose from as too many books could get overwhelming. Once that book is chosen you can organize what day and time of the month is good for everyone for your first book review meeting. Let your friends know that you will be rotating meetings at each others homes and will put a list together along the way with more books to choose from.
Book Review Meeting
Have the first book review meeting at your home. Since your are the creator of this group, you should host. This is also a good way for your friends to see how you do it and be able to feel more comfortable for the next meeting if it is in their home. Send out a reminder of the day and time of the meeting a couple days ahead, and ask if anyone will not be able to attend. You will be serving food that is themed to the book, so getting a head count will help know how much to make. Arrange your furniture for conversation or set a table big enough to hold everyone.
Set aside at least 10 – 15 minutes at the beginning of this meeting for everyone to socialize a bit and then start to focus on the book. Explore the characters, the authors recipes, favorite parts of the book etc. The meeting should last about an hour and a half and you can serve the food as you are starting the review or after.
Theme your Dishes
Theme your dishes for the meeting to the book your reading. Try pulling out a recipe from the book and bring it to life for your group. If you cannot make the recipe, see if one of your members would like to give it a try. No time to cook? Visit your local bakery, deli or hold your meeting at a restaurant geared toward that dish.
Photo Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Maggies Mentions 