Old Fashioned Games for Family Reunions
- Pit the two sides of a family against one another in a game of tug-of-war.tug-of-war image by Pavel Losevsky from <a href='http://www.fotolia.com'>Fotolia.com</a>
A gathering of a large group of people of all ages---who are familiar with one another but go long intervals without seeing each other---sets the stage for hours of activities and games. Family reunions are the ideal venue for old-fashioned games, most of which are physical activities requiring a lot of communication and interaction. Begin each game with just the kids, and incorporate the adults in to really get the party started. - Tug-of-war is a classic family reunion game. All that's needed is a long, strong rope, a muddy area and willing participants. People should be divided into teams so that each side has roughly the same amount of strength, even if one side ends up having more people. In between the tugging teams, a small stream or newly created mud slick increases the stakes for both sides and provides motivation. Family against family, women against men and all the kids against the strongest adult are some team variations.
- You can play egg toss with raw eggs or water balloons. Family members pair up in partners to form a team. They face each other, standing about 3 feet apart. One tosses the egg to the other. If the partner catches the egg, both teammates take one giant step back from one another, and toss again. Teams that drop their eggs are out of the game. The last team with a whole egg wins.
- Potato sack races are simple: competitors put both feet into a burlap sack at the start line, and hop as fast as they can to the finish. Relay sack races send participants around a cone and back, where they tag a teammate and hand off the sack. The first team with all its participants back at the start wins. Team races require an even number of participants on each team, split between the two sides of the field. Competitors hop to the other side and hand the sack off to their teammates, who hop back. The team whose members exchange sides first wins.
- In the three-legged race, two participants work as a team. They stand side-by-side and tie their inside legs together with silk cording---which doesn't chafe like regular rope. As with the potato sack race, the team that makes it to the opposite end of the field first wins. You can use burlap sacks instead of a cord, and one person puts his right leg in, the other, his left leg. A variation with potentially hilarious consequences is to tie together a row of people. In this case, start with three family members and work up to 10.
