Fun Cabin Fever ideas for your/ our community?

January 23, 2012 8:24 AM

We'd like to hold a Cabin Fever party at our public library next month and are looking for a few creative ideas. We're in New Hampshire & a break during the long winter spell is always welcomed.

In the past we've set out various board games and invited local musicians to play. This has worked well, but we like the idea of not repeating ourselves and are interested in ideas that are bit more outside-the-box/ wacky. Cordova, Alaska's Ice Worm Festival comes to mind, so we'll also be doing some homework on our to find ideas with particular local resonance.

posted by woodman to society & culture (8 answers total)

How about some sort of arts/crafts contest? I'm thinking of the Bravo show Work of Art, which you could base it on. Have artists in various media come by with their tools of the trade, give them a theme and a couple of hours, then have the results judged and auctioned/raffled off/given to the other people who attend the party.
posted by xingcat at 8:27 AM on January 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

When I've been to these events one of the things I really like is Really Bright Lights, like grow light bright with a lot of plants/greenery around. You can make ice candles and put them outside [or the normal paper bag/sand ones] and then have people come in to a brightly lit and very warm room. I'm not sure how much flexibility you'll have but things that would help people bring the sun/weather into their house like sun paintings, moss gardens, maybe steel drum lessons or some other freely available music thing.
posted by jessamyn at 8:39 AM on January 23, 2012

woodman: "This has worked well, but we like the idea of not repeating ourselves and are interested in ideas that are bit more outside-the-box/ wacky."

If that's the case, you should serve pancakes. Pancakes! PANCAKES!
posted by mkultra at 8:43 AM on January 23, 2012

I'm with jessamyn on the bright lights and warmth - I came in to say crank up the heat and invite people to come in their shorts and tshirts. Have them bring flip flops to change into as well. Put out beach chairs and picnic blankets; serve lemonade, iced tea, hot dogs and hamburgers; play bird songs and other spring and summer type sounds over the speakers. Basically make it feel like a different season inside.
posted by attercoppe at 9:10 AM on January 23, 2012 [5 favorites]

My parents had a summer-themed party one winter that was a huge hit. They set up in the sunroom with heaters going (completely fogged up the windows), served summer food, everyone wore shorts and t-shirts or Hawaiian shirts. One guy wore long johns underneath so he could walk over in the cold but that made it even better.

Since you're a library you could pull out all kinds of summer books (gardening, baseball, sleepover camp) so it looks like you've stepped right into July.

If I dropped by the library on a cold and wet winter day to find summer, I would be thrilled (and throw off my winter jacket as quickly as possible)!
posted by hydrobatidae at 11:06 AM on January 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

You could have a Jack Nicholson impersonator trapped behind a partially shattered door, with an ax, a la The Shining. I think that qualifies as wacky.
posted by cyndigo at 2:56 PM on January 23, 2012

Show a summer-themed movie. Play Beach Boys music. Have a limbo contest. Make s'mores (not sure how without a fire - maybe bring out a microwave?) Teach everyone camp songs. Have a summer-themed scavenger hunt, maybe related to summer-y books(?) Give everyone big sunglasses.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 3:01 PM on January 23, 2012 [1 favorite]

What about a summer camp-themed party? (your location - NH - and the "cabin" part of "cabin fever" gave me the idea, along with the summer suggestions above). You could assign people to different "cabins" and have mini-competitions, arts-and-crafts, camp songs, talent show, s'mores (great idea, @SuperSquirrel!) and hot dogs, camp-themed movies and story-readings, ghost stories...
posted by purlgurly at 8:15 PM on January 23, 2012 [1 favorite]