Help me plan a cracker surprise
November 30, 2015 3:41 AM   Subscribe

Every year I have a small christmas party with friends. I like Christmas Crackers, but find the contents boring, so I generally produce a set of crackers which are a bit more interesting. Help me plan something for this year.

Originally these had a small bottle of booze, a shot glass and a cocktail instruction (the cocktail was a shot made of two spirits) so you had to find your partner, mix a drink hey presto.
Last year I made hats covered in games and crucially a number which indicated your place in the white elephant gift exchange.

More info.

I have two weeks.
I need 8 crackers.
I have a vague idea which I'll sketch out below, but feel free to put forward your own.
I need to include. A gift. a number between 1 and 8. A measure of interactivity to get people moving around. A game or two which can last all evening.
(Example, last year had hats with a name game name on the outside and a werewolf role on the inside.

My current idea, (which I need opinions on and refinements to):
Inside each cracker is a code.
I buy a bunch of these suction cup bluetooth speakers
The recipient has to pair their phone with the speaker and play some music and use that to hunt out their speaker which is hidden somewhere in the house.

At the speaker is an envelope containing: Their white elephant Number, and.... something else. Some party game piece or card or role.
(They get to keep the speaker, they're super cheap, it's about £30 for 8)

So what goes in the envelope?
Any other ideas for how to do this?
Could I put something else in the cracker?
Any idea of fun party games to integrate?
I'm very much at the brainstorming stage, but I don't want to brainstorm with friends because I need them to be surprised. So that's where you guys come in!
posted by Just this guy, y'know to Grab Bag (5 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
I have multiple sets of Bluetooth speakers and headsets and picking "the right one" out of the list is a pain in the ass.

I see right now when I open my pair list:

BLUEDOT SOUND
P131
P131
P131
BLUEDOT SOUND
WINDOS 7-24
CARBRAND
CARBRAND

So the first one to pair and play could be first pick and so on. Or just write the number on the speaker with a marker.
posted by tilde at 3:45 AM on November 30, 2015


You should first make sure that everyone there has a phone capable of this kind of technology and none of your guests are Luddites like me, with ancient unbreakable Nokias which make calls and texts and do not much else.
Just saying.
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 3:55 AM on November 30, 2015 [4 favorites]


Response by poster: We're all tremendous nerds, so phone tech shouldn't be a problem.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 7:46 AM on November 30, 2015


Since the Bluetooth speakers have a (at max) 10 meters range (and realistically, it is more like 5-8 meters, particularly if separated by walls or other barriers), it seems like the playing "field" would be really crowded - kind of like "bumper cars". Is that the idea? Would all 8 people be looking for their source speaker in one 8 square meter room? Then would the clue on the envelope take them to other areas of the house to find their white elephant?
posted by apennington at 7:53 AM on November 30, 2015


Response by poster: Some good discussion of interesting games in this thread which I will probably use.

I especially like Christmas Assassin.
"everyone has a different Christmas Ninja objective (put a brussel sprout in a specific person's pocket, make the person wear a silly hat, etc). If you succeed, your target is out and you take over their current objective (like Assassin). You should keep your target secret so no-one knows who's trying to do what to whom. It will come down to 2 people trying to something to each other, but you won't necessarily know when you're one of the last two."
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 6:53 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]


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