Games to Play at a Luncheon

Luncheons can often become rather dull if all that you and your guests do is eat. So, inject some fun into the event by playing some unique, indoor games that can help break the ice for your guests as well as provide a little silliness in between the courses of the meal.

As your guests enter the luncheon space, pin to the fronts of their shirts an index card with their name on the front of the card and a number on the back. Make sure that the numbers on each card are different, and follow a sequence. The guests will then walk around and meet everyone else at the luncheon. Once everyone has become acquainted, have your guests flip their cards over to hide their names, and show only the number written on the back of the card. The group now must guess which names go with which numbers by writing them down on a piece of paper. Whoever has the most correct guesses wins the game.

While you and your guests sit around the table in a circle, you can begin this game by stating a word that pertains to the reason for your luncheon or a particular theme. For instance, if you're having a bridal shower luncheon, you can say the word "bride." The person next to you would then have to recite your word and add a word of her own. This pattern of adding a word and reciting back the words that came before continues around the table until all but one person is out for breaking the pattern and forgetting a word.

To play this game, you will need to gather approximately 10 spices from your kitchen's spice rack. Put them each in separate containers. Bring these containers to the luncheon, and number each spice. Line them up on a table, and give each guest a piece of paper with numbered lines corresponding to the numbers of the containers. The guests can then go through the line and smell each spice, writing down their guesses on the pieces of paper. Once everyone has finished guessing, announce the correct spices starting from the first to the last. Whoever correctly guessed the most number of spices wins the game.

To play this game, you will first need to write down on strips of paper several names of famous people and then put these strips into a hat or container. Arrange your luncheon group into a circle, and start the game by pairing up two people sitting next to each other. The person on the left can be the clue-giver, and the person on the right can be the guesser. The clue-giver will pick one of the strips of paper and give as many clues as to who the famous person is without actually saying that person's name. Once the guesser correctly guesses the name, the clue-giver can pick another strip of paper from the hat until the pair's 30 seconds are up. Then, the person to the right of the guesser becomes the guesser, and the guesser becomes the clue-giver.