It is to laugh

by Edna Geister

The group is divided into two sides. Both sides take a few minutes to see what resources they have in the way of stunts. They then throw up a coin to see which side is to perform first. The side which wins, that is, does not have to perform until the other side has given its stunt, starts to count slowly, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5,” and so on up to ten. If some member of the other side has not started to give a stunt by the time they count to ten, one point is gained by the counting side. If someone has started to perform however, they are to stop counting the minute the stunt begins.

Then their turn to put on a stunt comes, and the other side starts to count to ten. If they fail to have a stunt ready before “ten,” they lose a point to the other side.

There is always an intermission of one minute after a stunt has been completed, to give the opposite side that long to get a stunt ready. The stunts may include any possible kind of entertainment, from doing an esthetic dance to “speaking a piece” or a funny story. After ten minutes of this, the side that has the most points gets the most refreshments.

Games for Large Groups.

The Changeable Grand March.

There is nothing more valuable than the Grand March for a group of guests who don’t know each other and who have very little in common (as yet!). Just the ordinary Grand March will not do at all. It must be a grand Grand March, one which will thaw out every particle of ice, one which will cause the kind of laughter that creates that wonderful feeling of fellowship and friendliness. With that feeling once created you have nothing to fear for the success of your evening.

Guests are lined up in two lines, men in one, ladies in the other. There is something so blessedly impersonal about the Grand March in which no one, however bashful and embarrassed, is an individual but rather just a part of a long line, that you can almost invariably get every person present to “step into line.” Don’t make the mistake then of asking them to take partners. Rather, have the men march to the right and girls to the left, meet at the back of the room and come marching up the middle of the room with partners. That saves endless embarrassment and confusion.

The fun is on! Ladies take their partner’s arm, and the leading couple starts the line of march around the room. They are to start it with a walk, but suddenly the whistle will blow, and without stopping, they are to change their method of locomotion to the one called out by the leader. For example, they are walking along quietly and peacefully when the leader’s whistle blows and she calls out “Hippity-hop,” and they all hippity-hop. Next comes the order, “Fly like birds!” and away they all go, waving their arms like birds flying, and running on tiptoe. Then reverse and walk; walk forward on tiptoes.

Other directions may include orders to walk with eyes shut; reverse and limp every other step; walk and clap hands; stoop every other step; toe out; on heels; on one foot; get a new partner any place; walk and sing any song that no one else is singing; toe in; walk backwards taking large steps; forward and hum; whirl arms in circles; swim; keep feet together and hop like a toad; flap arms to the side and crow like a rooster; bend forward and swing heads from side to side; clap hands, first over head, and then behind back; whistle whether you can or not, and so on, changing the directions quickly and unexpectedly and in a good-natured way demanding immediate and accurate response. You’ll never get it.

It is not wise to continue this for longer than three or four minutes, or to give more than eight or nine changes. Your group will agree with you that that will be quite enough!