It is to laugh

by Edna Geister

Men are in one line, girls in another. It is the object of the girls to be so friendly that the men, who are perfect glooms, cannot help smiling. The girls may laugh or giggle or smirk or make faces in their efforts to break the gloom that seems to be holding the men. Any man who forgets his manliness to the extent of smiling, even the least little bit, goes over to the side of the ladies. At the end of the three-minute time limit, all the men whose gloom has not been broken and who confidently wait for the prize they think forthcoming, are fined ten cents for being killjoys.

Another friendly effort is the revised version of the popular song “Smiles.” At first it is sung correctly, but the next time the word “smile” is omitted, and in its place, each singer smiles his sweetest possible smile at his neighbor. It is painful!

A Chinese Spell-Down.

The idea is like that of a regular spelling-match with two sides competing, except that words must be spelled backwards. The time given each person to reverse his spelling and think the word backwards is decidedly limited, according to the leader, who makes a pretense of timing each one. Instead of discarding those whose tongues and brains could not reverse, a score is kept of each error, and the score announced as each new word is given out. This will create a healthy competition, and if the leader will hint that the winning side will be favored at refreshment time such a hint usually acts as a powerful mental stimulant.

The time limit is left to the leader who tries within a reasonable time to run up a tie score, when, of course, interest is at its highest point. Then the announcement that the next point is the deciding one naturally creates a real tension which is hardly relieved when the leader announces the word “Hippopotamus!”

Dodge!

All guests are in a circle. Count off by twos. All No. 1’s go into the center of the circle. Three or more beanbags are passed out to No. 2’s who form the circle. At a signal they start to toss the bags at the ones who are in the center, no one being allowed to leave his place to get a better aim. It is the big business of life for those in the center to avoid the beanbags tossed at them, for anyone who is hit must get out of the center and take his former place in the circle. If a beanbag is caught it does not count as a hit.

When all No. 1’s have been hit, No. 2’s go into the center and take their turn acting as targets, while No. 1’s aim at them with the beanbags. When they have all been driven out of the circle, the last No. 1 and the last No. 2 to be hit by a beanbag go into the center and become targets. The one who stays in the longest without getting hit gets a prize, a bean.

Extry!

Ask your guests to line up in two lines, men in one and girls in the other, to march down opposite sides of the room to the back, meet their partners there and come marching up the center. As they pass the leader and her assistant, each one is handed a newspaper and a small strip of pins, after which they are to march to the back of the room. When everyone has been supplied with newspapers and pins the leader announces that partners will help each other make costumes out of the papers, and that the only requirement is that all costumes must definitely represent some character of history, or fiction, or popular interest, or be patterned after the mode of dress in some country.