When it comes to silly party games, it
seems unfair that birthdays get all the attention and Christmas
none. It's time to bring back some silly party games for
Christmas, and "Pin the beard on Santa" is as good a place to
start as any.
To begin this game, you need a cardboard cutout of Santa. This
can be purchased at some party stores, or even little gift
shops. It doesn't have to be large, but it should be a big face
of Santa. You can also find these at educational supply stores,
or teacher supply stores, in the section of other cardboard
decoration items that teachers put on classroom walls.
Once you get Santa's face home, cut off his beard. That's right,
cut if clean off. There's no point in pinning Santa's beard on
him if it's already there, right? The beard you sliced off can
either be thrown away or keep it to tape back up later, if you
want to use Santa's face for another game or as decoration.
Now, you can create several beards out of different items. It's
easy to take a piece of thick cardstock and cut the beard out of
that, or you can use foam with adhesive backing. You can simply
peel the backing off right before it's used. You could also make
the beard out of crumpled white paper, simply computer paper or
the like. If you want to get a bit more elaborate, create
Santa's beard out of cotton balls or a large piece of cotton
pulled and shaped into the semblance of a beard.
If you have 5 people playing this game, you'll need 5 beards. 10
people? 10 beards. You get the idea.
You play "pin the beard on Santa' exactly as you play "pin the
tale on the donkey" and similar games. Spin the person around,
make sure they are blindfolded and then have them try to replace
Santa's lost beard. Self-adhesive foam works well because once
they place it on the picture of Santa, it's not going to move,
so they can't change their blindfolded mind and change the
position once they pick a position. It's there for the duration.
No, you can add several variations to this game. For example,
you can buy a full-size cardboard Santa (again, the party stores
often have these, or school supply stores, or you can make one
of your own without much effort). You might have people pin the
boots on Santa, pin the hat on Santa, or pin a red button nose
on Santa.
One fun (adult) version of this game is to pin the chest hair on
Santa. Create a fun cardboard Santa with his suit unbuttoned.
It's a big macho for Santa, but also a bit fun. Then fashion
"chest hair" out of yarn, threads or fake fur. Attach some sort
of adhesive to the back (foam stickers work, or heavy-duty
double-stick tape) and have people try and pin the chest hair on
Santa the same way they attached his beard or might attach his
boots.
Any good game offers a prize for the winner, and this one is no
exception. You could always offer Santa to the winning 'pinner"
or you could have something more elaborate like a Santa goodie
bag, filled with Santa pencils, Santa erasers, a Santa coffee
mug, and Santa-themed candy.