10 Party Games for the Royal Wedding

As Wills and Kate prepare to tie the knot I can't claim particular interest. After the royal marriage fiascos that have gone before, its hard to get too misty-eyed about this one. That said, it is an excuse for a gathering of friends, so why not have some fun with the theme at the same time?

Here's a bunch of fun ideas for a gathering on the wedding day at your place, at your street party, or youth group night.

1. Wedding Band rolling relay
William is not to wear a wedding ring. Play a relay where teams have to roll a wedding band to the other end. You might like to use a fun alternative like a keyring, a hoolahoop, tyre or a doughnut!

2. Jelly baby beheading races
A game for teams of three. The executioner beheads the jelly babies and two team members consume either the head or body of 50 jelly babies. First team wins.

3. Get Me to the Church on Time
Masquerading as a glorified wheelbarrow race. Competitors race to the marker where they have to dress in various items such as a crown or veil, a cloak, high heeled shoes, put lipstick on, throw confetti on themselves, and then race to the finish line.

4. Royal sash game
On arrival guests are given six sashes each to wear diagonally across their body. Royal blue is a great colour choice. Each time someone says the word "wedding' or "royal" (or choose your own words) at anytime during the party any party member can take one of their sashes. If you don't want to use sashes, try pegs) though they're not very glamourous). After an hour the person with the greatest number of sashes wins.

5. Pin the ears on the father-of-the-groom
OK, so its an adaption of pin the tail on the donkey. Or come up with your own invention.

6. Royal Carriage obstacle course including walking on egg shells, jumping through hoops, smiling at the camera, waving at the crowd, and outrun the paparazzi.

7. Chocolate Royal biscuit eating race
This is an adaption of the salada biscuit eating contest. Two or three contestants are chosen to compete, and have to be the first to eat a whole packet of Chocolate Royal biscuits. No washing down with water allowed.

8. Sing 'Land of Hope and Glory', 'Rule Brittania' and 'God save the Queen'

9. Marshmellow or Boiled egg Polo
Use drinking straws and marshmellows for this game.

10. Public reading
Once everyone has settled down with a glass of bubbly or like, have a refined public reading. The choices here are endless. Consider Princess Smartypants (Babette Cole) or A.A. Milne's If I were King or The King's Breakfast. For romantic quotations from literature click here.

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Review: Beautifully Imperfect (NICA - circus)

Here's a great night out for thinking circus fans, Beautifully Imperfect is on at the National Circus Centre in Prahran until 20th April. Get there if you can. It is quite astonishing. For more about the show, read my review now published in Stage Whispers.

Get tix online through NICA
More reviews by Lucy 

Rock of Ages - musical theatre (review)

Rock of Ages is the newest musical comedy production to hit Melbourne. Its a fun night, time-warping back to the 1980's, when big hair and shoulderpads were in, and mobile phones were the size of a brick.
Read my review in Stage Whispers.

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Eating the Neighbour's Pets

Pedro is eating our neighbour’s pets. It’s happened twice now. The first time he scooted through our legs at the front door, sprinting past five minutes later with a glossy black fowl in his jaws. And he kept running. We had no idea where he’d caught the chook, or what he did with it.  And we weren’t inclined to start knocking on doors.

We returned home to Melbourne and dined out on the story. We salved our consciences by concluding the chicken had it coming – it must have been out of its pen after all. Many people were shocked. But Pedro is a Labrador, they pondered, he is so friendly - how could he? Some children refused to pat him despite his waggly tail. Everyone nodded soberly when urged to shut the front door.

Months later we were back at the beach house. I returned from a massage to a flutter of brown and white feathers by the front door. My bloke broke the news. He told how the distressed owner and her pre-school child had followed Pedro home. How Pedro had crunched on his prey as they talked. The chooks were more than a source of eggs, she said, they were the kid’s pets. How the child had looked at our dog. Our dog, eating her pet.

We were ashamed. Our vegetarian son was mortified. Our offer to pay for new chooks was declined. Pedro was banished to the back yard, and what was left of the unfortunate bird deposited in our wheelie bin. My massage, negated.

Veterinarians are increasingly offering yearly checkups to chooks as suburban ownership increases. After initially getting chooks for their laying power, many people develop an attachment, keeping their brood for years after they have stopped laying.  

Live poultry sales to suburban and inner-city households have been doubling in past years, and local council laws typically allow 5-10 backyard hens without registration fees.

Backyard poultry advocates Aussies Living Simply say, “a chook is a pet who pays board”. They say the benefits of keeping hens can’t be measured by egg production alone, as hens eat food scraps and garden bugs, fertilise the garden, and provide companionship and entertainment like other household pets.

“The costs of having your own backyard chooks or other poultry is negligible when you know that the egg they have given you is from a known and trusted friend, for simply giving them a good life and home,” says one member.

But any inclination I had to keep a few hens is now thwarted. Our accidentally free-range dog has developed a taste for free-range poultry. He is canis lupus, a descendent of wolves, an instinct we’ll never override. When he runs free again, and it’s only a matter of time, we’ve promised to run and shut our neighbour’s gate.

We have no right to be mortified, we omnivores. This very moment people all over this globe are hunting their own food. Food they will kill by their own hand, then skin, gut, and cook or eat raw. So while we tut-tut about my dog Pedro, we need to face the fact that our lunch today is what someone else has killed on our behalf. Bon appétit!

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