Is your party getting a bit boring and uncomfortable already? Are the guests doing nothing, but sitting around, drinking soda and munching on chips uninterestedly? Maybe you should try a fun ice-breaker game already! Here’s one good idea that they’ll surely laugh enjoy: charades! Adults and children alike enjoy this fun, cheerful party game.

The object of charades is simple: communicate a word, noun, action or phrase to the audience, without using any verbal communication. You need to prepare for this game, but don’t worry: it’s quite easy! Here’s how to play charades.

What You’ll Need

• Strips of paper
• Pen
• A container to place the strips of paper in, like a bowl or a hat
• Imagination and a sense of fun
• Timer
• Chips and soda for everyone to snack on (optional)

How To Play

1. Cut out strips of paper, and think of different words, nouns, items, actions or phrases that everyone can guess. You can choose easy words, or you can pick difficult ones. If you want, you can also think of several categories, like movies, famous actors, quotations, songs, TV shows, and others. Base your chosen words on these categories alone. One tip: make sure everyone in the group is somewhat familiar with the words or the categories, otherwise, they’ll all find it hard to guess.
2. Put the strips of paper in the hat, and make sure nobody sees them. If you’re the one who thought of the topics, you must not join in the game anymore, but instead just moderate it. You can also hold the timer for the game.
3. Divide the group into two teams, with each team having at least five members. If there’s too many of you, you can make more than two teams.
4. Ask each team to pick a representative. They must do this for every round of the game. The representative picks a paper and reads the topic. He or she is then given a specific time limit to communicate and “act out” the word to his or her teammates. If they guess the word before time is up, they earn a point. If not, the other team or teams are given a chance to guess the word and “steal” the point. If they get it with their first guess, they get the point.
5. The game continues until everyone had a chance to act out in front of the group. The team with the most number of points wins the game.

Charades Hand Gestures

Aside from acting out the words, you should also know how to give your teammates clues about the word, through hand gestures. There are several ones you can use, such as:

• Film – Using one hand, form a O, as if it’s a camera lens, then crank the other, as if you’re turning an old-fashioned movie camera.
• TV show – Make a box using your fingers.
• Quote – Make quotation mark signs using your fingers.
• Book title – Put your palms together, like in a prayer, then unfold them, as if you’re opening a book.
• Famous person – Make a pose like Napoleon, with a hand on your chest, and your fingertips tucked into your shirt, partway.
• Syllables – Make chopping gestures on your arm, to let your teammates know how many syllables there are in the word.
• Number of words – Hold up your fingers, to let everyone know how much words are going to be guessed.
• Short or long word – Make a pinching gesture with your forefinger and thumb.
• Sounds like – If the word sounds like another word, pull on your ear, then proceed to act out what other word it sounds like.
• Getting cold – If the team is getting further from the correct word, cross your arms and make shivering gestures.
• Getting warm – If they are nearly guessing the word, wipe your forehead with the back of your hand.
• Correct – If they guessed correctly, tap your index finger on your nose, and point to whoever made the right guess.

Charades is always the perfect solution when breaking the ice at any event. Just keep the tips above, and everyone will have a good time. One last reminder: charades is suppose to be for laughs, so if there are competitive people who are starting to heat up, remind them to take it easy and just enjoy the game.