New Year games or how to have fun all night. Новогодние игры, или веселье на всю ночь

Cheer everybody up (развеселить) and bring in (привнести) a genuine (настоящий) New Year spirit (дух, настоение) to your party!

— How?! As easy as pie (очень просто) — by playing games!

Have you planned your New Year menu? Of course, you will spend lots of time carefully thinking over (продумывать) and cooking the tastiest (самые вкусные) dishes for you family and guests (гости)! And how about entertainment (развлечение)?? Oh, just relax and think of the menu, as we have done everything for you!

Here is a short but very useful list of the most exciting (увлекательный) games to play with your relatives (родственники) and guests. Hope you will like them:

1. Guessing the resolutions (отгадай автора новогодних обещаний):

   Make each of your guests (пускай каждый гость) write down 5 resolutions*, each on a slip of paper (листочек бумаги). Pull (вытянуть) one slip of paper out of a basket (из корзины) and read it out loud (вслух). Everyone has to guess (отгадывать) who made each resolution . At the end of the readings, the person who guessed the most correctly wins a prize (выигрывает приз). Read some wrong resolutions out loud for fun (для смеха)!

   *New Year resolutions — oбещания, которые даёт себе человек под Новый год (построить дом, бросить курить, и т. п.).

2. New Year’s Eve Scramble (новогодний «дешифровщик»):

   Write a bunch of (множество, еще: пучок, связка) different words on a piece of paper that have to do with (иметь отношение к чему-либо) New Year’s Eve, then cut and scramble (перемешать) the letters. The person who guesses (отгадывать) the most words correctly wins a prize.

3. Celebrity hunt (охота на знаменитость):

   Everyone writes the name of a famous person, character (персонаж) or an animal on a piece of paper, which they stick to the forehead (клеить на лоб) of the player on their left (слева). Use tape (скотч) or office Post-It notes (липкие листочки для заметок). Make sure (удостоверьтесь) they don’t see the word. Now the game starts. Everyone else can see your forehead. The objective (цель) is to work out (узнать, понять) who you are. Each payer takes a turn to ask questions (по очереди задает вопросы) about who they are — answers can be YES or NO only, like ‘Am I alive?’ or ‘Am I a female?’ etc. If you get a YES you may continue asking, if you get a NO play moves on to the left (очередь переходит к игроку с лева). Last person to guess (последний игрок который отгадывает) their name is the loser (проигравший). Simple, but very absorbing (увлекательный, поглощающий внимание).

4. Winking Murder («убийственное» подмигивание):

   All except (все кроме) the detective sit in a circle while the detective waits outside (снаружи, тоесть выходит из комнаты). One person from the circle is elected (выбирать) to be the murderer (убийца)* , and then the Detective comes back and stands in the circle. When he is ready, the Murderer winks at (подмигивать кому-либо) people in the circle. Anyone who the murderer has winked at lets out a blood-curdling scream (издает душераздирающий вопль) and dies. The Detective has three attempts (попытки) to guess the murderer.

   *Один из участников назначается убийцей.

5. Guess the Word (угадай слово):

   Write down 100 words on cards such as stare (таращиться), grin (оскал, ухмылка), wink, giggle (хихикать), laugh, plate, shoelace (шнурок), thread (нитка) or any word you like.

   Stack (складывать в стопку) the cards and put them in the center of the room. Divide (разделить) the players into 2 teams (команда) and seat them opposite (напротив) each other. Set the timer (установите таймер) or stopwatch (секундомер) for one minute. Ask the first player from Team One draw a card (вытянуть карту) from the pile (стопка) and give clues (ключ к разгадке, подсказка) to the word to his / her teammates (игроки своей команды) before the timer ends the play.

   So, if the word is «laugh», the team member might say, «What you do if someone tells you a joke?» Players from Team One try to guess the word; if they are successful (успешный) before the time is up (время вышло)*, they get a point (заработать очко). If the timer runs out (истекать, о времени) and the word is not guessed, the other team gets a point. Take turns (играйте по очереди) until there are no cards left, and then add up (суммировать) points to see who wins.

   *Если им удастся отгадать слово до истечения времени.

6. Fun photos (смешные фотографии):

   Take the picture of (фотографировать) each of your guests (гости) with the digital camera. Have them make a funny face (скорчить смешную рожу) and be sure to tell them (обязательно скажите) there is a prize for the best face. After you have taken all the pictures, download (загружать) them to your computer or laptop and ask everyone to gather (собраться) around the monitor. The winner will be judged (судить) on the greatest laughter ([ˈlɑːftə] смех)*.

   *Побеждает тот, чье фото окажется самым смешным.

7. New years win, lose or draw (нарисуй или проиграй):

   This game is one of the active games played at the time of New Year. More than 6 players can play this game. Large drawing pads (блокнот), pens and list (список) of important events are required (нужен). Go through magazines (пролистайте журналы) and newspapers to pick out (выбирать) events (события) from past years. Use the headlines (заголовок статьи) as «titles«* (заголовок) to Win, Lose or Draw. For tons of fun**, let your guests team up in two’s (разбиться по парам) show them the title they need to draw. When the 2 players are drawing, others are trying to guess. If someone mentioned (упоминать) a word that was part of the answer, the players at the drawing pad can write it to simplify the task (облегчить задачу).

   *Так по правилам этой игры именуется конкурсное задание.
   **Tons of smth. – дословно «тонны чего-либо», разговорн. в значении очень много, e.g. tons of money – куча денег, tons of time – уйма времени.

8. Cookie Decorating Competition (конкурс на лучшее новогоднее печенье):

   If you are not good at guessing words or murdering with a wink :-) chase your losses (отыграйтесь) by organizing a cookie decorating competition. Bake (испечь) and decorate (украшать) New Year cookies to your taste (на ваш вкус). Apply (применять) your imagination (фантазия) and be creative.

   You can get recipes ([ˈrеsɪpɪ] рецепт) for icing and dough ([dəʊ] тесто) from here, for example:

   Icing (глазурь): rainbowice.ru
   Cookies: www.smachno.ua



9. Sing in Chorus (пойте хором):
   To crown it all (в довершение всего), suggest (предложить) that your guests learn and sing together with you one of the best-known and most cheerful (веселый) winter songs in the world.

As you sing, take the pleasure (получать удовольствие) of watching the original Jingle Bells animation clip:

In the video below our teaching staff (преподавательский состав) is congratulating you on New Year 2013 and sining: “We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year”. :-)

That’s a joke, of course, though be sure that at the moment we all are trying to sing along with (подпевать кому-либо) the chorus ([ˈkɔːrəs] хор). Don’t miss the chance to join us! (Присоединяйтесь!)

The test for the most persistent students!

Chose one correct answer in every sentence: