What makes a good after-dinner game?
People are usually full, comfortable and spread across chairs that nobody wants to surrender. The best game can start where everyone already is, has short turns and does not need the dining table cleared first.
12 easy after-dinner games
1. Celebrity Salad
Celebrity Salad suits the middle of an evening because one shared iPhone or iPad handles the names, timer and scores. The group stays face to face, and the same celebrities return through Describe It, One Word and Act It. Four to twelve players can play in two to four teams.
If acting feels too ambitious immediately after pudding, the first two rounds ease people in before Act It arrives.
2. Who Am I?
Give each person a famous person or character they cannot see. They ask yes-or-no questions until they identify themselves. It works especially well when people are still sitting around the table.
3. The film chain
Name an actor, a film they appeared in, then another actor from that film. Continue without repeats. It is easy to start and gets unexpectedly difficult once the obvious connections disappear.
4. Two Truths and a Lie
Each person offers three statements, two true and one false. It is better with guests who do not know every story already and should stay light rather than becoming an interrogation.
5. Categories
Pick a category and go around the room naming unique answers. Add a five-second limit if people start taking too long. Films, foods, countries and famous people all work.
6. Name that intro
Use one phone and a playlist. Play a few seconds of each song and let teams guess the title and artist. Mix decades for family groups.
7. One-word clues
Choose a secret person, film, place or object and allow the clue-giver one word only. It is a compact guessing game with almost no setup.
8. Would You Rather?
Use choices that provoke arguments rather than embarrassment. The entertainment comes from hearing why somebody picked the option nobody expected.
9. Fortunately, Unfortunately
Build a story around the room. Each sentence alternates between something fortunate and something unfortunate. The story will normally become ridiculous within a few turns.
10. Memory tray
Put 15 or 20 nearby objects on a tray, show them for 30 seconds, then cover them. Teams write down everything they can remember. It works well with mixed ages.
11. Charades
When the room wants more energy, move to a familiar acting game. Use films, famous people or actions and keep each turn to around a minute.
12. Story prompts
Give the group three random words and make them tell one story around the circle, one sentence per person. It is low pressure and works even with a small group.
Best games after Christmas dinner
Christmas adds a wider age range and more people who may not normally play games together. Celebrity Salad works well because everybody contributes to the name pool and the repeated celebrities become more familiar each round. Music intros, Who Am I?, memory games and categories are also reliable because they can balance different generations.
See our family Christmas games for more mixed-age ideas.
How to make after-dinner games work for mixed ages
- Use teams rather than children-versus-adults.
- Mix references from several decades.
- Avoid speed being the only skill.
- Do not eliminate players early.
- Let somebody pass if they do not want an individual performance turn.
How long should the game last?
Twenty to forty minutes is enough for most after-dinner games. It is better to finish one game while people are still enjoying it than turn the evening into a programme of activities. If the room wants another, start a second game rather than stretching the first one indefinitely.