agmac's party: Just Trust Me On This One by Deirdre

Sometimes you just gotta have faith. Whenever I'm all "Hey, do this..."or, "Hey, give me a hand with this thing...", or, "Eww, smell this..." there's usually someone around to ask, "Why?" or "What's in it for me?" or "Wait, what did you do to it?"

Not me. If someone tells me to try something new, unless it's like super dangerous, I'm like, "What's the worst that could happen?" That's why I barfed all night once when I ate a bunch of oysters. But it wasn't so bad, I felt great after all the barfing.

Here are a few tried and true methods for getting the party started that are usually met with skepticism. So you have to be really charming when you suggest them, and if that doesn't work, you just have to be a little bossy. Because they are SURE FIRE HITS!! Afterwards, everyone will be thanking you for forcing them into it.

1. Celebrity: It's like Charades only with more rules. It's good for big groups of people with adequate seating who aren't itching to leave for the bar. IDEAL for ski trips and beach weekends. That's me up there teaching everybody the rules.

-Break your group into teams. (Can be 2 teams, can be more)
-Everyone writes down the names of 10 celebrities on 10 little pieces of paper and puts them in a bowl/bag/hat, whatever. "Celebrity" is broadly determined as someone the majority of the people in the room should know, and it can be a fictional character. Examples: Batman (the superhero), Sir Rudy Guiliani (our favorite former mayor), Mr. Ed (the talking horse), Drew Barrymore (from Steven Spielberg's ET).
-One person from Team A goes, then one person from Team B goes, then the next person from Team A, the next from Team B, etc.

Round 1: You have 30 seconds. Pick a piece of paper from the bowl, say anything you want about the celebrity besides their name, and your own teammates guess. If they get the answer right, you pick another piece of paper. If you accidentally say a word that's in the name, throw it back into the bowl. At the end of 30 seconds, you get a point for each correct answer. Leave the used papers out of the bowl. When all the papers are done and all the celebrities have been guessed, put the papers back in the bowl and move on to Round 2.

Round 2: Charades. You have 30 seconds to act out as many as you can without saying any words. But all your smartie teammates will remember the celebrities from Round 1. When all the papers are used up, put them back in the bowl and move on to Round 3.

Round 3: One Word. You have 30 seconds. Pick a piece of paper from the bowl, and use only one word to make your teammates guess. Again, your smartie teammates will remember the celebrities from Rounds 1 and 2. If at any point in any round, you have one that's too hard or that no one guesses, you can put it back in the bowl and skip it with no penalties.

Sounds tedious and long-winded, right? Not at all! That's why I'm saying you gotta trust me! I have super funny memories of this game, my favorite was in the Canadian Rockies with about 20 people. Check out that beautiful fire!

Ok.

2. Pick someone up. Not like "Hey, what are you doing later?" Like, actually, pick them up. Pick them up a la Richie Cunningham when he scores the winning basket in Happy Days. Get four people to surround someone, two on each side. Then hoist him/her up sorta like they're sitting on a chair. So two of you are supporting his/her seat and two are supporting the thighs. You can do this to a friend on his birthday, if you want. I prefer doing it to perfect strangers on the dancefloor. Hilarity ensues. Here's us picking up Lauren.

See, everyone's laughing!

3. Top That. This is another game, but with a more nebulous form. I did not make it up, but I wish I did. It was started by some college friends, and I'm thankful I was around during its inception. The premise is: one person does one thing, another person does another thing, another person does another thing, etc., in no particular order. You can go once or you can go many times, but you cannot go twice in a row (it just wouldn't make sense). So the only rule is that you have to do something that "beats" the thing that came right before it, and when you finish, you have to say "Top That." Eventually someone does something amazing, says "Top That," and the crowd erupts in cheers and laughter because everyone knows that it can't be topped.
Some amazing moves I've seen:
-a gal hang out of a second story window with her elbows on windowsill, and remove her underwear while she's hanging out there!
-a guy ride a six foot wooden painting down a flight of stairs into the street!
-a guy drink the dog's water out of the dog's water bowl! Eww!

Tom (of the dog's water bowl fame-I think that was his name)

The best case scenario is that you initiate the game yourself, and start out with something easy, and just sit back and let the rest of the crew entertain you with the gross/dangerous stuff. Oh, and one more tip: it's not against the rules to take your clothes off, but inevitably someone does it and it never quite gets the extreme reception they were hoping for. I can't explain why. It's just doesn't work. Above all, be careful!