Writing Games to Play at Parties

While most people wouldn't necessarily consider writing as a party game activity, stimulating creative expression in a group setting can be as fun as a game of poker and a good deal more unusual. The next time you host a gathering for a group of artistically-inclined people, or just folks who are up for sampling something a little different, try out a party writing game designed to be humorous, sentimental, or purely creative.

For this humorous game, combine basic cartooning with writing skills. Choose someone in the group to serve as the artist, and create cartoon images with empty speech bubbles at the top of the page. Alternatively, prepare images ahead of time by pulling old comics or pictures from the Internet and adding speech bubbles. Fold the pictures in half horizontally so that the images are concealed and only the speech bubbles remain, then pass them to guests and instruct them to write blind captions. The fun starts when the pictures are unfolded.

For this game, guests sit in a circle, while the host holds a single notebook and pen. The host starts off the game by writing a first sentence or first paragraph, reads it aloud, then passes the notebook to the next person, who must write an equal amount, then read their portion aloud before passing to the next person. The game continues until a short story is written according to a predetermined length. For best results, make sure everyone playing is in agreement as to whether this will be an attempt at a serious story or an attempt to make the finished product zany and funny.

For this game, have guests write up humorous horoscopes for one another, or write them for each other's sign (make sure everyone knows who's who in regards to their birthdays). Assign the horoscope writing by secret partnering, then collect all horoscopes and have the host read them aloud. Write the horoscopes in a "roast" style, cracking affectionate fun at one another. Challenge each person to guess who wrote his horoscope.

You might not be in high school or college anymore, but you can still re-create the tradition of yearbook journaling, an especially meaningful activity for going-away parties or parties that mark the end of a working relationship. Have each guest bring a small notebook with their name written clearly on the front cover. All guests then sit in a circle and pass the books around, writing something in each.