Christmas Games and Activities, 1850s

Christmas is the time for indoor games. --The Christmas Tree (1859)

A Child's Party at Christmas (Cassell's, 1862)

"...January is so severe as entirely to put a stop to all farm operations These long holidays are principally spent in attending shooting matches, dances, and card parties. With the young people a favourite amusement of the season is playing for pins with tee totums on a tea board. Childish as this game may appear, I assure you I have seen a party of grown up people play at it for hours with the greatest enjoyment."
--A Story of a Family Party (1852)

The Christmas Bag or "Christmas Balloon" is a sort of pinata.  For additional 'fun', fill the bag with flour instead of prizes.  Or, do three in a row, with a succession of sugar plums, sewing supplies, and finally the flour. For a truly grand experience, why not add a Christmas Tree lottery, fortune-telling and a theatrical?

In Frederick Lee, Or, The Christmas Present, the children spend Christmas day with music, riddles, conundrums, stories and games (including the card game Pope Joan and Dr. Busby).

Fireside Games (1859) contains parlor games appropriate "at merry Christmas-time, or on a wet day in the country, or in the city too, for that matter, or on a winter's evening, when the fire is burning cheerily, pussy purring on the hearth, and the lamps lighted..." [This was apparently borrowed from The Sociable (1858).]

The What-Not (1859) gives instructions for some Christmas Games:

Find the Ring: Like Hunt the Slipper, but with a ring on a string held by the group. The ring is slid along this string from person to person, while the person in the center of the group tries to guess who has it.

Porco: Like Blindman's Bluff with a Wand (the groups makes a circle around one person, who is blindfolded and holds a stick): the blindfolded person pokes someone in the circle and makes animal, the person being poked has to echo the animal noises, and the blindfolded one tries to guess who it is.

Games Played in A Christmas Carol are :

Blindman's Bluff : This game exists in several variations, all with a blindfolded  person trying to guess which member of the group they have caught/hit with a stick/sat on.

I Love My Love With an A: An alphabetical game, with each person in turn coming up with a name, gift, flower, occupation, adjective, etc., that start with the same letter.

How, When, and Where: Possibly the same game as "Entree" aka "How do you like it, When do you like it, and Where do you like it".  The whole group chooses an item, and one person (who does not know it) attempts to discover the item by asking everyone those three questions about it.

Yes and No: Basically "20 Questions"--one player asks yes/no questions to determine the item selected by the rest of the group.

[See The Sociable/Fireside Games for full rules to the first three; the last appears in Round Games for All Parties (1854).]

In 1850, Charades is supposed to be a new Christmas game, replacing "cards, blind man's bluff, forfeits, and hunting the ring". (Acting Charades)  Godey's repeats this claim, verbatim, in 1854.

The Christmas Tree (1859) and  Christmas, It's Customs (1860) are both working from the same list, with games of:

Plum Pudding: A variation on twirl the trencher, in which players much keep a wood plate spinning while telling a story about kitchen implements

The Game of Real Life/The Author: A storytelling game in which everyone plays a character or object mentioned int he story.

Messengers: Each player must make up a story about a place he/she claims to have just come from (with forfeits for repeating someone else or saying something impossible).

The Bar of Justice: A blindfolded player must face four "judges", each charging him/her with a crime made up by another player; the blindfolded player must guess who made up each charge, and whoever is correctly identified gets blindfolded next.

Composition/How: One player asks the group a series of questions (example: "What goes in a plum pudding?"); players must answer the question, paying a forfeit for failing to do so or for repeating an answer.  The questioner can ask a new question when she/he thinks there are no more answers to give (and pays a forfeit if someone comes up with another answer to the previous question).

Double Meanings: The group picks a pair of words that are homophones.  One person, who does not know the words, tries to determine them by asking questions, which are answered for the two definitions of the words.

Shadow Bluff: (As seen on Victorian Farm!) Players stand behind a sheet, casting shadows with any props they can find.  One players attempts to identify each shape.

The Knight of the Whistle: A blindfolded obstacle course.

The Corner Cupboard (London, 1858) claims that the "variety and number [of Christmas games] is so great that they would fill a moderate volume", but suggests Hunt the Slipper, How do you like it Where do you like it? When do you like it?, The Gig, The Traveller, The Menagerie, Shadow Buff, and The Blind Pointer. It further offers rules for:

The Knight of the Whistle: A different version than before--here, the knight has a whistle attached to his/her back with a string (without knowing it), and the rest of the party tries to blow the whistle without being caught by the knight.

Catch the Ring: See "Find the Ring"

Bindman's Bluff:  The basic version, in which all the players are free to move about the room, while the blindfolded person attempts to catch one and guess who it is.

The Dutch Concert: Each player imitates an instrument, and the group "plays" a simple tune. The game leader can switch to any other player's instrument, and that player must assume the leader's previous instrument, paying a forfeit for each mistake.

The Harmless Duel: The two duelists attempt to blow a soap bubble into the other's face.