There is a board game called Loaded Questions that is a lot of fun. You don't even have to play the actual game -- just use the cards with the questions.

There is also a very simple game that we used at a dinner party where the women knew each other fairly well, but the husbands didn't know everyone. We weren't sure if the guys would go for it, but they actually had fun with it too. You open a bag of Dum Dum lollipops and everyone picks one lollipop from the bag. Then, you have everyone look at the flavor of their pops -- the flavor is written on each wrapper. And, for every letter of the flavor's name, they have to tell the group one thing about themselves. So, the person who has, say, PLUM, only has to tell 4 things. The person who has PINEAPPLE has a lot more talking to do!

Here's another one -- choose a random season and year and ask everyone to tell what they were doing at that time. If this is a holiday party, maybe ask what they were doing in December 1992, or December 1985, or whatever. We've heard some good stories with this one, and it's always sort of funny if you have a wide range of ages, so one person might have been in 8th grade while another was in college.

I like the hat idea -- might have to use that one!

I like the season game -- Maybe re-christen it 'alibi' and have them draw a specific date from a hat...

How about an "ugly Christmas sweater" contest? I was invited to a friend's bunko group where there were many substitutes so many of us didn't know each other. The contest so much fun- and so funny! Of course the punch that was served helped us loosen up as well. Anyhow, we all had to vote for the "ugliest sweater" and the winner won a $20 Starbucks gift card. It was a lot of fun.

Friends of ours have a holiday party each year and every year they play this game - it's fun! You tape a piece of paper with a famous person/celebrity's name on each person's back so they can't read it. Everyone has someone's name taped to their back. Then you go around and try to figure out whose name is taped on your back by asking questions to the other party guests - they can only be questions with a yes/no answer. It's lots of fun and gets people talking to everyone, not just those they already know.

gail618's is a good one -- I enjoy that one.

I went to a party once where everyone was asked to write on a nametag three statements about themselves -- two true and one false. Then everyone was supposed to mingle and talk and try to figure it all out. Not a game as much as an icebreaker. But it was fun, because it got folks to dig up those strange stories and connections that just couldn't be believed if they weren't true. These were mine:

1) Once had coffee with Jimmy Carter and Walter Cronkite.
2) Uncle was a Mercury astronaut.
3) Went to college with Brad Pitt.

Thanks for the ideas, I can definitely make something work.

jakabedy, my guess is statement 3 is false. How'd I do?

polly, I'm afraid, based on the different ages and styles of the women, that the ugly sweater contest could cause hurt feelings. It would work for my Bunco group so I'll keep it in mind for them.

gail, I forgot about the "who-am-I" game. Once at a huge house party thrown by a recently separated friend, a guy had her husband's name on his tag. At that point, the soon to be ex was still paying for all the household expenses, including the catered party, which he naturally was not invited to. One clue someone gave tag-wearer was "you throw a great party". Didn't help the guy wearing the tag but the rest of us got a kick out of it.

sue, three great ideas! I could tweak loaded question to a holiday theme, or rig it so I don't get the pineapple lollipop, or pick random years starting with 1976, the birth year of our youngest member.

The hat thing was for a spring dinner held at a tea shop that had hats lining the walls. We had mickey mouse wedding ears to someone's grandma's really cool hat to a Statue of Liberty themed hard hat. It was great.

Thanks again, Jean

Jean - wrong! The false one is No. 2. But isn't it fun?