1/22/10

It's time to be the LIFE OF THE PARTY!


"Hey kids, what do you want to do this Friday?"

"Gee, I don't know. What do you want to do?"

"I was thinking we could have a party in my folks rumpus room!"

"Oh, that sounds swell. Can I bring anything?"

"Maybe some pop and pretzels. I've already got some games."

"Gee this is going to be the best Friday night ever!"

A complete party in a book! Who could ask for more? Cost less than a buck. Where else could you find such great entertainment at that price? Just get some swell friends to play with and your evening is set.

Okay, this is actually a book my mother bought in the 1950s. I also have one for children's games. Apparently none of the pages have ever been torn out of either book. I don't know that they were actually used, and my folks did have parties. Boy did they have parties! A group of naval aviators and their wives partying. Yeah, we're talking limbo at 2 am.

Their loss, your gain. I'm now providing you free of charge a way to impress your drop-in friends this weekend. Seriously, unless you show them the answers they can't win unless they have net access or are well over 70. It'll be like going on a snipe hunt. Tell them you've got a game, show the big prize you have for the winner, and then hand them the page below. Watch the expressions on their faces as they realize the swell prize you're providing is never going to belong to them.

Hey, it's winter and some of you are stuck in the house with only a basement to escape to. Make the best of it. And speaking of basements, take a look at the really nice one at my vernacular photography site.

Click on any of the images to see them larger. Especially if you want the answers to the game.
Life of the Party_front_tatteredandlost

Life of the Party_back_tatteredandlost

Life of the Party_game page_tatteredandlost

8 comments:

  1. I always eat three cakes before meals...and now I finally realize that it must be some leftover subliminal message from an ad that compels me to do so. Ah, the power of advertising. Now I feel the mysterious urge to go out and cover the earth.

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  2. I remember the first time I saw an extolling this in an old magazine. I thought "Are they kidding?"

    There used to be a sign in San Francisco of the paint pouring over the earth. I loved that sign. Okay, now I'm wondering if it was in Oakland. I just remember the sign and it was dark out when I could see it. It was somewhere. I do remember a large Mr. Peanut standing in San Francisco.

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  3. I had completely forgotten that my parents used o play "murder" when their friends came round. It involved switching off all the lights and creeping around the house until someone was tagged (victim), everyone had to wait for one minute while the "murderer" escaped (I usually fell down the stairs at this point) and then we all had to work out who did it.
    Oh...and my mother had a jar of cloured sugar crystals for when strange ladies came for instant coffee mornings.

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  4. I must be at least twenty years older than I thought, because I knew at least four of those ad slogans! And recognized a couple more. Can I come to your party and win your fabulous prize?!!! I want to see your rumpus room, too!

    You always crack me up!

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  5. Rosie, your game sounds like the ones they sell these days. My best friend has played many of them at parties. People come in costume. I've never been to one.

    Now, what is cloured sugar? Haven't heard of that.

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  6. Susan, aren't we always older than we imagine? I'm still 14 but people don't seem to understand that.

    The fabulous prize? It's one of those cheesy dolls you used to get at Tastee Freeze after you'd had your ticket punched enough times. And yes, I still have my dolls. Two of them...with the Tastee Freeze banners across their chests.

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  7. OMG my parents had a similar sort of book. They played murder too and sardines where everyone ended up in one place squashed together under a bed or in a cupboard. We also had a children's game book and I inflicted games on my children too. It must be a family thing because my mum tells a story of peeking out of her room, when her parents had a party, to see her father chasing her mother with a kipper in his hand!

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  8. Okay, this all sounds too too funny! It's like your folks were playing some Scottish version of Twister and see how many people we can jam in a phone booth at the same time. And I thought it amazing to see my folks friends eating puu puu's at 2 am and doing the limbo, but you beat hands down! Chasing your mom with a kipper is wild I tell you. Wild!

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