How to throw your own Minute To Win It Party

Remember New Year's Eve? It feels like it's been 2013 for days now... oh wait. 

I was in charge of the Hardin Minute To Win It games at the family party. I figured I'd write them out in case you wanted to have your own party! Everyone walked away saying it was one of the funnest NYE parties they'd ever been to. Thank you, MTWI, for helping us have another fun memory together.

BTW, this idea came from the billion pins on Pinterest proclaiming how much fun their parties were, and a tv show of the same name. NBC has a website where you can see every game they've created. I got all of my ideas from Pinterest and NBC. I picked the games based on how fun I thought they would be, and how easy it would be to acquire the necessary materials. 

Game Objective

The purpose of MTWI games is to complete a crazy challenge with household items in under a minute. If the challenge is successfully completed, that person's team gets a point. Whichever team has the most points, wins. 

Teams

There were about 18 adults there, so we split up into 6 teams of 3 people. Each group had time to come up with a team name. There were 6 games (and a tie breaker), so each member of each group had the chance to participate in at least two games. The group was too large to have every person participate in every game.  

Scoring

We made a large score sheet out of poster board, and kept score there. Teams got one point every time they completed the challenge.

A Warning

FYI, people will try to get you to change the rules you have already made up. Stick to your guns and tell them that when they have their own kids, they'll understand. #teenageflashback

Games

After we got our baby-cuddling fix, we started the games! 

Up In The Air

Player must keep two balloons afloat for a whole minute. If one of the balloons touches the ground before the minute is up, the player is disqualified. We had a small space to play, so bystanders had a hard time not helping the players. Make sure you have enough room to play this! This game is a lot harder than it sounds. Make sure the naysayers are the first people to do this challenge! That'll shut em up quick! 

At the 40 second mark, we threw in a third balloon to make things interesting. 

Materials: Five balloons...at least two will pop. Hot air.

Face the Cookie

Players must move a cookie from their forehead to their mouths using only their faces in under a minute. 

Materials: Cookies. Faces.

This Blows

Player must blow up a balloon (an infinite number of times) and use the air from the balloon to blow overturned cups off the edge of a table in under a minute. Player cannot start blowing up the balloon before the timer starts. 

Materials: Card table. Balloons. At least 20 disposable cups. 

Stack It

Player use 28 cups to make a pyramid, then disassemble it into a stack of cups before the minute is up. This was a pretty easy challenge. I would change the rules to allow the player to only use one hand instead of two. If you do that, you may want to only use 21 cups.

Materials: Card table. 28 cups. 

 Penny Hose (sorry, no pictures of this one)

Players must retrieve a penny from the bottom of a panty hose leg with just their hands. This may have been the most anticlimactic game we played. The reviews I read online were good, but the guests were underwhelmed! I'll just take that as a sign that the rest of my games were just too awesome...

Materials: Panty hose. Pennies.

A Bit Dicey (sorry, no pictures of this one)

Players must balance six dice onto a popsicle stick held between the teeth in under a minute. The dice must be one on top of the other (six dice in one column, not two or three columns). The popsicle stick can stick out as far as the player wants. If the dice falls, the player can re-stack them until the minute is up.

Materials: Popsicle sticks. 6 dice.

Paper Dragon

This was our tie breaker game. Players must unravel a spool of crepe paper using only their feet. The person whose roll unraveled first was the winner of the whole contest! This one was pretty funny to watch. One player's crepe paper rolled off into another room without her, and she had to jump past at least five obstacles to retrieve it. 

Materials: At least two rolls of crepe paper (to be safe, get four, in case they both succeed the first time). 

And then I held more babies...

The family wrote 2013 goals, ate, and played pill bug wars and mafia until midnight. And then we ruined a perfectly romantic couple's moment by running outside to see the fireworks the neighbors set off! Oops! I am definitely going to have another MTWI party sometime soon. It was a great way to make memories and have some family fun.

All photos are courtesy of my SIL, Charity.