Get to Know Each Other activities?

[Blissful_in_TX]

I’m part of a group of women that meets at least once a month, and the first dinner/get-together of the new year is coming up. There will be 15-20 people, some of whom are new and others who don’t know each other very well. Do you have any ideas of some games or activities to help us get acquainted?

For example, once everybody had to bring an item from home that was important to them and talk about it. Or once (since we’re all military wives) we had to tell about our worst moving disaster.

Any other ideas??

Thanks!

[tbb113]

I belonged to a mother's group and we did a "stand if you" event

Examples:
Stand if you graduated college
Stand if you have more than two children
Stand if you live more than 100 miles from home
Stand if you like to read
Stand if you like to cook
etc

The idea is that you can see other people that share interests/life events/etc

Tyra

[AndreaU]

I do this with my 5th graders, but I'm sure it can be adapted to your needs. It's called "Getting to Know You BINGO," but I never play it like actual BINGO.

I made up a BINGO board with some quality, trait, or possession in each square (and a FREE space, of course). For example, for my kids, I'll have things like: has braces, likes tacos, has an older sibling, etc. For your group, you could put in things like: has more than 2 kids, likes to cook ;) , has been to another country, was born in another state, etc... Then people basically have to go around to everyone else & ask if they fit any of the descriptions. If they do, they sign/initial the square. The idea is to try to get as many different signatures/initials as you can AND you get to know something about everyone!

Maybe a little hokey for your needs, but it's all I could come up with as a teacher of 10 & 11 year-olds! :p

[mbrogier]

I was going to suggest the stand idea that Tyra suggested. It is a real ice breaker.

[krhm]

We did one at a party that was a lot of fun. Before the event, everyone submits 3 crazy things he/she has done, and 3 normal things. The hostess compiled them into a list with no names, and made a separate list of all the names. At the party, everyone gets a copy of both lists, and then you can spend some time talking to everyone to get "clues" if you want or just have everyone guess and fill in names.

Then, together, everyone goes over the list, and you get a point for each person you guessed correctly. Winner gets a small prize. Even if you have no clue about any of the people in the room, you learn a lot of funny stuff, and it's a real ice-breaker too.

[mbrogier]

Oooh, I like krhm's game. I would put in the rules No Sexual Exploits allowed. That would just be way too much information, and you know at least one person would write it down.

[muriel3002]

When I start a new small group, we usually play "fun facts about me."

Here are the questions I use:

What is your favorite food?
What is your favorite animal?
What is your favorite TV show?
What is your favorite hobby?
What is your favorite color?
Where were you born?
Place you would most like to vacation to:
Your name:

The host collects all the papers, and then reads one of the papers. At the end - it's up to everyone to guess who it is. It's a fun way to learn about people. The last small group I did, almost every woman chose Hawaii as the place they would most like to vacation to. That was interesting! We almost all decided to go together!

[Luv to Cook]

We did something kind of like krhm. Each person has to tell 3 things about themselves...two truths and one lie. Then everyone else has to determine what the truth was and what the lie was. It was alot of fun and you learn that you cannot judge a book by its cover.

Anita

[ccooney]

I've done most of these before and all were very successful. I've never done krhm's...I think I may just have to plan a gathering so I can use it! :D

Another I've done is that as each person comes in, he or she receives a card with a word on it. When everyone has arrived, each person needs to find the card that "partner's" their own, i.e. Stan and Ollie, Cat and Mouse, Salt and Pepper, Lucy and Desi, etc. They then need to find out their partner's name, where she is from, and one thing not many other people might know about her. Each person then introduces her "new friend" to the group. If you have new people and returning people, this game is perfect. Seperate the cards into 2 corresponding piles and you can insure that a new person will be matched up with a returning one.

Good luck!

[tbb113]

I just remembered another game. You all sit in a circle and you have to introduce the person next to you without asking anything other than their name. You get to make up the details based on how the person looks. The other person than gets to correct you when you are done. So...it goes something like this.

This is Tyra. She is married and loves to eat. She has 3 daughters and 2 dogs. Her favorite color is blue.

No, actually I'm divorced, but I do love to eat. I have two sons and no pets. And my favorite color is blue.

[Blissful_in_TX]

Thanks for all the great ideas! We'll have many get-togethers in the future, so I think it would be fun to use all these at some point. :D

And just to throw out my own idea, I did a search on the Internet and thought this would be kind of interesting.....

"I’ve Done Something You Haven’t Done"
Have each person introduce themselves and say something that they have done that they doubt anyone else has. If someone else speaks up and can honestly say that they have done that too, then the person has to keep trying until they find something no one else has done.

(However I'd probably limit it to 3 tries or so.)

[Kay Henderson]

A "People Search" requires some advance prep, but it has worked for me.

Beforehand, ask each guest to list three little known facts about himself or herself. Then you choose from the responses to compile a list of questions, one for each guest. Examples:

1. Who was born in Pensacola, Florida?
2. Who was chief engineer at the Pascagoola refinery?

Provide each guest with the list of questions and time to mingle and try to figure out the answers. After a few minutes, stop the process, and read the answers. For a group of the size you describe, three or four prizes adds to the fun.

I have used this activity with adults, and with people of all ages at a family reunion.

Kay

[MKSquared]

Originally posted by Blissful_in_TX
"I’ve Done Something You Haven’t Done"
Have each person introduce themselves and say something that they have done that they doubt anyone else has. If someone else speaks up and can honestly say that they have done that too, then the person has to keep trying until they find something no one else has done.

I've played this ... but as a drinking game ... and I know it as "I Never" or "Never Have I Ever." :D

Some of these games sound like a lot of fun! :D I really like playing people Bingo (I've done that before) and ... well, I'm storing away some of these ideas so I can use them in my classroom. :) The only games I tend not to like are the ones that end up in "... introduces their partner to the rest of the group." And it's only THAT part that I don't like. If the group is really big, it gets tedious, but for your 15-20 people group, it sounds like it could work.

Have fun! Good luck.

[rosie_one]

I'll toss my idea in too. I do this with college aged girls who all know each other, but some better than others.

Have a nametag for each person written up and put into a basket. Each person draws a name (not their own) from the basket and then has to figure out how to introduce the person who's name is on the tag. However, the catch is you have to get the info. through the grapevine, you can't actually talk to them. We also have them pick a song that they think represents the other person, just for kicks. "Girls Just want to have Fun" "Angel in Blue Jeans" "Brown Eyed Girl" etc... Then we go around the room and introduce the person whose nametag you have.

This is fun because it is very conversational and people do get to know fun things about each other.