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Pairing Off Partners Games
Most of the time when people pick partners for some 2-person game, they pick the people who are their closest friends. Often they do it because their friends will be "mad" at them if they don't. And it tends to make a party clique-ish and dull.
Here are a few ways to get people paired off with new partners without anyone's losing face or feeling hurt.
- Balloon Buddies (Ages 6-8, 9-12, 13-18, Adult)
- Riddle Pairs (Ages 6-8, 9-12, 13-18, Adult)
- Proverb Pairs (Ages 9-12, 13-18, Adult)
- Clay Mixer (Ages 6-8, 9-12, 13-18, Adult)
- Songs (Ages 9-12, 13-18, Adult)
- Terrible Twosomes (Ages 6-8, 9-12, 13-18, Adult)
- Connections (Ages 9-12, 13-18, Adult)
- Fish Pond (Ages 9-12, 13-18, Adult)
Balloon Buddies up
When you're ready for the next paired-up game or dance, let the balloons fly and tell the players to take one each. When they burst the balloon, they will find inside it the name of their next partner.
Players: 8 or more Equipment: 1 balloon for each player;
Names of players on small slipsPreparation: Put a slip bearing the name of a player in each balloon;
Blow up the balloons and tie them at the mouths
If you want to make sure that you're pairing up boys with girls, use 2 different colors of balloons. Put only boys' names in one color and girls' in the other, and tell the players which color to reach for.
Players get two partners - the one they pick and the one who picks them - enough for two games.
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Riddle Pairs up
Before the pairing-off game, distribute the cards to the players. Their job will be to find the answer-or question-to their riddle. You can stick to well-known riddles if the players are very young, such as "Why did the chicken cross the road?" and "Why do firemen wear red suspenders?" and any others which are particularly familiar to the group. But if the players are older, you can use riddles they've never heard before. Then they will have to find a reasonable answer to the question or a reasonable question for the answer.
Players: 8 or more Equipment: A card for each player Preparation: Write one line of a riddle on each card
Print version
Proverb Pairs up
As each player arrives, or when you are ready for a game that requires partners, hand out the proverb cards to the players. They will find their partners by putting the two parts of the proverb together. You can play this as a game, if you want. Chop up the proverb into four pieces of paper instead of two, mix them up and put four disjointed parts into an envelope. When your guests arrive, hand them each an envelope. The winners are the players who put together a proverb first.
Players: 6-20 Equipment: A card for each player with half a proverb written on it Preparation: Write half a proverb on each card
Note: For a list of familiar proverbs, see List of Proverbs&Sayings.
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Clay Mixer up
Place the balls in a basket or bowl and when you're ready to pair off partners, let each boy (or each girl) select the ball containing the name of his partner.
Players: 8-30 Equipment: Clay or Play-doh, enough to make marble-like balls for half the people at the party;
Small strips of paper, like fortune cookie strips, one for every girl (or boy) at the partyPreparation: Write the names of all the girls at the party (or all the boys) on the fortune cookie strips. Then insert one Inside each small piece of clay and round off the clay into a marble-like ball.
Print version
Songs up
As the players arrive or when you're ready for the next paired-off game, hand out the song cards to the players. Select songs that are well-known to everyone in the group. The players find their partners by putting the parts of the song together.
Players: 6 or more Equipment: A card for each set of partners with the partners with the first line of a song written on it Preparation: Write up the song line In two sections. Then cut each card so that each half reveals half the first line of the song.
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Terrible Twosomes up
Hand out the cards to the players and stand back while they try to find the other half of their twosome. You can use such pairs as:
Players: 8 or more Equipment: A card for each player Preparation: Write on the cards the names of half of a famous team or couple
Tom and Jerry - Batman and Robin - Popeye and Olive Oil - Superman and Lois Lane - Abbott and Costello - Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock - Antony and Cleopatra - Jack and Jill - Gilbert and Sullivan - Mutt and Jeff - Oscar and Felix - Napoleon and Josephine - Romeo and Juliet - Kate and Allie - The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - Laurel and Hardy- Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway - Cinderella and Prince Charming - Hansel and Gretel.
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Connections up
In this system of pairing off, you match up the famous character or person with the object he or she is identified with, such as:
Players: 6 or more Equipment: A card for each player Preparation: Write name of the person on one set of cards, the object on the other.
Aladdin - lamp; Goldilocks - porridge; Cinderella - glass slipper; Sleeping Beauty - spindle; Rapunzel - hair; Jason - Golden Fleece; Oliver Twist - 'more food'; Orville Wright - plane; Midas - gold; Bo Peep - sheep; Miss Muffet - spider; Eve - apple; Robin Hood - bow and arrow; King Arthur - round table; Lot's wife - salt; Cleopatra - asp
If you want to pair up boys and girls, give the boys one list and the girls the other.
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Fish Pond up
This pairing-off game is also an icebreaker. Start with the girls hiding behind the screen-or, if you don't have a screen, behind a door that is open a few inches.
Players: 6 or more - an equal number of boys and girls Equipment: A string with a pencil or other light weight tied to the end for every set of partners;
A screen (optional)Preparation: Tie the pencils or the weights to the strings;
Set up the screen, if you have one. In a corner
One boy is given the string with the pencil tied to it. He throws the string over the screen, and without knowing who has thrown it, a girl on the other side grabs the end. Then she becomes his partner.
Each boy gets a turn until all the girls are out from behind the screen or door.
Next time, the boys hide in the "pond" and the girls fish for them.
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