The best foodie party games

Having a party? The best way to entertain guests (adults and children alike) is with a game - and one which involves lots of eating. Here are our favourite five.

Apple bobbing

Apple bobbing isn't just for Halloween. And your 'prize' is one of your five a day!

What to do: Fill a large tub or bucket with water and plop some apples into it. With their hands behind their back, the contestant must try and pick one of the floaty fruits up using only their teeth. Mix it up a bit by adding a bowl of flour with marshmallows hidden in it next to the apple bucket; after the bobber has caught an apple, they have to catch a marshmallow too. Wet face + bowl of flour = sticky mess.

Doughnuts-on-a-string

It’s hard enough to eat a whole doughnut without licking your lips, but to eat one suspended mid-air, with your hands behind your back? Pah! Adults love this game – you can watch five strapping young men attempt the challenge below…

What to do: Tie a length of rope between two trees if you’re outside, or get two tall people to hold a long pole between them if you’re inside (as is shown in the video). Next, tie a piece of ribbon to each doughnut (one per person) and then secure the other end of the ribbon to the rope/pole, so that the doughnuts hang slightly above mouth level. Without using their hands, the contestants must eat their doughnut without letting it fall off the ribbon. The first to finish wins!

The Mars Bar race

This game used to taunt me so. I wanted to eat the Mars Bar so bad, but the damn gloves made it near impossible! You need quite a big group for this one – I’d say at least eight people, divided into two teams.

What to do: Split your party guests into two teams, and line them up at one end of the room. At the other end, put an unwrapped Mars Bar on a paper plate and next to it a woolly hat, scarf, gloves, and a knife and fork.

Give each team a dice and when the game starts, the two contenders at the front of each line both roll their dice. The teams pass the dice back along their line until someone gets a six; when they do, that person must run to the plate, put on all the woolly kit, and eat as much of the Mars Bar as they can, until someone from the opposite team rolls a six. Then the new person takes over the Mars Bar-eating, whilst the original eater returns to the back of their line. Only the team who isn’t eating the Mars Bar can roll the dice. The winning team is the first to finish the whole bar.

Egg roulette

Not really suitable for young kids, seeing as it involves smashing an egg against your forehead. But worry not; it doesn’t hurt! We used to play this at uni. (Warning: this game doesn’t actually involve any eating, which may disappoint you).

What to do: You need one egg per player. Hard boil them all except one (about 10 minutes in boiling water should do) and then put all the eggs in a bowl full of water, including the single ‘raw’ egg. Sit in a circle and, one by one, all take an egg out of the bowl. You can switch eggs with someone else, if they agree to it. Then after 1…2…3, everyone smashes the egg against their forehead, leaving one person dripping in yolk! This video is fantastic…

The Weetabix challenge

Best use for them, if you ask me. This is one of those it’s-impossible-to-eat-this-food-in-large-quantities test; an experiment which also works really well with cinnamon. Ever tried to eat a teaspoon of powdered cinnamon? Sounds easy… it’s not.

What to do: Allow one small glass of milk per contestant and have ready a few boxes of Weetabix. Set a time limit – about three or four minutes should be enough – and see how many Weetabix biscuits each contestant can eat in that time limit!This guy can barely manage two in two minutes.

Have you got any great foodie party games to share with us? Talk to use in the comments box below…

Bobbing image courtesy of Caleb Zahnd; Mars Bar image courtesy of Sannse.

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