When each player receives the antlers, they must put them on their head, then take them back off and pass them to the next player. Any player caught wearing the antlers when the music stops is out of the game. Play continues until one player remains. Divide players into two teams and have each team form a line on one side of the room. Stack a pile of gifts or empty, wrapped boxes on the floor in a spot on the other side of the room (make sure you have one gift per player). Give the first player in line for each team a pair of antlers. Inform the players that Santa is almost ready to embark on his journey, but the elves are snowed in at the toy shop, so it’s up to the reindeer to load the sleigh. When you signal the start of the race, the first players in line don their antlers, pull the sleighs to the stack of presents, load a gift inside and return to their teams. When a player returns to the line, they must hand the antlers to the next person in line, who must put them on and take the sleigh back to retrieve another gift from the pile. The first team of reindeer to fill their sleigh with all of the gifts wins the race. When a player gets the red nose, they win one of the prizes. That player then sits out, and the red nose is put back into the bag. Play continues until everyone has pulled out the red nose and won a prize. When the timer rings, both reindeer must race to place the pantyhose antlers on their heads. The first team whose reindeer is wearing its antlers wins. Another variation is to have some judges on hand to determine the winning team based on the better pair of antlers. Have the children gather in a circle and hand the first player the hat. When they pick a name from the hat, they will read it aloud in this manner: “Hello my name is Blitzen.” They must then add a sentence of their own that describes something they like that begins with the same letter as their reindeer name. For instance, they might say, “Hello my name is Blitzen and I like books.” The hat is passed to the next player who must pick out a name and do the same thing, as well as repeat what the first player said. (“Hello my name is Prancer and I like puppies and he is Blitzen who likes books.”) The hat is passed around the circle and play continues like this until a player forgets or loses track of the names and sentences that came before them. When a player messes up the order, they are out of the game. Play until only one player remains, or until the circle is completed without any errors. Before making the magic reindeer food, send your guests on a scavenger hunt for the ingredients. Hide them around the party space and give guests a list of the ingredients they need to locate. Once they have retrieved all of the items, they can gather at the table to mix them into a big bowl and divide the batch into individual, take-home portions.
