'Tis the season to be jolly - and play games!

Whenever I think of our family Christmas', I always think of the games that we have played over the years. We used to play 'guess who', where you write the name of someone famous and one person has to stick it to their head and guess who they are, after Christmas dinner. Then there was the year I received Screwball Scramble from Santa and that kept me busy until the new year. And of course, there's charades, which we play with our friends with hilarious results (Anna Karenina came up one year and we were in tears of laughter trying to guess the actions!).

Isn't it law that you have to play charades as a family every Christmas?

What about an annual game of Monopoly, to bring out the competitive side in everyone?!

This Christmas, we have a new game to play, and we tried it out the other week when we met with our group of friends for our annual Mock Christmas celebrations.

The Game of Things is something of a legend, as I have come to discover. It's a simple, silly game that you can play with, ideally, four players or more - and it can be a great children-friendly game, or you can keep it just for adults too, if you want to be a bit cheekier with your responses.

In a nutshell, there are dozens and dozens of cards that prompt a question to the players, and all each person needs to do is write a response. The responses are then collected by a designated reader who reads them out loud. Each player take it in turns to guess who said which response, gaining points as they go or sitting out the round if they choose incorrectly.

It's the kind of game that is easy to pick up and that can fit in with the group you are playing with - so if it's something for the family, silliness will no doubt ensue, but with friends, well, it may get a little saucier, shall we say! The more players, the more fun can be had but it'll also make things harder and could turn into an all night game session.

My top tip is to read the instructions thoroughly, and have a test run, so that everyone can work out the mechanics of the game and how you take turns at being the reader. Also, take a look on YouTube as there's tons of videos on there including celebrities playing the game on Ellen, so this will give you a good idea of what's involved.

We had to be a bit careful with Ethan around, as he started to repeat some of the things we were putting on the cards!

There are different versions of the game available, including an adults only version, The Game of Nasty Things, but we have the original game and enjoyed playing this and will do doubt take it along to my in-laws on Christmas Day too.

The presentation of the game is really nice too, in a wooden box, which gives it a premium feel so it would also make for a fun Christmas gift for a friend or family member.

The Game of Things is a fun party game and can be bought online from various shops, including Amazon, currently priced £32.99.


* I received this game for purposes of review, but opinions remain my own.