Growing up in my family was always interesting, sisters are the very best at getting each other into mischief and thinking up fun games. But you never realize how weird you truly are until you see the reaction on somebody’s face when you tell them you used to play funeral. Oh well, own your weirdness, right?
Not much has changed since we were little, we still entertain ourselves like nobody else can, but it’s not the same. So, in honor of summer (when we had the most fun) I’ve decided to do a little reminiscing. When I look back on our childhood (I say childhood, but really the theme parties and Murder Mystery games are still happening), these are the games I remember most and when I do, it’s like I’m right back at 14PS, playing with my sisters.
- Friday the 13th: A game my sisters created, inspired by the Friday the 13th movies (obvi). It was basically a terrifyingly fun version of hide-and-seek. Whoever was “it” took on the role of Jason, if he found you and tagged you, you died. The only way to kill Jason was to find the hockey mask (which Jason had hidden) and say “Jason, your mother’s calling you.” He would kneel in front of you and you’d pretend to stab him. It was the most popular game in the neighborhood on summer nights. (Admittedly, the parents hated it…all those blood curdling screams I guess.)
- Murder Mystery Games: At this point we’ve all seen, played or heard of murder mystery games but back in the late 80’s and early 90’s they were new and exciting to us. And, I would argue, much better quality than what they produce now. We traveled to 1920’s Chicago, Japan, the Wild West, Italy, Hawaii without ever leaving our house. We dressed as flappers and cowboys, wore kimonos and grass skirts. Dress-up, intrigue, pinpointing the killer….I can’t think of a better game night.
- Bar/Restaurant: I think my mother secretly loved when we played this game because we would clean the dining room and set the table. Then we would proceed to concoct sometimes delicious, sometimes heinous drinks for each other. The thrill of not knowing what you were about to drink kept it exciting. Sometimes we pretended to be mobsters, other times we were just rich ladies….but you can bet there was always some mystery afoot and we were entrenched in it.
- Slip & Slide: Obviously just sliding down the Slip & Slide was not even an option for us. We imagined we were the Goonies at the bottom of the well or Indiana Jones on an adventure. We would be chased by villains and fall down a hidden waterfall or in a cave and try to climb our way out. Somehow a wet piece of plastic transformed into an infinite number of adventures.
- Funeral: I think it goes without saying that we were obviously a little morbid. And honestly, I can’t recall if we played this once or many times. But I do remember that we pulled out our black witch dresses from Halloween, grabbed our white gloves from Easter and some clutch purses that had been handed down to us to march down to the gloomy basement (because where else would you host a wake?) to pay our respects. Our poor parents probably wondered what kind of little demons they were raising.
I often wonder how different life would have been if we had technology (of today) back then. What a tragedy it would have been to miss out on all of this weirdness. The theme days, the crazy costumes, the imagination and adventure. There really was nothing better than being with family. There still isn’t. And even though our games may not be for everyone, they were perfect for us.
Stay Weird.
XOXO
