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More Valentines Day Games for Your Victorian Party
Victorian ladies made sure to have plenty of games for their parties. Here are a few more Valentine's Day games they would play.
Substitute Games for A Victorian
Valentine's Party
A variation in the evening suggested may be made by substituting valentine telegrams for the game of inversions. Ten letters are given, which must be used in order as the initial letters in a ten-word valentine.
The game of Who am I? may be put in the place of heart-hunt. For this game every one has the name of some familiar character pinned on the back. The object is to find out by questions and comments what everyone knows but yourself – who you yourself are. The first person guessing his identity receives a prize.
The discreet hostess will have substitute games in reserve, for it is sometimes impossible to predict the mood and temper of a company beforehand, and a game that would ordinarily cause great enthusiasm may fall as flat as a pancake. The hostess must keep your finger on the pulse of her company, as it were, and change the amusement in such a case as quickly as a doctor changes his medicine. She must remember, too, to stop even a popular game before it begins to drag. The Oliver Twist principle of wishing for more is the best to apply to any amusement, and if the hostess is successful in this, her guests will depart, after the valentines are distributed, with the feeling that they have spent on of the pleasantest evening of the year.
The change from number to number, however, must be made with tact. The young hostess, not accustomed to the entire responsibility of entertaining, is sometimes likely to feel her position so keenly that she moves her guests from one thing to another as if they were pieces on a board. Successful entertaining is a fine art, and one of the best lessons possible in self-control and unselfishness. The hostess rarely enjoys things as her company does. She is wondering whether the sandwiches will dry up, or how the next game will go, or whether her guests are having a good time. But she must keep all these apprehensions out of sight. Her suggestions should seem to be spontaneous, even while the guests feel the plan underneath which gives the whole evening unity and consistency.
Any woman who has made herself famous for the entertainments she gives obeys this law of unity, consciously or unconsciously. It is a flexible unity, to be sure, with much variety included between its limits, but it implies just the touch of genius that makes her evening remembered where others are forgotten. This woman, if she were preparing a Valentine party, would put as much careful thought upon it as if she were making the outline of an essay for literary club.
For more on Victorian Valentine’s Day festivities, see:
How to Celebrate a Victorian Valentine’s Day
AVictorian Valentine’s Day Party Menu
Suggested Prizes for Valentine’s Day Games
A Victorian Valentine Exchange
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