How do I plan Mother’s Day games for a family gathering?

Choose two or three games that suit your family

Start with the people, not the game list. Think about who you're celebrating (a mom, a grandmother, an aunt, a stepmom or several of them), who is coming, and how much time you have before the gathering. These games use material your family probably already has: stories, old photos, favorite sayings and recipes.

Guess Who: Mom Edition works well for stories. Guests write single-sentence facts about the honoree, and she guesses who wrote each one. Mom trivia uses ten questions she answers in advance. The photo match asks teams to name the mothers and grandmothers in numbered photos, and guests can work on it as they arrive. If you want more, there's a seated version of Mother May I, a life timeline sort, Two Truths and a Tale, A to Z of Mom, Dish Detective and a famous sayings round. How to play each one is explained below. There are sheets to print for three of them: a ten-question trivia sheet for the honoree, a team answer sheet for both trivia and the photo match, and an A to Z answer sheet. For the other games, you make the cards, clues or photo sets yourself.

Two or three rounds is usually enough to fill a gathering without crowding out the meal and conversation. Prepare only the extra games you actually plan to play.

Choose games to fit the time you have rather than collecting backups you won't use; a few well-chosen rounds leave room for the meal and conversation. Our guide to how many activities to plan for a party can help you decide.

Guess Who: Mom Edition needs index cards, pens and one bowl per person you're honoring. A week before, ask each guest for one single-sentence fact about the honoree, plus a fact from each mother about herself, and ask them to tell you privately that they wrote it. Let each honoree approve the cards before play, and keep the writers' names on a separate numbered key. For a scored round, put one card per participating writer in each bowl, give each honoree the same number of cards (using only writers who supplied a fact for each of them) and announce the count before starting. The honoree draws a card, reads it or asks the host to read it, and gets one guess at the writer. A correct guess gives the writer one point; a wrong guess or a pass gives no point, so reveal the writer and move on. The writer may tell the longer story from their chair but doesn't have to. If you don't have equal sets of cards, play without scores and just read the cards you have.

Guess Who ends when the agreed cards have been read. Writers with the most points share the win, and there are no bonus points for good stories. These individual writer points are separate from the team scoreboard, and the example schedule below plays Guess Who unscored. Keep unused cards for later or send them to absent relatives. For another round, refill each bowl with equal numbers of unread cards and start scores at zero.

Mom trivia is played in teams with the ten-question sheet, a private answer key, paper and pens. Send the questions to the honoree a week ahead and let her answer only the ones she wants included; replace any she skips before printing so every team gets the same set, and keep her answers off the player copies. Read each question aloud twice and show it in writing. Each team writes one private answer, with 30 seconds per question; move on even if a team has left it blank. After the tenth question, collect the sheets before revealing answers. The honoree gives one point for a correct answer or a paraphrase she accepts, using the same standard for every team. Wrong or blank answers score zero. Most points wins and ties are shared. To play again, use new questions and fresh sheets rather than repeating answers everyone just heard.

The photo match uses 12 numbered photos, a name bank, a private key and answer sheets. Collect photos of the mothers and grandmothers at different ages, including a baby photo from each generation if you can. One person can appear more than once: list each name once in the name bank and tell players names may be reused. The key must say who is in each numbered photo. Put the photos on a wall, or put copies in a folder guests can pass around while seated. Give each team the same 12-photo answer sheet and the same deadline, such as the start of dessert, and keep guesses private until sheets are handed in. Each correct name earns one point; wrong or blank answers earn zero. Most matches wins and ties share the win. After scoring, invite a relative to tell the stories behind the photos. If you play again, use a new selection and blank sheets.

Mother May I, seated edition, needs only chairs. The honoree can be the caller if she'd like. Go around the circle five times, giving each player one command per pass, such as "Clap three times," "Wave both hands" or "Tap your shoulders twice." Before doing it, the player asks, "Mother, may I?" and the caller says yes. If someone forgets the phrase or does a different gesture, show them the gesture and move on to the next player; nobody is out. Guests can use a gesture that suits them or pass. Finish after five turns each. There's no score or winner. If guests want to repeat it, change callers and start a new five-turn round.

If you'd like a different game with the same equal turns, party games with no elimination include formats where guests can pass or take a break and rejoin at the next suitable turn.

Mother May I can also be played standing, with the original giant steps and baby steps toward a marked finish line. Forgetting to say "Mother, may I?" sends that player back to the start. Everyone gets five turns; the round ends early only after the pass in which someone reaches the finish is completed, and everyone who reaches it shares the win. If nobody reaches it after five turns, the round ends with no winner. Move everyone back to the start before playing again.

The life timeline sort is played in teams with eight event cards per team, a private dated key and a three-minute timer. Ask the honoree for eight events she's happy to share, such as her first bike, her wedding day, a move across town or her first grandchild, and confirm their order with her. For events in the same year, agree the order in advance or accept either order. Give each team an identical shuffled set without dates. Teams arrange the cards from earliest to latest on a table and stop at three minutes, finished or not. Each card in its correct position earns one point; a misplaced or unused card earns zero. Most points wins and ties share the win. Reveal the order and invite the honoree to share a memory. Shuffle the cards and reset scores to practice, or use new events for another scored round.

Two Truths and a Tale needs paper and pens for private guesses. Give each mother a day's notice to prepare two true memories and one made-up one; for example, stories about a school play, a camping trip and learning to drive, with her choosing which is invented. Each willing storyteller gets one turn and numbers her memories 1, 2 and 3. Listeners write one private guess within 30 seconds, before anything is revealed, and then she reveals the tale. A correct guess earns the listener one point; a wrong or missing guess earns zero. The storyteller earns two points if nobody guesses her tale, otherwise zero. The game ends when every willing storyteller has had one turn.

If a storyteller is stuck, our ideas for Two Truths and a Lie include statement prompts to start from. Use them for inspiration only, and keep this page's scoring: listeners earn a point for a correct guess, and the storyteller earns two only if nobody spots her tale.

In Two Truths and a Tale, only guests who aren't telling a story compete for listener points, so each gets the same number of guesses; storytellers can guess other stories just for fun. Keep listener points and storyteller points as two separate scores. The highest total in each wins, and ties are shared. This game stands on its own and isn't added to the team scoreboard. To play again, use new memories and reset both scores.

A to Z of Mom is played in teams with an alphabet sheet each, pens and a five-minute timer. Teams write one word or short phrase per letter that fits the honoree, such as "B — baking," "G — gardening" or "P — Paris," if those suit her. Before starting, tell teams that Q, X and Z are free squares worth no points, which leaves 23 scoring letters. Stop at five minutes. The honoree accepts entries that start with the right letter and describe her, a dish she makes or a place she loves. Each accepted letter earns one point; blanks and rejected entries earn zero. Most points wins and ties are shared. For a new round, start with blank sheets and a different honoree.

Dish Detective is played in teams with one clue per participating cook, a bank of cooks' names and a private answer key. Ask each cook for a signature dish and one distinctive recipe step, and use only clues the cooks approve. Read a clue such as "This cook folds the dough three times" without naming the dish or the cook. You can include a remembered great-grandparent's dish if a relative confirms the step and the answer. Read each clue once, repeat it, and give teams 30 seconds to write a private guess; every team hears the same clues. After the last clue, collect the answers and reveal the cooks and dishes. Each correct cook earns one point; wrong or blank answers earn zero. Highest score wins and ties are shared. For a replay, collect new clues and clear the answer sheets.

The famous sayings round uses saying cards, the full answers and, if you like, a phone recording. Ask relatives for five of the honoree's familiar sayings and have her confirm the wording. Put only the first half of each saying on the player card. Read it aloud, then give every team 30 seconds to write the ending privately. Collect all five answers before revealing the full sayings. Her exact wording earns two points, a paraphrase she accepts earns one, and a wrong or missing answer earns zero. Most points wins. If teams tie, give each tied team the same spare saying and one attempt; if they're still tied, they share the win. A recording of the honoree saying the full line can be used for the reveal, but never play it as a clue before guesses are in. To repeat, use new sayings and reset scores.

Put relatives of different ages on the same team

Confirm who is coming before you set up teams, then divide players into two or three mixed-age teams. You can call them Team Grandma, Team Mom and Team Kids, but each team should include both younger and older relatives. Where numbers allow, aim to put someone from each decade represented in the room on every team rather than grouping people by generation.

If the numbers are uneven, one team can have an extra person. Each team still gives one answer per question and gets the same number of turns. Rotate who writes or speaks so the largest team doesn't get extra attempts. Name tags in team colors help, especially if they also carry the team name or a shape, so the teams aren't told apart by color alone.

Write the team lists yourself before the gathering rather than drawing names or picking captains. Spread older and younger relatives across each team first, then make tags showing each team's name or shape as well as its color, and hand them out as guests arrive. Keep your reasons for any placement private. The guide to choosing teams without hurt feelings explains this host-balanced list.

Collect the stories, answers and photos about a week before

Most of the preparation is gathering material. About a week before the gathering, send the trivia questions to the honoree and ask each guest for a single-sentence fact about her, such as "You taught me to ride a bike in the school parking lot." Ask each writer to tell you privately that the fact is theirs, and keep the names on a separate numbered key.

Let the honoree answer only the trivia questions she wants included. If she skips one, replace it before printing so every team gets the same set. Gather photos of the mothers and grandmothers at different ages, number them, and write the name bank and answer key. Keep every answer key out of the copies guests receive.

Make every honoree comfortable

Ask the honorees what they'd like to share and how they'd like to take part. Let each honoree approve the facts, photos and sayings before the games, and let anyone skip a turn without having to explain.

Using a photo during a game isn't the same as sharing it afterward. Before posting or sending any pictures, ask the honoree and anyone else recognizable in them, or a parent for children, then share only with the group they agreed to. See handling party photos and permission to share them.

Example: a 90-minute afternoon of games

This illustrative schedule runs from 2:00 to 3:30, with dessert served during the games. It uses three scored team rounds (trivia, the photo match and the timeline sort) and an unscored Guess Who round. If several honorees want time for longer stories, use fewer cards or leave out the timeline sort. Adjust the times to fit your own gathering.

• 2:00–2:15 (15 minutes): Guests arrive and start the photo match. Hand out team tags and sheets, and tell everyone photo answers are due at 2:40.
• 2:15–2:30 (15 minutes): Mom trivia. Read the ten questions, collect the sheets and reveal the answers.
• 2:30–2:40 (10 minutes): Serve dessert while teams finish their photo guesses.
• 2:40–2:50 (10 minutes): Collect the photo sheets, score them and hear the stories behind a few photos.
• 2:50–3:00 (10 minutes): Life timeline sort. Give teams three minutes to sort, then score and reveal the correct order.
• 3:00–3:20 (20 minutes): Guess Who. Split the announced card count between the honorees before you start.
• 3:20–3:30 (10 minutes): Add up the team points, announce shared winners if there's a tie, collect the cards and say goodbyes.

Keep the scoring fair and the prizes simple

If you're keeping a scoreboard for the afternoon, give the round winner two team points, give one point each if teams tie for the win, and give zero to the other teams. That way a twelve-photo score isn't added directly to a ten-question score. Don't score Guess Who or Mother May I as team rounds, and keep Two Truths and a Tale separate from the team scoreboard. The highest team total wins. If teams are still tied at the end, they share the win.

Explain the two-point system and the shared-win rule before the first round, so nobody feels the rules changed later. If everyone is taking home a small favor, don't make it depend on the score. Any game prize, such as first choice of dessert, should follow rules you announced beforehand. The tips on keeping party games from getting too competitive cover ties and prizes.

Checklist for the week before

• Ask each honoree which stories, photos and sayings she wants included, and how she'd like to take part.
• Send the trivia questions and requests for facts one week ahead.
• Number the photos, then write the name bank and the private answer key.
• Put the approved facts in a separate bowl for each honoree, with the same number of cards in each.
• Print the player sheets, keeping the answer keys out of the guest copies.
• After confirming who's coming, set up mixed-age teams and make name tags.
• Give storytellers a day's notice for Two Truths and a Tale.
• Put the pens, bowls, timers and sheets where another adult can find them.

Sources and further reading

• Mother's Day games for a family gathering

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