Hold a coin-spinning contest

July 28, 2009

Sometimes the best inventions come from necessity.

In early 2008 the Writer's Guild of America went on strike, forcing the majority of scripted television shows to go off air. However, in an effort to keep their staff employed, some of the late night talk show hosts returned to work, though without any scripted jokes.

At one point, Conan O'Brien passed the time on his show by seeing how long he could spin his wedding ring on the table.

Silly? Sure. Hilarious and fun? Definitely.

That same level of unbridled glee can be recreated with the same kind of activity (though maybe instead of wedding rings, consider using a quarter).

Have your guests line up and take turns spinning their respective coins on the table. Have one person be the official timer of the event. A coin is officially down when it has stopped spinning.

Another game your guests can try is bumper-coins, which is when two people spin coins from opposite sides of the table and see if they bump.

It's silly fun, but it's just the kind of lively activity that will engage your guests and, best of all, be a memorable element of your party. Don't forget to give everyone a party favor for participating.