Christmas Pickle Ornament German Tradition Gift Idea

The Christmas pickle is said to have been a long tradition in Germany. However, many Germans have never heard of this tradition. There are many folklores on how this tradition started. It might just be a gimmick sold to Americans looking for another crazy tradition. But hey, we Americans like our crazy traditions, so why not! And this is an easy one with little to no effort. We started this tradition with our girls several years ago. Even now as adults they still want to find the pickle on Christmas morning. This year I thought it'd be fun to share our tradition with ours neighbors. They would also make great co-worker or teacher gifts. You can buy sets already made for around $10ish (Amazon Link). I was able to find a set of nice glass blown ornaments between $1-$2 a piece on Amazon click here). They come in sets of 10 or 20. Only downside you need to make your own card and giftwrap. We usually spend around that much for our neighbor gifts. We have a bunch of neighbors we include in our gift giving. It's just something to say hey you're important to us, and we care about you. We try not to spend too much, because that's not what Christmas is about. We do however, always try to put a little extra effort in the meaning behind the gift. The message is what Christmas is about. So, we thought we'd share our idea for a great gift this year.

I designed a little note card to go inside a clear gift bag (Amazon Link), added a bit of shredded gift paper (Amazon Link), and a pickle colored bow (Amazon Link) on top.  There are many ways to play this traditional pickle ornament game. On the backside of the card we included what the pickle meant to us and a few different ways to play the game. For our family, we play that the first person to find the pickle gets to open the first present. Another way to play, is that the first person to find the pickle gets a special gift under the tree meant for the pickle winner.  Which would also be the first gift opened.  It would be fun to maybe wrap the presents in pickle wrapping paper, or have the gift be pickle oriented. There are so many pickle gag gifts out there. Last year, for a white elephant gift, my brother and sister in law gave pickle popsicles.  They were a huge hit. My girls would just love a giant jar of pickles, they are a favorite snack in our home. I always try to include the year on the card for our family and friends that like to keep them. 

We decided to leave the ornament wrapped in the bubble wrap it was shipped in to help protect it.  Many times the gift is left on the doorstep, and we wanted to protect it as best as possible. It is a bit uglier though to look at.

Have fun with it and make it your own!

If you liked this post, you might also like:

LCR Christmas Gift Idea

We also used this as our Easter theme last year, BIG hit!

Be sure to look around our blog, we have tons of out of the box games and ideas!

 

Gumball Pie Game

A few years back we were bored and made up a hilarious game. We bought a huge bag of Swedish Fish and had yet to use it.  My kids absolutely love Cool Whip.  So, we came up with a game using both.  We called it Swamp Fishing.  The Cool Whip represents the cloudy swamp water and the Swedish Fish is what your fishing for.  You are the big fish or sea creature searching for smaller fish.  This game is a bit of a twist on the original version.  We wanted something for a Thanksgiving Game this year. Everyone likes gumballs and messes.  So,  we came up with Gumball Pie.

Here's how to play:

Kind of like a pie eating contest. 

Grab a pie pan or deep dish bowl for each player.

Place three bubble gum balls (amazon link) on each plate.

Add at least two large scoops of Cool Whip to each plate.

Stir the Cool Whip around so you can't see any of the bubble gum pieces.

Each player must keep their hands behind their back and using only their mouth fish out all three gumballs.  The first player to get all three and successfully blow a bubble that is chewed up enough to make a popping sound as it pops wins. If the gum isn't chewed up enough, it will be sugary making is harder to blow a bubble at all,  and it won't make that iconic popping sound. 

Be sure to video tape it. 

 

Be sure to take any precautions, and play at your own risk!

Let us know what you think in the comments below.

If you liked this game, you might like these other games on our blog:

Hershey Kiss Game on our blog.

Hershey Kiss Tongs Party Game on our blog.

Candy Bar Party Game on our blog.

Root Beer Pong Party Game with a Twist on our blog.

Rubber Chicken Games on our blog.

Shaving Cream Fight on our blog

Watch Ya Mouth/ Speak Out/ Mouth Guard Challenge Amazon links

Mouth Guard Karaoke

Sing Karaoke while wearing mouth retractors. Watching some one sing a song like "Sexy Back" by Justin Timberlake with a mouth guard/retractor while the are drooling and slurring is hilarious. It's fun for Christmas caroling too.

Amazon Link for mouth retractors

Extreme Spoons

Instead of placing the sons in the middle of the table,  put them all over the room in challenging places.   You have to run and get them. Careful on where you put them,  things will be broken and fought over.

Amazon link to Spoons game 

Amazon link to Giant Spoons game

Poop The Potato on our blog.

Really the possibilities are endless on replacing the Potato with a different object. 

Pudding Eating Contest on our blog.

Pudding Eating Contest With a Twist on our blog.

Pudding Pictionary on our blog.

Candy Tape Ball Game on our blog.

Beanboozled Amazon link

Pringle Ringle on our blog.

Yardzee & Yarkle 

Divergent Party on our blog.

Swamp Fishing on our blog.

Beard Game on our blog.

(fun for Bachelor Party, Baby Shower, Father's Day, Christmas, New Year's Eve)

Flour Game

Pie Face

Three Wise Women Gift

I have always just thought this was the funniest Christmas poem and wanted to make some gifts for my girlfriends for Christmas.  I first saw it on a plate my sister in law had on display in her home.  Then, I started seeing it everywhere.  I do not know the author to give credit to. I tried to find the original with no luck. If you know the original poem came from, please share so we can give them credit. I thought this is the perfect gift for the ladies I work with, my sisters, and female friends. Just a fun girl gift. I included a plate stand (amazon link) so they can display it for the holidays. There are many options on Amazon if you love the gift, but don't want to make it.

I used a turquoise blue plate with brown trim (amazon link). I cut out the saying on my silhouette cameo (amazon link), using brown permanent oracle 651 vinyl (amazon link). 

I scraped the transfer tape (amazon link) on really good with my vinyl scraper (amazon link) and transferred it to the plate. Just that quick. Really easy gift to make if you have a vinyl cutter. The best part of making your own gifts is you can change the wording or personalize the gift. Put a message on the back of the plate for an added touch! Hope your friends like it! I know mine did.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

LCR Christmas Gift 

Christmas Pickle Christmas Gift

Elfie for Teenagers and Adults

LCR Easter Egg Hunt

 This game was a huge hit with the family. My kids are older now, but still love to follow traditions. They still want the Easter Egg Hunt, but they don't really eat a ton of candy.  So, we thought to ourselves what do teenagers want? MONEY!!! We gave all our neighbors the game LCR for Christmas this year with a little saying

Well, this Also works great for Easter. I decided to grab 20-30 eggs and fill them with money.  You could fill them with candy or anything else instead.  The lowest amount and most common we used was quarters. Some had gold dollars, 10 or so had one dollar bills, and one had a five dollar bill. We didn't want to spend too much on the game, but you could easily add lower or higher amounts of money in each egg. It's fun to have a grand prize single egg with a much higher amount. The fun part about the money being in the eggs, is that you don't know how much is in each egg. You could be passing around the five dollar bill and not even know it. We hid all the eggs for the Easter Egg Hunt. Don't forget to include all adults and yourself in the hunt, if you intend to be part of the game. Whatever eggs you find in the hunt you get to start the game with. 

(Amazon link to some great Easter eggs. You can buy a nice LCR set (Amazon Link) that comes in a tin, but I went with this version (Amazon link) so I could be creative and insert a label.  If you like the idea, but want to spend a little more money on a nicer set there are deluxe (Amazon Link) and giant sets (Amazon Link) available as well. I found these magnetic tins (Amazon Link) that were perfect for the games.  I loved the window, the perfect spot for a personalized label.)

Left Center Right Game Instructions

Each player starts with 3 tokens, but in this version whatever eggs they found in the hunt. Players take turns rolling the dice, continuing clockwise. To start: Roll all 3 dice. Each die tells you what to do with a egg. Each LEFT = pass 1 egg to the LEFT. Each STAR = pass 1 egg to the CENTER. Each RIGHT = pass 1 egg to the RIGHT. Each DOT = don't pass any eggs. 3 DOTS is a perfect roll.  During the game, players with just one or two eggs left may only roll as many dice as they have eggs (2 eggs = roll 2 dice,  1 egg = roll 1 die).  Players with no eggs left aren't out of the game.  They must pass on their turn and rejoin on the next turn they get eggs back.  The last player with eggs is the winner. 

Three ways to play:

Game play goes until only one player has any eggs. That player gets to keep whatever eggs they have left at the end. A new game begins with the eggs that were played in the center. 

If you only want to play a single round, play until only one player has any eggs.  Then,  divide the eggs in the center between all the players including the winner.  The winner however, also gets to keep the eggs they were left with as well.  

Or you can always play winner takes all.  

The girls loved this game.  I think we have a new family tradition. We had a small gathering of just immediate family for our Easter Egg Hunt this year, but you can add more eggs depending on the number of players. Just make sure there are at least three eggs per player in the hunt to start the game of with. If they end up with zero eggs they can still play. However, the player that collected the most eggs will have an advantage. This makes the hunt more competitive. We played right after breakfast pajamas and all.

If you liked this post, you might also like these fun posts on our blog:

Easter Games for all ages

Glow in the Dark Easter Egg Hunt

Ultimate Spoons

My kids favorite quick card game is Spoons.  They love it!  So here is a quick explanation:

Amazon link to Spoons game 

Amazon link to Giant Spoons game

• Count the number of players
• Place one less spoon in center of circle then there are number of players
• Shuffle the deck of cards
• Deal out four cards to each player
• The Dealer places the deck of cards to his right
• The Dealer then takes the top card, places it in his hand, then chooses a card to discard.  The object is to get four of a kind first.
• The Dealer discards a card quickly to the player on the left.
• The Dealers discard pile becomes the player to his/her lefts deck to draw from.
• Then the player on the left repeats to the player on his left, and so on until all the player now have a discard pile and a draw pile. 
• Play continues until a player has four of a kind
• At this time the player grabs on of the spoons
• Once one player grabs a spoon all players quickly grab a spoon, one player will not get one and is out for the next round.
• For the next round remove one spoon and repeat the above steps until only one player remains.

Ultimate Spoons

Like Spoons above, except instead of placing the spoons in the middle of the table, you put the spoons in a challenging place. Sometimes we just throw them and not look where they land. You might place them on the other side of the room, in a different room completely, in the snow, bottom of a pool, etc.  Take all safety precautions in your spoon placement and remove all obstacles.  Some rough housing could cause injury. You have to run and get them, things could be broken and fought over. People might be jumping over couches,  etc. Super fun, but crazy at the same time! Play at your own risk!

For added fun instead of spoons, make it a prize that gets nicer with each round.

 

Amazon link to Spoons game 

Amazon link to Giant Spoons game

For a different take on spoons for different holidays on our blog click here

If you liked this game, you might like these other games on our blog:

Hershey Kiss Game on our blog.

Hershey Kiss Tongs Party Game on our blog.

Candy Bar Party Game on our blog.

Root Beer Pong Party Game with a Twist on our blog.

Rubber Chicken Games on our blog.

Shaving Cream Fight on our blog

Watch Ya Mouth/ Speak Out/ Mouth Guard Challenge Amazon links

Mouth Guard Karaoke

Sing Karaoke while wearing mouth retractors. Watching some one sing a song like "Sexy Back" by Justin Timberlake with a mouth guard/retractor while the are drooling and slurring is hilarious. It's fun for Christmas caroling too.

Amazon Link for mouth retractors

Poop The Potato on our blog.

Really the possibilities are endless on replacing the Potato with a different object. 

Pudding Eating Contest on our blog.

Pudding Eating Contest With a Twist on our blog.

Pudding Pictionary on our blog.

Candy Tape Ball Game on our blog.

Beanboozled Amazon link

Pringle Ringle on our blog.

Yardzee & Yarkle 

Divergent Party on our blog.

Swamp Fishing on our blog.

Beard Game on our blog.

(fun for Bachelor Party, Baby Shower, Father's Day, Christmas, New Year's Eve)

Flour Game

Who's the Dude Amazon link
It's charades with a fully dresses blow up doll. There were a few inappropriate cards that I found.  And several that are not inappropriate,  but you could easily make them inappropriate if you tried.  So,  depending on your group you may need to make a G-rated rule. 

Pie Face