Pin the Nose on a Ruldolph

by Lisa Boc
(Winter Park, Florida, U.S.)

Every year my husband and I invite all of our relatives over for Christmas dinner. Normally we have the kiddies on one end (at a smaller table), and adults on the other (except the select few who stay constantly with the kids)

When they were young, my close neighbor Nancy (who is still one of my best friends) and I created this perfect game unexpectedly that started a family tradition ever since our boys were 3 and 4!

It all started because I had an old poster of a reindeer that I was thinking of taking down that year (it was getting a bit yellowish with age) but then Nancy suggested "Why don't we make a game into it for the kids!" As I thought about what kind of game, quickly together we both thought out loud at the same time "Pin the tail on the donkey!" (Don't ask me why, perhaps it was the eggnog) but we couldn't use a donkey tail because of the fact that one; he was a reindeer; and two, the tacs; so we came up with a better idea... Sticker a nose on Rudolph! (Obviously though, the next years we were actually prepared and bought round red stickers for the nose) that year we had to make due and we used leftover ribbons from the gifts and a permanent marker.

We wrote all their names on the ribbons and blindfolded them (with two towels I previously cut up into strips before we got started really quick, we were desperate-haha) and spun them around to see who could get the closest to sticking a ribbon on Randolph's nose! HAHA We were laughing hysterically!

But of course we don't have pinatas at Christmas so the winner got to choose to open a present first (we always had something under the tree) and the other ones went in order to the closest to the nose and so forth!

Ever since then, we updated with round red stickers on the nose and got the presents ready to hand out! All of us really enjoyed it and have been doing it ever since! (and Yes we kept the original Rudolph!)