Hide The Mermaid Game

In our house this is called The Mermaid Game, however, it is not limited to mermaids. You know those little glass figures that come in the boxes of Red Rose Tea? Well, that's where our Mermaid came from. But, if your box happened to come with the Sailboat, you could definitely play the Sailboat Game. This could also be called the Army Man Game, the Purple Dice Game, the Little-Pebble-I-Found-Outside Game. You can use anything. 

Now, you may be asking, "What is the Mermaid Game?" Well, basically it's just a game of hide and seek that never ends. 

I don't actually remember how this game started for us. Although, I do know that when it started we didn't expect it to go on for 2+ Years... but I'm so glad it has! Believe it or not, we moved and the mermaid game has continued in out new house. When we were packing everything from our old house I slipped the Mermaid into my pocket, re-hid it at the new house, and simply let the game live on. 

The game-play is really very basic. You find some item you would like to play this with, let your family know (I think we kind of skipped this part and it just happened), and hide it somewhere in your house. Everyone goes about their life as normal and if someone comes across the item they take it and hide it somewhere else. It's that simple. 

As with any game, this game does have rules. Unfortunately, by writing up this post, I have to break the first and most important rule. 

Rule #1: Do not talk about the Mermaid. 

The Mermaid is not discussed. Having said that, there are instances where this rule has been broken. Of course I am breaking it right now, but there was also an instance when it seemed months had gone by and there had been no sign of her. I called an emergency Mermaid meeting and we all agreed, she was missing. A Mermaid hunt ensued, we found her, and the game continued. So yes, we do not talk about the mermaid unless completely necessary.  

Rule #2: Do not remove the Mermaid from her hiding spot or put her into a new hiding spot if anyone is around to see you. 

If you happen to stumble upon her and retrieving her would require climbing on top of furniture and calling attention to yourself, you should definitely wait till the room is not full of people to take her. If you are able to stealthily slip her into your pocket, go ahead. But if there's a chance of being spotted, it can wait. The same goes for putting her into her new hiding spot. 

Rule #3: Do not hide the Mermaid anywhere too difficult to find. 

Clever hiding spots are great. funny hiding spots are great. But hiding her where no one can find her just isn't fun. She should never be completely out of view unless she is in a location that is frequented by most of the family. E.g. The medicine cabinet, the cookie jar, etc. 

Rule #4: Do not hide the Mermaid in any of the bedrooms. 

This rule may not be necessary in every household, but in my house our bedrooms are not high traffic areas. Usually the only people in the bed rooms are those that it belongs to. If your family has two children who share a bedroom and parents to tidy for them and tuck them in every night, then the bedroom would probably be fine. We considered making a no bathroom rule before we decided that it was one of the highest traffic areas as well as one of the most entertaining rooms to hide her in.   

Easy enough right? We take the Mermaid Game very seriously in our home and you will be scolded if you are found breaking any of the rules. You may also be asked to relinquish the Mermaid to whoever caught you and let them hide it, rightfully losing your turn. 

Another good idea is to put a limit on how long she can be in one spot. If you have hidden the Mermaid and 3 weeks later you realize she is still in the same spot, then it's probably too difficult of a hiding place and she should be moved. 

Here are just a few ideas to help get you started on your own game. 

 Surround the Mermaid with colors that camouflage her. This can make hiding in plain sight especially fun. If she's camouflaged the eye of your opponents will pass right over her.

Use the flaws of your home's construction. Little spots like this one pictured below are perfect for the Mermaid. 

 Hide the Mermaid in unexpected places. No one expects her to be in with the straws. Think about where you would be least likely to look and hide her there.

Incorporate her into your seasonal decor. It's extra fun to use things that are not always there. Just make sure she is not packed away with your Easter eggs when spring is over. 

I hope you enjoy this game. Please share your family's thoughts and any rules you would add in the comments. I'd love to hear how this game took off in your household! 

Our Second Annual Costume Party

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you all had an excellent holiday season, I know I did! Have you made any great plans for the coming year? 

To celebrate 2017 my family had our Second Annual New Years Costume Party. It was so much fun. Last year was great, but not as great as I had hoped. Due to last years disappointment, I almost didn't have a party this year. We decided to give it another shot to see how it goes (and because I practically attack any chance to wear a costume) and it was smashing! 

My Eldest brother, Forest, is at Fairwood Bible School and, being home for the holidays, he would have been here anyways, but a number of the other students came as well. We also had friends (some whom we hadn't even met yet) from NY come. Church friends came. Family from MA came. It was a fantastic party. I'm not even sure the exact count of how many people were at the party, but I do know we had 11 extra people staying in our home that night in addition to the six of us. 

I have to say, I really love having a house big enough to be able to do this kind of thing. 

All of the costumes were amazing, however the only two I can say much of are mine and my sister's. Mary was Princess Leia and I was Glinda, the good Witch from the Wizard of Oz.

The Princess Leia costume is a a very basic tunic made from a bed sheet. We made a belt to go around it and put her hair up in double sock buns (tutorial to come.)

My costume took a lot more to create, but it was 100% worth it.


MAKING MY COSTUME:

I started with a wedding dress I had found at a thrift store. I asked the woman working there how much it cost and she nearly begged me to take it. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of it before I started taking it apart but it wasn't all that pretty. Quite outdated. I removed from the dress the train, 4 bows (three on the front and one huge one on the back), an uncountable amount of tiny white beads, and almost all of the lace, of which there was an abundance. To make it witchy (in a good witch sense) I attached tulle to the sleeves and neck, a tacky decorative square thing to the chest, a HUGE butterfly to the collar, silver beads to the waist,  and 12 yards of pink tulle to the skirt. I also added a myriad of sparkly things for added bling. The crown I made of wax paper and tulle (I will make a tutorial for that later as well). Then I just had to snatch up a wand, put an entire thing of blush on my cheeks, and I was ready to party.

This is by far the girliest ensemble I have ever donned. It's especially unlike me if you consider the fact that last year I was an incredibly accurate Captain Jack Sparrow (a costume I will forever take pride in.) Though I must say, I do like the shock factor that comes when one wears 12 yards of pink tulle. Although, I did have to remind people, repeatedly, that I was a witch... not a princess.

I have already disassembled my dress and have a very exciting project in mind for all that tulle. Details will follow.

COSTUMES:

Among the other characters we had were Audrey Hepburn, Effie Trinket (From the Hunger Games), Super Girl, Mr. Clean, John Luke Picard, Captain Jack Sparrow (Borrowing my costume from last year. Although he was much more in character than I was last year!), a Cowboy, a Ninja, Etc. 

GAMES:

One game we played was a party game I have seen on many different websites, under many different names. I'm not sure exactly who came up with it first, but the idea is that everyone is given a silly phrase for the night. The goal is to say your phrase throughout the night in conversation without anyone realizing that you're using your phrase, you also will try to catch others using theirs. It's great fun. You do have to go off of an honor system and have everyone keep a tally of their own score. It's not exactly a game others can score you on as the whole point is to not get caught. I think it works pretty well though, I just made sure to remind them all ahead of time that lying is a sin and that Jesus was watching. 

 Some of the phrases I used were: 

• I could really go for some peanut butter
• I used to be vegan
• Cut the green wire
• I've escaped Alcatraz 
• Like a confused dinosaur 

HERE is the printable PDF page of all the silly phrases I thought up if you want to play this at your own party. It's really a big hit. 

I almost regretted not getting to play this (I knew all the phrases, so it wouldn't exactly be fair) but it really was fun to be able to hear people get away with using them in conversation. 

The other game we played is a trivia/jenga game I created that involved a stacking game like Jenga only with numbers printed on the pieces. HERE is the one I ordered. Each block that was pulled had a new year's themed question according to the number on the block. They aren't easy questions and as everyone was playing I was almost grateful that I already knew the answers and therefore couldn't play. It was a tremendous amount of fun to watch though.

I have written up detailed instructions on how to play and I would definitely recommend this for your next gathering. HERE is a link to the instructions where you can also find a PDF of the questions I used at our party.

And of course I had to dress Lexie up to match

These Chocolate covered Fortune Cookies were the party favors. They were fun to make and such a huge hit! I have a tutorial HERE for how I made them and the tags you can print to make them for Valentine's Day. The image is a link to the tags and sign that you can print at home!

And I'm already eager to plan the our Third Annual! 

Do you have any holiday traditions that excite you? Leave a comment, I would love to hear about them!