Everyone sits in a circle holding a wrapped gift. One person reads the story out, and on every LEFT and RIGHT the parcels move that way. Whatever you are holding when the story stops is yours. The sheet prints the four rules at the top and then the story, with every LEFT and RIGHT set in bold capitals so the reader can see them coming.
Three stories, each about 350 words
The Parcel at Number Seven follows a mystery parcel up a street as neighbours pass it on. The Night Shift and The Last Bus Out are the other two, chosen from the control above the sheet.
Each one carries twenty one or twenty two LEFTs and RIGHTs spread through four or five paragraphs, which is enough movement to take a parcel right round a circle of ten several times and still end up somewhere nobody predicted.
Reading it well
Read slowly. The bold capitals are there to be spotted a word ahead, and a reader who races loses half the room. A short pause on each LEFT and RIGHT gives everybody time to actually hand the parcel over.
The stories are written so the words fall naturally in the sentences rather than being bolted on, which means a listener cannot anticipate the next one from the rhythm. Ada was RIGHT, a hat in his LEFT hand, a knocker on the LEFT and a bell on the RIGHT.
What to pass round
The usual version gives everyone a small wrapped gift of roughly equal value, and people keep whatever they finish with. An office variant works well with one good parcel and the rest small, since the ending is random either way.
For a family with young children, wrap something soft. Parcels get handed over quickly and something with corners gets dropped on somebody's foot before the second paragraph.
Questions
- How does the left right Christmas game work?
- Everyone sits in a circle holding a wrapped gift. A reader reads the story aloud, and on every LEFT and RIGHT the gifts pass that way round the circle. You keep whatever you are holding at the end.
- How long is the story?
- About 350 words, which takes two to three minutes read at a sensible pace. There are twenty one or twenty two LEFTs and RIGHTs in each one, so the parcels move a lot in that time.
- Are there different stories?
- Three: The Parcel at Number Seven, The Night Shift and The Last Bus Out. The control above the sheet switches between them, so the game can be run twice without anybody knowing what is coming.
- How many people does it need?
- It works from about six upwards and is best from eight to twenty. Below six the parcels barely move; above twenty the circle gets too wide for everyone to hear the reader clearly.