“I love your rakhi hampers!”, a friend exclaimed while we were sitting in a coffee shop and catching up with each other after a long time.

Another friend chimed in, “what does rakhi even mean now a days?”. Suddenly, everyone at the table started thinking about what she said.

She playfully added, “I take care of my brother” and we burst out laughing.

The friend who liked our rakhi hampers doesn’t have a brother, she wanted to gift the hamper to her sister. This got us thinking that rakhi can have so many meanings and it has been changing over the years.

It’s still a festival/tradition where we get together with our loved ones and celebrate by exchanging gifts over tasty treats.

We have your tasty treats covered but we figured that there is room for some extra fun this year!

So, this rakhi we have rounded up some interesting games you can play with your family members and make it even more joyous.

We recommend that you make these games in advance (if making is required) and have a great time yelling “surprise!” to the room full of people.

Mirror Charades

Snack recommendation: Festive Special

To complement the new age rakhi we have a new age charade version.

All you have to do is, when a person goes up to perform another person from their team accompanies them.

The person who is going performing goes and stands behind their team and the other member faces the group mimicking all the performer’s actions, oblivious to what they are actually doing.

Trust us, the hilarity that will ensue will be talked about for years to come!

Things!

Snack recommendation: The Bestseller’s Exclusive

A great game to deepen the bond with your family members.

One person decides on the “things” statement, for example “Things that make you smile”. Hand out pieces of papers and pens and have everyone write their answer and fold it into a chit.

All the chits are collected and people try to guess who wrote what.

Entertainment tip: To make the game funny try statements like “Things that make you grimace”. This is especially fun with older kids and teenagers!

Who voted for me?

Snack recommendation: Flavoured Nuts & Trail mix Gift Box

Make some cards with amusing questions like ‘Who is most likely to have the worst passenger rating on Uber?’.

People vote anonymously and the person who gets the most votes then gets to call out the ones who they think might have voted for them.

This one too is sure to bring outbursts of laughter.

Post-it note game

Snack recommendation: Royal Dry Fruit Box

For this game you need some sticky notes and a pen.

Write names of well known people or famous characters on the sticky notes and stick them on the foreheads or backs of all the people, so they can’t see the one that’s stuck on them.

Ask someone in the group to do the same for you. The aim of the game is to guess the name written on the note stuck on your forehead/back.

Now comes the fun part.

Sit in a circle and take turns to ask questions that can only be answered in a yes or no. For example, you can ask, “am I a politician?”

If the answer is yes you can ask another. If it’s no then the next player asks their question and so on.

Don’t forget to pass the delicious snacks as well. Play until all of you guess your celebrities or till all of the snacks are finished!

Do try these easy to make games as they are small on effort and BIG on merrymaking! We hope your version of rakhi brings you immense joy and happiness. Let the games begin.