Pass the parcel….

Ha, I saw your thread title and was ready to comment about Lucky’s Dad’s rules!

We are raising a nation of squibs!

Depends how you play it.
I've done where there's two parcels going around in opposite directions so sometimes you get it where the parcels meet and arms get tangled.
Or you do it where suddenly "switch directions" is shouted out and you have to switch directions.
Another is "throw it" - when you have it in your hands and when that's called you have to throw it so the parcel ends up in a different part of the circle.
If it's literally just sat in a circle going round and round that's not as fun.

It’s a crap game all around. I’m out of that age bracket THANKFULLY but I always hated being at a party, seeing kids have fun and then some fucker stops them and forces them to gormlessly sit in a circle.

When I was little it was Opal Fruits (that’s Starburst, spring chickens!) between every layer.

20 years ago i was doing sweets between layers

No need to be rude. I was describing my perspective and that was that when I was a child we didn't expect a prize every time.

Why would children mind ? Unless they have been mollycoddled into thinking everyone is entitled to ‘win’ all the time at everything ? As a pp has said, something in every layer gets boring. I accept my experiences are different and times are different but I am allowed to wonder why attitudes have changed and how or when these children will come to terms with not a prize every time.

I’m almost 50 and most pass the parcels games I went to as a kid had a lollipop in every layer but the middle had a bigger/better prize. Always did the same on the very few times I did it for my kids.

Actually, I am thinking back and the most exciting (80s PTP) was when there were sweets in some of the layers, but not every one. That way you had the excitement of 'have I won the prize', but also the added excitement of 'is there a sweetie or not'. The flying saucers were popular (among parents, not kids) because they were sort of dry and not easily squashable. And you sometimes also got one of those jointed plastic snake toys as well.

I've been to some kids' parties more recently where there are sweets between every layer, but it's incredibly boring because they're all the same sweets (identical packet of haribo).

I'm a 70s child. I was remembering my childhood.

Maybe that's when it all started kicking off 🤣

I'm nearly 60 and certainly when I was a kid it was common for there to be something in between some of the layers but I'm talking things like a single wrapped sweet rather than an actual prize. Some people put them in every layer, others alternate layers or, in my opinion the best way, randomly distributed so you didn't know if there would be anything or not. There definitely had to be different coloured paper as you got to the main prize, preferably several layers so that everyone was fooled into thinking the prize had been won at least a few times before it actually was. Or a good trick was to have a box towards the end which when opened just revealed a smaller parcel. And absolutely no watching to ensure particular people won things.

Are you incapable of understand things from someone else’s perspective. You might not have been bothered if you didn’t get anything. Other kids do mind

If I had what ? I said, I had a nice time and had fun. Why have things changed ? Why does everyone have to ‘win’ ?

Seriously, I think times and people were more simple/naïve back in the 1950 – 1960s. Nobody tried to rip 5 layers off or hang on until the music stopped. I guess things have changed gradually but I’m sad they have done in this way.

Lol - makes the absolute bunfight over pass the parcel in the 1980s look positively medieval lol! There was NEVER a "wrapper" gift back then...other than one mum who would put a single sweet in each wrapper. I do recall one time at one of my birthday parties my dad sneaking a look before stopping the music because he didn't want a little snot who had been causing havoc all afternoon (no, not me lol!) to get the prize - and of course the "rule" was that the birthday girl/boy shouldn't really get the prize either (not that I knew this when I was 5 of course).

But this "everyone gets the same thing" stuff is boring. As is parents trying to one-up each other with more and more ostentatious birthday parties. Hire a church hall, make some sandwiches and party food, play some games (pass the parcel, musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey, musical statues, pass the balloon, simon says, what's the time mr wolf etc etc etc. Spending a load of money is absurd. And also I always had an awesome time...in fact now I think about it I might have a retro party just for shits and giggles for my pals!

Maybe you wouldn’t be such a grumpy grape if you had

I had fun, I had a nice time, I didn’t need a prize every time.

I accept times have changed but I struggle to understand why this needed to change.

You'd always get one though, that would have to dig deep and try and rip off 5 layers to get to the prize. Also the one that would cling on to it for dear life on case the music magically stopped.
I suspect nothing has changed.

I'm a 70s child/80s teenager.

I played pass the parcel at loads of parties and there was only ever one present in the final layer.

I thought it was weird when I started taking my own daughter to parties and parents had put sweets between the layers. Putting proper prizes between the layers takes it to a whole other level.

🤣🤣🤣

I'm all for hardening kids up, but what's wrong with a little bit of fun at a party (as long as its something small in the layers). Life is full of disappointments, let them be happy! 🙂

Oops sorry @TheLimeQuail clearly soul destroying.

Character building...

You wouldn't like musical chairs then. Injuries and scraps galore 😂 Sorry, 70s child.