Indoor Halftime Games

Hosting a high-energy football gathering? Keep your crowd entertained during halftime with these family-friendly indoor activities.

Kids’ Games

Trash-Bin Ball Toss
Tuck fragile items away before playing this indoors. You’ll need these supplies:

• Three clean, empty trash cans for targets
• Six small balls, like ping-pong balls

Line up the targets in a row and assign a point value to each. The farthest target should be worth the most points. Divide your players into two teams and allow each player a turn to toss six balls at the targets of his or her choice. Keep track of all the points. After everyone has had a turn, tally the points. The team with the most points wins.

Game Tournament
You’ll need:

• A video-game system
• A multiplayer video game such as karaoke or racing

Take a break at halftime to stage a big game of your own. Divide players into teams for a karaoke showdown or set up a quick bracket on a large sheet of paper for a racing-game tournament. Encourage those who aren’t playing to act as cheerleaders and scorekeepers, so everyone feels included.

Don’t have a video-game system? Try traditional games like checkers or cards.

Pigskin Prizes
Put together small kids’ prizes. Include stickers, ribbons, crayons or candy divided into gift bags. Hand them out at halftime; make sure there are enough prizes for everyone.

Grown-Up Games

Dessert Cook-Off
Ask guests in advance to bring their favorite homemade dessert. The group effort will get everyone involved and cut down on the hosting costs. Have on hand:

• Small squares of paper
• Pens or pencils
• A bowl or hat
• Small paper plates
• Utensils

Have a dessert table-ready when guests arrive. While they’re enjoying the first half of the game, take a few minutes to cut each treat into bite-size pieces. At halftime, invite guests to sample each one and vote for their favorite. Tally up the votes; the winner gets first pick at leftovers.

Celebrity-Athlete Charades
Everyone loves charades. For this game-day version, you’ll need:

• Pens or pencils
• Small squares of paper
• A bowl or hat
• Paper for keeping score

Give each player two scraps of paper. Have players write a sports-celebrity’s name on each piece, then fold and drop them into the bowl or hat. Divide the players into two teams.

The game is played in three rounds. During each round, every player has 30 seconds to get his or her team to guess as many names from the hat as possible. When 30 seconds are up, it’s the other team’s turn. Each correct guess is worth one point.

Here is how the rounds work.

• During round one, only gestures are allowed.
• Then in round two, only two words are allowed, such as “famous quarterback” and so on.
• In round three, players are allowed to give details about their sports celebrity until time is up.