Here are a few game ideas to spice up Oscar Night. Don’t get me wrong – I love watching the Oscars each year, but I’ve got to admit, sometimes I get a little bored. I mean, I love all the glitz and glamour, but it just seems to go on forever. In fact, last year, I fell asleep and missed Viola Davis’ acceptance speech for best supporting actress. Of course, I YouTubed it later, but I was a little crushed and annoyed with myself for missing it live.
Needless to say, I won’t be falling asleep during the Academy Awards this year. In fact, I’ve invited a bunch of my friends over for a glamorous red carpet party. I figure that between the six of them, they should be able to keep me awake.
To keep everyone extra engaged and alert for the whole show, I’m planning a few fun games that we can play to fend off any boredom and make us feel like we are part of all the Hollywood excitement. So, if you’re planning on throwing an Oscar party this year, listen up because I’m going to share my favorite Oscar-inspired red carpet party games for adults to ensure an extra captivating and interactive evening.
Write-Your-Own Acceptance Speech Red Carpet Party Game For Adults
Everyone gets a chance in the spotlight with this fun game. Before the show starts, hand out some paper and have everyone write an acceptance speech for the award of their choice. Alternatively, you could have your guests do this before they arrive at the party. In either case, when it comes to the speech, there are no rules! Your guests can make it as funny, sad, powerful, or obscure as they want.
During commercial breaks, have each person perform their speech for the group (while clutching a fake Oscar, of course). When everyone has had a turn, vote for who had the best speech in the following categories:
- Funniest speech
- Most heart-wrenching speech
- Cleverest speech
- Most powerful speech
- Most inappropriate speech
Feel free to add more categories if you’d like. In fact, aim to have the same number of categories as you have guests so everyone has a chance at winning. Don’t forget to present awards at the end using your best Oscar host voice. I like to give out movie-themed gifts like celebrity-themed stickers or movie reel cufflinks.
Make Your Own Oscar Categories Game
One of the best parts of watching the Oscars is having an opinion about everything—from who has the prettiest dress to who should have won best actress. So why not make your opinion count by voting? The twist here is that you and your guests make your own Oscar categories. Before the celebrities start appearing on the red carpet, take a few minutes to put your heads together and create fun categories you can all vote for. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Worst presenter
- Funniest joke
- Strangest dress
- Best hair
- Biggest drama queen/king
- Most awkward moment
Once you’ve settled on your categories, hand everyone a sheet of paper and write them all down. While you enjoy the show, privately jot down your answers for each of the categories. At the end, collect everyone’s ballots and tally up the results. You’ll all have a good laugh (and probably a good debate) about the winners.
Oscar Nominee Charades
You and your guests will need to dust off your acting skills for this one. It helps if everyone is fairly familiar with the nominated movies and actors/actresses for this game, so tell your guests to do a little research before the party. Essentially, this is exactly like charades but with the following Oscar-themed categories:
- Best Actor/Actress
- Best Picture
- Movie character
Before the evening begins, write down the names of some of the films nominated for best picture, the actors and actresses nominated for supporting and leading roles, and prominent movie characters on separate squares of paper. Put them all in a classy black top hat and when it’s time to play, take turns giving your most convincing performance.
You can either play in pairs or just have the whole group guess. At the end of the game, have everyone vote for the best actor/actress and present them with a pretend Oscar! I’m personally a fan of handing out chocolate Oscars (and really don’t understand why the real ones aren’t also made of candy considering how long those celebs have to sit through the show without a snack).
Oscar-Themed Gift Exchange
I’m someone who looks for any opportunity to have a gift exchange, so you better believe that my friends and I are doing one at this year’s Oscar party! However, with a lot of other Oscar party planning ideas to bring to life, I’m going to use an online Secret Santa generator to organize who gets paired up together and all the other little details so I can focus on other things.
I’m planning on having everyone bring an Oscar-themed present for their giftee. A few ideas I’ve had so far are:
- Old movie posters from your giftee’s favorite Oscar-nominated film
- A gift certificate for a movie star makeover
- An Oscar-worthy goody bag
- A pair of cool movie star sunglasses
- A personalized Hollywood sidewalk star sign
You’ll have so much fun swapping gifts and feeling like a star for the evening. You can even play some fun gift exchange games like White Elephant if everyone really needs perking up!
I’m so excited for this party that I’m honestly counting down the days until the Oscars. And if the glitz and glamour aren’t enough to keep me awake, these games most definitely will.
Looking for more fun party game ideas or wanting to start your own gifting game? Elfster is here to help make this Oscar party the best one yet. You can also connect with Elfster on Facebook, Twitter @Elfster, or Instagram @Elfster.
