Knowing Your Future: Fortune Telling Party Games

A gypsy style Halloween party would not be complete without some interesting and fun fortune telling party games. From palm reading to apple bobbing, there have been some unique ways created over the centuries to "help" people discover what the future may hold.

Palmisty Lines - Photo: Karen's Whimsey Public Domain Images

One of the most common interests of young people from days gone past was knowing the fate of their love life. In fact, these divinations played such an important role on All Hallows Eve, that I was totally amazed at the number of creative ways they had developed for learning who their future mate may be, and whether the match would work out or not.

Therefore, in the spirit of Halloween, most of our fortune telling party games are based on these fun -- and sometimes strange -- ways of using simple divination techniques. Of course, I've also included other avenues of divination to discover wealth, health, etc. I hope you enjoy planning out your party entertainment and let's see what fate has in store for everyone.

Candle Divining

This first divination method is simple to set up and simple to do. It's suppose to let you know what (in general) will be coming up in your near future - whether you will find romance, make money or take a trip. It will definitely provide lots of laughs.

Materials Needed:

1 pink candle, 1 green candle and 1 orange candle
Blindfold

Instructions:

1. Place the 3 candles in a row on a table and light them. Leave a fair amount of space between each one.

2. Blindfold the player.

Fortune Telling Games: Candle Divining - Photo: Morguefile.com

3. Shuffle the candles around so that they are not in their original positions.

4. Turn the blindfolded player around 3 times and face them toward the table.

5. The player is then instructed to blow out one of the candles.

Depending on which candle they've blown out, this will be their fortune:

Pink candle means romance ahead.
Green candle means money is coming to them.
Orange candle means they are going on a trip.

Bobbing for Apples

This is one of the most popular games to play on Halloween. This version explains that once you succeeded in grabbing the apple with your teeth, you wait until midnight to eat it, therefore ensuring good luck.

However, not so long ago, apples were used by many young lovers to find out who their future husband or wife would be. In fact, there were so many ways to use apples for divination, I couldn't include them all on this one page, so I've put together a separate article explaining these

interesting practices. (By the way, some of them would be great to include for your evening's entertainment): Bobbing For Apples: Prophecy and Divination Games Using Apples

Materials Needed:

Instructions:

1. Fill the bucket or pot with water about ¾ full. Put in several apples.

2. Guests must hold their hands behind their backs and try to grab an apple with their teeth.

3. The apples that they grab should be eaten at midnight to ensure good luck in the future.

Tossing the Apple Peel

This is another apple divination game that uses this favorite fruit to find the initial of your future mate. A more detailed explanation and verses that were recited during this ritual can be found in the article noted above.

Materials Needed:

Instructions:

1. Give your guests an apple and a paring knife. Instruct them to begin peeling the apple from the top in a continuous circle until the bottom (if they can).

2. As they are peeling the apple they should say: "By the paring let me discover the initial letter of my true lover."

3. Once peeled, they throw the apple peel over their shoulder. The initial it makes will be the initial of someone important in his or her life.

Fate's Fortune

A fun and simple fortune telling game that requires a bit of "find and seek" abilities. I would suggest you not tell your guests that these items are hidden unless no one finds any during the early part of the evening. Then you might want to give them a hint that three things are hidden somewhere in the room.

Materials Needed:

Instructions:

1. Hide the 3 items in the main party room. Tape each item to a small tag which read: Lucky You! This (name of item) promises you (whatever the fortune is).

2. The guest who finds the penny is promised wealth.

3. The guest who finds the ring will be married soon.

4. The guest who finds the feather will have good health.

Telling Fortunes With Cards

Telling fortunes using cards has been in practice for hundreds of years. Tarot cards, oracle cards, or regular playing cards can be used. The hardest part is learning to read the cards and understand their meanings.

However, as this fortune telling party is just a fun event for Halloween, you don't need to go to that extreme. If you're interested, you may wish to pick up a book on how to read tarot cards or how to tell fortunes with playing cards and practice. Otherwise, you could just head over to your local library or do a search on the Internet to get the basics.

Once you have an idea of what the cards mean, type yourself out a cheat sheet of the meanings. Then you can keep your divination methods short, sweet and to the point. Remember, people are at your Halloween party to have fun, not spend an hour getting their future foretold.

Materials Needed:

Instructions:

1. Depending on what type of card deck you choose, be sure to familiarize yourself on what the cards mean. You can find information on how to read tarot cards here. For those that choose to use regular playing cards, I suggest you pick up: Simply Fortune Telling with Playing Cards.

2. Using a simple 3 card spread, have the guest shuffle the deck of cards while thinking of question that they want answered.

3. When they are finished shuffling, have them cut the deck three times and pick one of the three piles.

4. Gather up the piles, putting the chosen pile on top of the pack.

5. Deal out 3 cards from the top of the pile in a line, from left to right.

6. The first card to your left reflects the past, the card in the middle reflects the present and the card on the right reflects the future.

7. Read the card meanings for the person with help from a book or your cheat sheet, and relate it to the past, present or future according to the position of the card.

A quick Fortune Telling alternative:

Have the person shuffle the cards while thinking of a question. When they are finished shuffling, take back the cards and fan them out in your hand. Have the guest choose from one to three cards. Tell the guest what each card means.

Freaky Fortunes

This is a simple and fun fortune telling party game to put together that your guests are sure to enjoy.

Materials Needed:

Instructions:

1. Go through the old horoscope book and copy down short astrological fortunes on the paper. Make sure you get quite a few.

2. Fold each fortune in half and put them into a deep bowl or box.

3. Cut some more strips of paper the same size to make the categories. On these, write down the following (make 2 to 3 slips of each category) and then place them in the second bowl:

4. Have the guests pick one paper from the category bowl and one from the fortune's bowl. That is their fortune for that category.

Zany Zodiac

Let's face it, we've all either had a party or been to a party where most people are strangers to one another and the party is moving along at a snails pace because no one is talking. Don't let this happen to your Halloween party. The following game is a wonderful ice breaker and is certain to get people chatting with one another. Everyone loves to know what someone else's 'sign is', plus they love to discuss their own.

Materials Needed:

Instructions:

1. On each piece of paper write a list of the 12 Zodiac signs, leaving 3 to 4 lines in between each sign.

Astrology Signs and Symbols of the Zodiac

2. Once most of the guests have arrived, give them each a Zodiac list and a pen. Tell them they must go around the room and find out everyone's Zodiac sign. They must also get each person to sign their name beside their sign.

3. Specify a time limit of about 10 minutes (if you have a small number of guests, keep the time limit to under 5 minutes.)

4. Once that time limit is up, the person with the most signatures wins. You could then read out who falls under each sign to spark additional conversations. As an observer, it may also be interesting to watch and see which 'signs' gravitate toward one another.

We have more ideas to help you plan your party. Check out the following articles:

Fortune Teller Party Favors and Prizes
Craft Your Own Fortune Teller Party Decorations
Futuristic Foods: Fortune Teller Party Recipes
Look Into Your Future: Fortune Teller Party Invitations

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