The Vintage News compiled a collection of the "Oddest Christmas Parlor Games from Victorian Times," some of which have the potential to cap off Christmas with a trip to the emergency room. For example:
Snapdragon
Any list of Victorian party games will include this brandy-soaked hazard of a game. A large, shallow bowl would be filled with Christmas treats like almonds, raisins, grapes, and dried plums. Brandy was then poured over it so that the contents were swimming.After the brandy was set alight, people had to try and snatch the fruit and nuts out of the bowl and shove them in their mouths without getting their fingers or tongues burned.
Another part of the game's charm was, according to an article by Richard Steele in Tatler magazine: "the wantonness of the thing was to see each other look like a demon, as we burnt ourselves, and snatched out the fruit."
Blind Man's Buff
This dangerous game resulted in so many injuries that some started to whisper that it had been invented by those specializing in bone-setting as a way to garner more business.One unfortunate party guest would be blindfolded and spun around, after which they had to try and tag other guests who would dodge out of the way. What made this game particularly hazardous was that some guests would deliberately move furniture or put obstacles in the way of the seeker with the intention of tripping them up.
In 1900, William L. Alden wrote of his painful experience of playing Blind Man's Buff: "I have suffered much from Christmas games. I have played [Blind Man's Buff] and caught the corner of a particularly hard pianoforte with my forehead."
