Looking for a dinner party game that will have everyone absolutely losing it? The Secret Challenge Dinner Party Game is IT.
We played this at Thanksgiving dinner last year, and I am still giggling about it. The concept is simple: everyone gets a secret mission to complete during dinner without getting caught. Sounds easy enough, right? Except suddenly everyone is acting suspicious, making bizarre comments, and questioning every single interaction at the table.
And the best part? Literally everyone can play. Our Thanksgiving crew included five kids under 12, five adults, and three grandparents. Even our 2-year-old had a mission (high-five four people!), so this is truly a game for all ages and it will make your dinner party memorable for sure.
How to Play the Secret Challenge Dinner Party Game
Before dinner, I tucked a secret challenge inside each guest’s place card. Everyone secretly read their assignment, and then we let the chaos unfold.
The rules are simple:
- Complete your secret challenge before dinner ends without getting caught.
- If you think you’ve figured out someone’s challenge, you can call them out.
- If you’re right, they’re out. If you’re wrong, YOU’RE out.
- Last person standing wins a prize.
My mission was to steal bites of food off my mother-in-law’s plate. And let me tell you, Mimi was SHOCKED when I reached over and helped myself to her dinner. The hardest part wasn’t stealing the food. It was pretending that this was a completely normal thing for me to do.
Fun Prize Ideas for the Winner: You definitely don’t need a prize, but a little incentive makes everyone even more competitive. A few fun ideas: first dibs on dessert, $20 cash, a free pass on clean-up, the best leftovers, bragging rights.
Our Secret Dinner Party Challenge Ideas
We had some truly ridiculous assignments, and watching everyone attemp them was half the entertainment.
Some of my favorites:
- Get someone to switch seats with you
- Speak only in an accent of your choice for five minutes
- High-five four people throughout dinner.
- Weave “bless your heart” into three conversations.
- Ask someone to rank Thanksgiving sides from best to worst.
- Convince someone you’re suddenly very into random Thanksgiving facts.
- Tell everyone about your newfound passion for making miniature sailboats in bottles.
You can make the missions as easy or ridiculous as you want, depending on your crowd. For younger kids, stick to simple challenges, but for the adults, feel free to get a little more creative!
Watch Our Secret Challenge Dinner Party Game
You can watch our Secret Challenge Dinner Party Game reel here.
Shop My Dinner Party Tablescape
My tween handmade each of the place cards for our table, and I tucked the challenges inside, which made the whole thing feel like a little secret surprise when everyone sat down. Plus, it was the easiest way to distribute the missions without anyone knowing what the others received.
You can find all the items in my tablescape here. You can also find my favorite blue and green Thanksgiving tablescape here.
