My Share for #BeautifulSunday initiated by @ace108

A bit late to share, but better late than never. Let's go back to New Year's Eve and let me share with you how we celebrated our New Year here in the Philippines. A night of food, games, family bonding and fireworks. Join me today and who knows you might even pick up some fun games for every celebration.

 

Each time the year ends we celebrate New Year with my in laws. We had to leave home around 8 pm because as the night goes deeper, the firecrackers becomes more intense. In the Philippines, there are still some people who blows up firecrackers. Most of them are really dangerous and people have lost limbs due to the intensity of the explosion. Thus it was a good idea to leave early as some people throws firecrackers on the streets.

We arrived safely and my father in law was the first one to greet us. He was already having a drink with his buddies, but will be joining us inside later on.

Let the celebration begin and we love singing. Almost every house in the country has a karaoke machine. From the songbook just choose your song and sing to your heart's content.

My brother in law and daughter prepared a couple of games. To spice things up and he had to add in a little bit something to ensure everyone's participation.

To start things up there was the marshmallow game. A bunch of marshmallows mixed with flour.

The mechanics of the game:

• People are divided into two groups
• Two plates filled with marshmallows and flour
• Two empty plates on the other side
• The marshmallows will be picked up with your mouth and transferred to the empty plate
• Time limit of 5-10 minutes depending on the participants
• Who ever transfers the most marshmallows wins

 

The game started with the sound of the music. My father in law pitted against my mother in law.

Expect that you will be a mess after this game.

I was very surprised that my mother in law was very competitive and already too the lead for the team early on.

As expected the messier the more fun you will have.

Next was my wife and daughter are pitted against each other.

As the music played, they rushed for the marshmallows. Both are very competitive to win the contest.

My daughter took this second round and their team was leading.

Next was your one and only against my brother in law.

With all the flour mixed in it was really hard to get those marshmallows. I should have tied my hair as the flour and my hair was getting in my mouth. Still I was able to win this round.

The second game that we played is called color marching.

The mechanics of the game:

• The same group together would compete
• Use candies with multiple colors
• Each member would group together one color of the candy
• The fastest group wins the game

The fun part is you could eat them once done.

Now it is my wife against my mother in law to start first.

We were like in a children's party, but it was so much fun. Everyone was cheering for each team.

 

A very simple and easy game, but a fun game for the family.

Unfortunately, we lost this game and my mother in law's team won again.

We have two of our babies are spectators who are seriously watching our games.

The third game is the eggplant race.

Mechanics of the game:

• Will require a representative of each team (would depend if all members would like to play)
• Each team will have an egg and and egg plant tied to a string
• The eggplant on the string will be used to push the egg to the finish line
• First team to reach the finish line and back wins.

 

 

Everyone was very anxious and waited for the music to play as the music was the start signal.

Again my mother in law was on the lead and seems like she already know a technique for this game.

My wife was having trouble and the egg was going all over the place. My mother in law was already on her way back from the finish line. Tragedy struck as my wife accidentally kicked the egg and we were disqualified.

The winner of this game and MVP is my mother in law.

To keep everyone playing a little bit of cash was thrown in. The bill being held is a 20 peso bill which is worth around $.38.

Mechanics of the game:

• The cash would be dropped at a height
• The player would need to catch the bill with only two fingers

The game sounds easy, but I assure you it is not.

Everyone tried and failed again and again from catching the bill.

 

Finally, the ante was upped. The bill was raised to 100 pesos which is almost two dollars worth.

With the stakes upped still no one was able to catch it.

Finally, the it was my turn. Can you guess what happened?

It was an easy catch for me, only shows that I really need money lol.

Due to the demand another round was set.

This time everyone was getting the hang of it and catching those bills.

 

My wife also caught her 100 pesos.

Both my in laws also caught their cash in a flash. Maybe they got my technique.

Another cash game that has been buzz in our country lately, it has not name, but let me call it the money pot game.

Mechanics of the game:

• Different amounts of cash are put in a pot
• Each player will be blind folded
• The player will be given one chance to draw from the pot
• The spice things up mix in a large amount

Due to our pressure my brother in law was forced to add a larger amount.

It was a 1000 peso bill which is about $19 in value.

I saw him cheating and removing the 1000 peso bill during the draw lol. Immediately, everyone protested and he said that it was only a test if it could be easily picked.

 

Now the real game begins starting with my wife.

No luck with my wife and the next player was my daughter. She got a 20 peso bill which is better than nothing.

My mother in law tried her luck.

She was very much disappointed with what she got.

In the end, everyone go the lowest bill but at least everyone got something.

The final game the we played is locally know as pinoy henyo in our country, but it is also known as Heads Up game.

Mechanics of the game:

• Two members of each team are required to play the game. One would be the guesser and the other one will be the clue provider
• Name of things or places are written on a piece of paper
• A paper would be drawn and raised by someone on top of the guesser
• The guesser would ask questions to the clue giver to arrive to the answer
• Questions like "Is it human?", " Is this a place?", "Is it a fruit?" etc.
• The clue giver can only give clues with the words of , "Yes , No or Possible".
• Team that answers the most wins

This game will test you questioning skills to arrive to the answer.

A difficult, but a very fun game everyone.

After our games we were ready to eat, but not before loved ones from abroad called to give us their New Year wishes.

The food was ready and these are some the usual food that we have during celebrations.

The Tikoy of Chinese New Year cake. It is sliced mixed with egg and fried. It has a sticky texture and has a sweet taste.

Grilled pork chops which is almost present in every occasion. Outings, birthdays and other celebrations you always find some grilled pork.

Now this is called Arroz Valenciana made by my Aunt. It is rice colored with achuete which gives that yellowish color. It is mixed with slices of egg, pork, sausages and liver.

The Siomai which a Chinese inspired dumpling it is a popular snack in our country.

The local lumpiang shanghai. A fried Philippine spring roll, mixed with meat and a little bit of chopped vegetables inside. Best served with sweet and sour sauce.

The pancit malabon which we bought from a restaurant on our way here. Noodles mixed with shrimp sauce and loaded of tons of egg, shrimp, meat and pork cracklings.

Here's my plate and time to get my fill before the fireworks starts.

My wife was busy giving our babies some crunch lumpiang shanghai.

While we were enjoying the food, little did we notice that it was already past 12 midnight and it was already New Year. Immediately, we headed out to watch the fireworks display.

Outside the skies were already lit up with the fireworks.

It was a bit hard to see the display as some of the buildings around the area are blocking the view. But we had to make the most out of it and just find a good spot.

The fireworks from all over the place lasted more than 30 minutes and it was such a sight to see. Another year has passed and I hope this year will brings us all good fortune and health. Thank you for joining our celebration and again I wish you all a very Happy New Year!

 

 

 

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All photos are original and taken with

Lumix GX85 12-32 mm kit lens

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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://watersnake101.vornix.blog/2019/01/06/a-philippine-new-year-celebration-beautiful-sunday/

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