PLAYING "PAKKELEG" - A DANISH CHRISTMAS GAME

It has been fun adding a little Danish traditions to our Aussie Christmas...
In Denmark they play a game called "Pakkeleg" at Christmas time..
The girls thought it would be fun for us to have a game here, so they sent us all out shopping to buy gifts priced between $2-$4.   We all had to supply a couple of gifts each....

All our gifts were bought home, and each of us wrapped our presents using the same Christmas paper.... You have no idea what each gift is.

Our gifts all wrapped in the middle of the table....

Pakkeleg is a game most Danes play during Christmas time, children as well as adults.
Rules: Each player brings a small gift and all gifts are placed in the middle of the table. 1st round: Players take turns in rolling the dice and when you roll a 6, you choose a gift until all gifts have been taken. 2nd round: The game continues the same way, but now you steal gifts from the other players, when you roll a 6, and if you roll a 3, everyone passes one of their gifts to the person on their left. though only for a limited amount of time, which has been set beforehand. Everybody then gets to open their gifts. It is important to mention every family has its own special set of rules.

Ready to play "Pakkeleg"

Maria explaining the rules to us

Colin, Steve and Dan ready to play

The dice is rolled

Steve rolling his dice

No good..... just a two

The presents are disappearing

Who has just thrown a six.... stealing presents now...

 Maria had secretly set the timer for 16 minutes...
Once the timer went off we were all allowed to open the presents in front of us...

We sure received some interesting gifts....

 

We all received some pretty weird presents...
There was some trading and exchanging happening as well...
We had so much fun....
We laughed and laughed...
Some got lots of presents some got only one...
Some presents were moved very quickly around the table....
Some presents were avoided at all costs...
It was certainly a fun evening....
We were able to introduce the girls to sherbet too, as one of the presents Chloe received were a packet of sherbets.....

The nose that got passed around...

Chloe ends up with the nose....

Dudi scores the nose....

These guys cracked us up and the jokes and comments kept flying all night...

Maria scored the present that kept moving around the table.....

She really didn't mind this present once she opened it....
It seems that everyone was feeling this present and passing it on as quickly as possible...

Dan scored potatoes....  there is a standard "Potato head " joke where Dan is concerned..

Once again this had us roaring with laughter.....

Steve was pretty impressed with his gift..... brings back childhood memories...

Hanna scored a calculator

Chloe scored fluffy handcuffs.....

I told you there were some wonderfully weird presents...

Pete got a back extendable back scratcher....

 

 

 

I got a pack of cupcake candles.....

Hanna

 

 

 

Chloe shared some of the sherbets with the girls....
This was a new experience for them...
And one they seemed to enjoy....

Maria learning how to eat her sherbet.....

Making sure she licks out the little spoon...

Sherbet suckers.....

Dudi with her sherbet....

The girls shared with us some of their special danish chocolates.....

Danish treats...

The Daim's were really delicious...
Something I think we will stock up on when we visit Denmark later in the year....
The girls were keen to taste plum pudding and brandy custard so we served it up for desert...
They couldn't understand why the pudding is called plum pudding when it doesn't have any plums in it....
How do you explain something like this....
Plum pudding and brandy custard WAS NOT a hit...
In fact the girls could not even finish it...
It was hilarious to see the looks on their faces and it provided much entertainment for the rest of us....

Maria eating plum pudding and brandy custard....

Entertainment for the rest of us....

Hanna could not stomach it.....

Playing with her pudding....

Dudi playing with her plum pudding...

Not good....

Chloe doesn't really like it either....

Steve cleaned his pudding us

As did Colin....

It was a great night...
It was a great game....
Who knows it will now probably be incorporated into our Christmas back home here...
A little part of our family is now in Denmark....

Chloe's boyfriend Dan was able to join us for this week...

Our Chloe....

We have just loved having Pete home....

Our time with these guys is going way too quickly....
We have looked forward to their visit all year, and now it is only days until they leave to go home...