What were they thinking?

As the director of our church's library, I go through all of the books that are donated. We recently had a retired pastor donate his entire personal library: commentaries, Bible dictionaries, books on Christian living and theology and counseling; and then there were these two gems:

Wow, those covers alone just draw you in, don't they! Curious as to what it would have been like to attend a church youth group function in the mid-1970s, I began to thumb through the pages. Here are some interesting things I discovered (any italics in the quotes were added by me for emphasis):

1) Youth groups in the '70s offered plenty of wholesome activities for teenaged boys and girls, they of the raging hormones and conflicted emotions:

SQUIRM RACE: Place a volleyball (or ball of similar size) between the foreheads of a boy and a girl couple. Without using their hands, they must work the ball down to their knees and back up again. Their hands must be kept behind their backs and the two must start over if they drop the ball. Couples do not have to be of the opposite sex. Two guys or two girls will work fine but a boy-girl couple usually adds to the fun of this event.

Oh, yes...I can only imagine the fun, especially if your partner is the cute guy you've been eyeing across the pews!

GREAT SPAGHETTI RELAY: Divide the group into teams. Each person gets a potato chip (the larger, the better). Each team lines up, and the first person in line holds his potato chip in his mouth. A wet spaghetti noodle is then draped over the chip and the person must run to a set point and back without dropping the noodle or breaking the potato chip. On returning, he passes the noodle on to the next person, who does the same thing. The game continues, and the first team to finish is the winner. The rules: (1) No hands are allowed. (2) If the noodle drops off, breaks, or becomes mutilated, the player must return to the line, get a new noodle, and start all over.

This game must be especially exciting when you have the teams lined up boy-girl-boy-girl, as evidenced by this picture included with the game description:


Why does this guy remind me of Peter Parker from the 70s TV show "The Amazing Spiderman"? Must be the hair...

(Off-topic aside: I did not realize until doing a search for this picture that Nicholas Hammond, who played Peter Parker, also played one of the Von Trapp children, Friedrich, in The Sound of Music!)

ESKINOSE: Divide group into two teams, alternating by sex. First person has lipstick smear on his nose. Winning team is the one who can pass the lipstick the farthest in thirty seconds by Eskimo kissing (rubbing noses). Winners get Eskimo Pies.

See above picture again for an idea of what this game would have looked like in action!

And finally, we have...

JOHN-JOHN: This can be used for groups up to 500. Form a circle using everyone. Selected leaders start the game by running to a person of the opposite sex and yelling, "What's your name?" The person replies, "Linda." The leader looks behind himself and yells, "Linda-Linda...Linda-Linda-Linda" while doing a little dance similar to Mexican Hat Dance. The person (Linda in this case) falls in behind the leader, putting her hands on his waist, and together they run to the opposite side of the circle. This time they both do the above together. After they finish the little dance, Linda makes an about face. The leader does the same and grabs on to Linda's waist. The new person grabs on to the previous leader's waist. Now all three proceed to the opposite side of the circle with Linda leading. She would go to a boy. Each chain continues to get longer until everyone is chosen. There would be many chains and the object would be to keep from getting hit by the other chains.


Whoa there, guy in the stripey shirt...you're getting just a little bit too close for comfort to the young lady in the white mini-dress!

Stay tuned for more inappropriate youth group games from the 1970s!

TO BE CONTINUED...