Welcome to the February 2012 issue of our Family Games Treasurehouse newsletter.

Valentine's Day is just around the corner and in this issue we'd like to share with you some exciting games to play with your family and friends to help you celebrate this fun and love-filled day.

On our website we have recently put up a whole brand-new section of Valentine's Day games. We'd love you to have a look at it and tell us what you think! Click here to go to our Valentine's Day Games web page.

Have you got any Valentine's Day games you'd like to share with our readers? We'd love to put them on our website. We will give you a page especially devoted to you! Click here to find out how.

Valentine's Day Games

Enjoy these fun-filled games!

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Valentines Day Treasurehunt is a fun activity for couples or families to play on Valentine's Day.

Age: All ages

No. of players: 2 or more

Equipment: Valentines Day cards (see below)

Time: 5 minutes+

Aim: To read a Valentines Day message by following a treasurehunt.

Valentines Day Treasurehunt can be played by couples, or parents may wish to run the game with their children as a special way of expressing their love.

You will need about 6 to 12 Valentines Day cards for each player. Buy a pack of small, cheap cards (with envelopes) or you could make your own.

1. Write a different love-note on each card (for example; "You are special to me", "I love you", "You make my world much brighter", and so on). Alternatively, you can write a longer message, using one word per card, that they must piece together.

2. Design a treasurehunt trail from one hidden love-note to the next. Each card will have a clue written on the envelope to show the location of the next card. Clues can be written or drawn (for younger children), and can either be plain or cryptic.

3. Put the cards in their envelopes and hide them around the house in their allocated places.

4. Give the person a written clue to help find the first card, then watch them as they enjoy your treasurehunt with love!

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Winking is an active party game that is fun for teenagers and adults alike. Play it for Valentine's Day or any family or group gathering.

Age: Adults and older children

No. of players: Large groups (9 or more)

Equipment: None

Time: 5 minutes+

Aim: Girls try to escape from their captor while boys try to hold them captive.

This fun parlor game can be played with any odd-numbered group of players.
Note: For the purpose of this description, it is assumed that Team A is girls and Team B is boys (with one extra boy compared to the number of girls) but this game works for any combination of players, young or old.

1. Form a circle of chairs facing inwards, with enough chairs for each player in Team A plus one extra chair. For example, if there are twenty one players in total (ten players on Team A and eleven players on Team B) you will need eleven chairs in the circle.

2. The girls (Team A) sit on the chairs, with one chair vacant. The boys (Team B) stand behind the chairs (including behind the vacant chair). Players on Team B clasp their hands behind their backs. Team B players cannot move their hands from behind their backs unless the girl in front of them tries to escape (see Step 3).

3. The player behind the vacant chair winks at one of the girls, who immediately attempts to run to the vacant chair. The boy standing behind her tries to prevent her escape by taking his hands from behind his back and putting them on her shoulders to hold her (gently) in her chair. He cannot move his body from behind the chair though.

4. If he succeeds in preventing her escape, she remains in her chair and the original Winker then tries to capture another girl (or the same girl again).

5. If he did not succeed in holding her captive, he becomes the new Winker and tries to capture any of the players on Team A.

6. The game continues as long as players want to play. Pairs of players can enter or leave the game at any time, and teams may swap places if desired at an appropriate time, as long as there remains one extra player on Team B.

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Telegrams were the first electrical form of communications, using Morse code. Because the cost was based on the number of words in the message, they were often written in abbreviated sentences. There were usually less than six words per sentence with all un-necessary words left out. There was also no punctuation and no numbers. The word "STOP" was used to end a sentence, and words were written in capital letters.

Age: Adults and older children

No. of players: 2 or more (suits large groups)

Equipment: Pen/pencil and paper per player

Time: 10 minutes+

Aim: To create a telegram-style message from a given series of letters.

1. Players are given a 10 - 15 letter word based on a Valentines Day theme. Each player must create a message using these letters (in order) as the initial letters of the words.

2. For example, VALENTINESDAY could be:

VERY ANCIENT LOVERS EXPECTED NINE TREASURES IN NINE ELEGANT SACKS DESIGNED AS YACHTS STOP

YOUNG OPTIMISTS USUALLY ARE RELIABLE STOP EVEN MISERABLE YOUNGSTERS SOMETIMES UPSET NASTY SUPPOSITIONS STOP HOPE IN NEARLY EVERYONE STOP

3. There are no winners or losers in this game. Just have fun!

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Here are some more gregarious games to play on Valentine's Day. You'll find the rules to these games on our website. Just click on the game and you'll be taken to the website page.