I went to a birthday party where all the guests were to bring a dish that reminded them of the birthday girl instead of bringing gifts. Then, before we ate from the potluck feast, we went around and each guest explained why he or she had selected their particular dish.
First of all, it takes a very secure person to have a party like this. Who knows what some people might say? "I brought this pizza because it reminds me of your face in middle school." or "I brought potato salad because it smells just like your feet." Hopefully not.
Once, at a women's retreat, we played a game where you had to say what animal the girl next to you resembled. "You look like a cow. But, a cute one!" It's a bad idea. Almost every girl followed up her animal reference with "a cute one". (For the record, I think someone told me a looked like a horse because I have a long face a big teeth. And I think I told someone they looked like a panda. A cute one, of course.)
There are definitely some people that remind me of animals. There was a girl in high school who I always thought looked like a camel just because she had really long eye-lashes and kind of a stubby little nose. But I'd never tell her that! And then I have an athlete who sort of looks like a tree frog when he jumps. His arms and legs go sprawling out, fingers spread wide, and he sticks out his tongue. (I did tell him that I thought he looked like a tree frog, but felt bad afterwards even though he laughed.)
But, the birthday party game was a success. The birthday girl (BG) loves to cook and she had all kinds of new dishes and old favorites to sample and savor. People told stories about times they remembered cooking with BG. BG loves vegetables, so there were many vegetable dishes with explanations of why particular veggies were selected. She is also from Wisconsin, so various cheeses were a reminder of BG's cultural background. Guests were really creative and it was fun to try new things. What could have been awkward ended up being edifying and fun.
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