The Party Box Arrives

Most people sigh and roll their eyes when board games are pulled out after dinner, but I jump to unpack the box, distribute all the pieces, and recite the rules to anyone who bothers to listen (hello, dork alert). I enjoy board games because unlike most Americans, I didn’t play board games growing up. So when I saw that Hasbro teamed up with House Party to ask people across the country to host a game night in their home with the offer of free games and food for the party, I signed up right away. You know me – I live for free stuff.

Let me back up. House Party is a website that lists events sponsored by a leading brand (ex: Kraft) in the goal to market a product (BBQ sauce) to a host and party guests, who will in return get a bunch of free goodies (BBQ sauce and free swag for the party). Interesting idea, isn’t it? I mean, what better way to get people to become loyal to a product – and become brand evangelists – than having them try it themselves?

Sure, laugh at me yet again for being a sucker for corporate America, but you know I can’t pass up a great excuse to throw a party and get a heck of a lot of free stuff.

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Hasbro Game Night »

Aaaandd….the party box is here! I was super excited to see it sitting on my doorstep when I came home from work. It felt like Christmas.

Operating instructions: Open box. Add friends. Party ’til done.

I opened it up to find Triscuits! Lots and lots of Triscuits. Turns out, Nabisco is a sponsor for Hasbro Game Night, so I received 6 different boxes of Triscuit brand crackers (and a bag of Hershey’s chocolate).

The included a nice letter about the contents of the box. The games were right under it.

Holy moly guacamole! Hasbro sent me a bunch of stuff. I received electronic Catch Phrase, Trivial Pursuit, and Taboo.

I’ve never played Trivial Pursuit before. I can’t imagine a game worst suited for me – I know as much about current events as a foreigner that lives in a cave with no TV. I have terrible memory, so I doubt I’ll remember anything from school. But…it will be fun. I think.

I love this game, and it works great in groups.

Here are all the Triscuit boxes they sent me. I have everything from Tomato Basil Wheat Thins to Parmesan Garlic Thin Crisps. They even sent me an email with “recipes” (and I put that in quotes because there is no cooking involved) for what to put on top of the different types of crackers. They even paired Triscuits with wine. (I can hear the marketing team now: “Let’s elevate what people think of Triscuits”)

And of course, the stack of coupons for the guests. And a coupon for the me to buy batteries, since I’ll be going through them.