These holiday homes are suitable for groups of 4 – 8 people

Don’t worry – the house doesn’t need to be thoroughly cleaned after this game. Instead, it's a cozy massage game for rainy days or to "wind down" on evenings at home.

Age of players: 4 – 140

Number of players: 4 – 20

Required: Blankets

Game description: One player is selected as a Black Forest cake. This person lies on a blanket on their stomach (or on their back, if that is more comfortable). Another player is elected master confectioner. Now 4-5 other players sit or kneel in a circle around the “cake”. At the command of the master confectioner, everyone massages the cake in keeping with the baking process of a Black Forest cake. The “dough” is kneaded (kneading massage movements), cherries are placed on all areas (light pressure on changing areas), the cream is gently spread (stroking movements), chocolate sprinkles are rained down (drumming with the fingers) and – oh dear – the cat runs up her velvet paws over the cake! (cat paw movements).

For larger groups there are several cakes that are “baked” at the same time.

The black forest with its tall conifers is mysterious. No wonder ghosts particularly like to live here. Luckily, there are brave ghost hunters who can catch the eerie creatures!

Age of players: 5 – 125

Number of players: 4 – 20

Required: pebbles, chalk, flexible branches, if necessary some adhesive tape. Material: sidewalk chalk, weeping willow branches, a pebble for each player, possibly adhesive tape, possibly an hourglass/stopwatch

Game description: All players paint a stone (as flat as possible) with the scary face of a Black Forest ghost. Then the players turn the flexible branches into circular spirit-banishing circles, which may be secured with adhesive tape. If you can't find any suitable branches, straight branches about 30 cm long can be used as replacements. The spirit stones are now placed on the forest floor a little apart from each other. Each player receives a ghost banishing circle and - depending on age and skill - stands 50 cm - 1.5 m away from the ghost stones. And then it's time to catch ghosts! The ghost hunters throw their spell circles in the direction of the stone spirits. If there is a spell circle around a spirit stone, the spirit is considered trapped and is removed from the game. If thrown with straight sticks, the ghost is considered caught if a stick touches it. The game continues until all ghosts are captured by the brave ghost hunters.

Variant for larger groups (10 people or more) with an hourglass: The group is divided into two teams of ghost hunters. Instead of one, two stones per person are painted and placed on the floor. Warning: Only sleeping ghosts can be caught. And when do they sleep? That's right, as long as the hourglass is running! After the hourglass has expired, we see which group has caught the most ghosts in that time.

Wow, how the wind whistles when the witches ride around the candelabra on their broomsticks. Since the top of the Kandel - Waldkirch's local mountain - burst on Walpurgis Night in 1981, an old legend has been revived. According to this, the Kandel is the Blocksberg in the Black Forest, around which the witches ride every year on the night of May 1st. This year they apparently learned a new confusion spell. Are you smart enough to still know who is who? Then try this game, which is just as suitable for a family holiday in the Black Forest as it is as a warm-up for groups or seminars.

Age of players: 7 – 127

Number of players:8 – 16

How to play: Place a circle of chairs around one of the sofas in your holiday home. (Tip: our holiday apartments of course have enough chairs for bookings. But if you have additional guests, for example at a party, just ask) One more chair is always needed than there are other players. All players now write their names on a piece of paper and fold it. A previously chosen “head witch” (or a head wizard) collects the pieces of paper and redistributes them so that everyone has a different name. If the head witch plays along herself, she doesn't look at the pieces of paper beforehand and just distributes them at random.

Now divide the group into two parties by drawing lots or counting – e.g. the “weather witches” and “magic potion specialists”. The sofa is then occupied by two players from each magical team. The aim of the game is to use witch-like cunning to occupy the sofa with only your own magical team.

After the head witch shouts “Abracadabra, toad leg and lilacberry, no one knows who is who here anymore,” the confusion spell takes effect. And then it starts! Whoever sits to the right of the empty chair can now conjure up a new neighbor by naming them. Very easy, do you think? Hehehe – you have new names and of course you only listen to them. Now it's time to remember who has which name. The sofa counts as 4 chairs - so you can also request that if there is a space available. Players are conjured into each free seat until one team has occupied the entire sofa and bursts into loud giggles. The winning team then provides the head witch for a new round of the game, if you fancy more confusion spells on your family holiday.

For particularly clever game rounds, an additional difficulty can be introduced by having the person making the wish and the person changing place exchange their name cards.

No holiday in the Black Forest without the famous Black Forest cake! So that you still have time for something other than baking despite self-catering accommodation, here is a simple and quick, but equally delicious variation of the classic that can be easily prepared the day before.

Ingredients for six people in the holiday home

4 chocolate muffins or an equivalent amount of chocolate cookies
1 glass of morello cherries
2 x 500 g cream quark
1 organic lemon
2 packets of vanilla sugar Chocolate
sprinkles
Sugar or honey as desired
If there are no children: 1 glass of kirsch

preparation

First, a cream made from quark, vanilla sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice is mixed, which can be sweetened with sugar/honey as desired. Crumble the muffins/cookies and spread half of them into the bottom of a bowl. If there are no children with you, the crumbs can be refined with kirsch. Then add a layer of drained morello cherries. Then a layer of cream, another layer of crumbs, more cherries and more cream. Finally, sprinkle the whole thing generously with chocolate sprinkles and decorate with a few cherries.

The false Black Forest cake is tastiest when left to rest in the refrigerator for a few hours.

As if by magic, these snails are made turbo-fast. On rainy days indoors, they can also be used as “cooking crafts” to help ensure a successful family vacation. The kids help out by making snail heads and antennae out of leftover dough. The puff pastry snails are also nice after a wild herb hike. Because the Black Forest is rich in wild herbs fresh from the meadows. For example, sorrel refines the cheese cream or a wild herb salad with dandelions and wild orach turns the plate into a snail meadow.

Ingredients for eight people in the holiday home

1 egg
2 rolls of puff pastry
1 tbsp honey (preferably Black Forest honey or pine honey)
Salt, pepper, thyme
Two handfuls of walnuts
1 lemon
2 packets of cream cheese
1 small corner of Parmesan

preparation

Preheat the stove to 180 degrees (fan oven, 200 degrees top/bottom heat). Mix cream cheese, salt, pepper, honey, thyme and lemon. Grate the corner of Parmesan and stir in half. Crush the walnuts and add them to the mixture. Roll out the puff pastry, spread it with the cream and roll it up again. Cut approx. 3 cm wide pieces from the roll and place them on baking paper on a tray with the spiral side up. Whisk the egg, brush the top of the snails with it and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan.

Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

Variant for wild herb collectors: If you have found sorrel on a wild herb hike - for example in the Kinzigtal - you can add a few chopped leaves to the cream.