“Have people clear their own plates after the main meal and dessert, then serve coffee,” says Carlyn Berghoff, owner of the Berghoff Catering & Restaurant Group, in Chicago, and a coauthor of The Berghoff Family Cookbook: From Our Table to Yours, Celebrating a Century of Entertaining (Andrews McMeel Publishing, $30). “It gets everyone moving and mixes things up.” If you don’t feel comfortable asking, have another guest ask for you. 

 

Arrange a post-meal scavenger hunt, indoors or out; the winner and the runner-up get to break the wishbone.

 

Play an outdoor game. Skip the traditional tag football and revive childhood favorites, like red rover, dodgeball, and freeze tag. Go to gameskidsplay.net for the rules.