Looking for a last-minute gift idea that you may not even need to leave the house for?
Our daughter asked for a copy of Cards Against Humanity, which I’ve kind of held off buying since I’m aware of how dirty it is. (The game is billed as “A party game for horrible people” and is an Apples To Apples-style group game where players offer the most outlandish answers to fill-in-the-blank game cards.)
I have no doubt this game is popular on campus, but I wasn’t sure I wanted a copy in the house just yet with our young kids around.
“Oh, get it for her,” my husband said… now that Christmas Eve is just two days away. Whoops.
I was browsing Cards Against Humanity’s website and noticed that they have two FREE print-at-home versions of the game. You can download the game in PDF form, then print your own. How about that? I have to admire a marketing tactic that gets people hooked on the game free of charge, in the hopes that they’ll buy expansion card sets.
If you’re on the fence about buying the game, previewing the cards in these sets will give you an idea of what the game’s subject matter entails too.
Here are the download links:
- Cards Against Humanity – main game (440 white cards, 90 black cards)
- Cards Against Humanity – original version (400 white cards, 60 black cards)
You’ll need 30 sheets of paper or card stock to print the current version of the game, and 23 sheets of paper or card stock to print the original game. You’ll also need a paper cutter (or a steady hand) to cut the cards apart.
We opted to print on card stock as we already had some in the house. In the original game, white cards are the answer cards and black cards are the question/statement cards. It’s helpful to print the question cards on a different color of card stock so they don’t get mixed up with the white answer cards.
We had some card stock at home that is white on one side and orange on the other, so her set of “black” cards will actually be orange on the back.
(For the original game, pages 22-24 in the PDF are the black cards, and in the main game, pages 26-30 in the PDF are the black cards. I did notice after printing them that there are some duplicate cards between the two decks.)
I thought I’d share this in case anyone needs a last-minute gift idea that you can make at home with minimal effort! I was going to use a plastic pencil box from Staples (remember those.25 school supply sales?) to hold this card game, but then I spotted a jewelry box that we had in the house that was the perfect size. It’s 2 1/2″ wide and about 7″ long and previously held a necklace:
If you don’t have any supplies on hand, here’s what you could spend to create this at home. I ran to Walmart this afternoon to return something, so I scoped out card stock prices in the office supply department:
Walmart sells 100-sheet packs of white card stock for $3.97, and 50-sheet packs of colored card stock for $3.97. Walmart also has plastic pencil boxes for .97 that you could store and present the game cards in.
We opted to print Cards Against Humanity on our laser printer, as the cost per page is cheaper than the inkjet. Hope this info helps if you’re looking for a bargain gift, a gift that won’t ship in time for Christmas, or both!
Cards Against Humanity retails for $25.
Erica says
Oh Jill, this game is SO MUCH FUN. Yes it is a dirty game but that’s the fun of it. She will love it. College students definitely could play this for hours!