The Fourth of July is this Thursday. If we haven’t booked a cruise to the Bahamas, or accepted a challenge to play two rounds of speed golf at $50 a hole, how will we occupy ourselves on a day when it’s normal to be on the job and working?

Being free as birds, should we fly away somewhere or perch in our own backyards?

My family usually stays close to home. Being hotter than blazes, we swim. With the barbecue pit fired up, the beer iced down in the cooler and the dartboard hung on the dead tree with care, we get into bathing suits or shorts and go for fun and games.

On one side of the lawn the badminton net awaits the flying shuttlecock. Across the way – and taking up the majority of the lawn – a carefully measured layout of croquet rungs and stakes has been readied for fierce competitors wielding mallets.

Let me make one small clarification. Where we live in the Hill Country there is not a lawn that spreads out from the house down to the lake. Instead, it’s more an obstacle course riddled with rocks, stickers, cacti, bumpy nodes of terrain, dust, weeds pretending to be grass, protruding tree limbs, squirrels, deer and the occasional coyote.

Outdoor entertainments are great, but what if it rains? What if the skies that have remained slammed shut for all these months suddenly decide to open up and dump upon the sere and withered land a deluge of Biblical proportion?

Have no fear: The indoor Food & Drink Games are here. Indoor fun can be just as invigorating as outdoor fun. Only difference is, the brain will be the thing called upon to work up a sweat. The rest of the body may stay seated and eat potato chips.

I have a few suggestions for indoor gaming. Of course my games are themed around food and drink because – as readers of my Food Lover’s Quizine column in My Table are most intimately aware – food and drink are what I live for.

Some of the games require purchasing certain edible and drinkable items in advance so that you will be prepared to play should it rain on the Fourth of July. If the weather sends everyone racing for the house, there must be entertainment ready within the house or you will find yourself stuck with a muttering crowd of moist people who are miserable and just want to go home.

So, let the Food & Drink Games begin. Here are four games to get you started. All might be made more interesting with a wager.

Pin the Tail on the Shrimp Before Thursday’s holiday, take a big bunch of shelled jumbo shrimp, boil them in seasoned water until pink, remove and chill overnight. When guests arrive, fill a large bowl with crushed ice and arrange the chilled shrimp over the ice. In a separate bowl place toothpicks that are tipped with multi-colored frills. Blindfold the first player, give the player a frilly-tipped toothpick and guide the player to the shrimp bowl. The object of the game is to stick the toothpick directly into the tail of a shrimp. If the player successfully skewers the tail, the shrimp may then be dipped in cocktail sauce and eaten. If the player fails – and sticks the toothpick instead into, say,  his brother’s wife – the player must give the incorrectly pinned shrimp to the person in the room who razzed the blindfolded player most during the game. The razzer may then dip into cocktail sauce and eat. Blindfold the next player and continue until everyone has had a turn or the shrimp bowl is empty.

Sing a Song of Sixpence Pocket Full of Rye Seat all guests in a circle, ask for a volunteer to go first, and then proceed around the circle until all have played. The object of the game is to name a song that has food or drink in the title – or has something edible or liquid mentioned in the lyrics – and then sing the song. If a player is unable to name a song and sing it, the player must pay everyone in the circle six pennies (or, in old British currency, sixpence). Also that player is disallowed access to the chips and guacamole for at least an hour.

Texas Fold ’Em Pile a gigantic stack of cooked fajita meat on a tray. Have bowls of salsa, guacamole, sautéed red pepper strips, chopped iceberg lettuce, chopped onions and tomatoes, and chopped jalapenos (optional) ready on the side. On a separate platter, place 100 or so warmed flour tortillas. Ask your guests who among them would be willing to pay a $5 entry fee to enter “The Great Texas Fold ’Em Competition.” Once the money’s on the table and the pot contains at least $25, tell the entrants to put on sanitary kitchen gloves and wait for the countdown. At the “Go” signal, contestants have three minutes to use all ingredients and build as many soft fajita tacos as possible. At the end of three minutes the player who has made the most tacos – and put the tacos together most appetizingly – wins the pot. Everybody eats.

Stirred and Shaken: Bruised and Glazed This game is meant to squeeze from your guests all remaining creative juices. The object is to invent a new and original cocktail. A fully stocked bar is required for this competition. Ice, glasses, stirrers, a blender, a cocktail shaker and perhaps umbrella-topped toothpicks should also be on hand. Everyone over the age of 21 may participate. By this time at night the fireworks are finished and the children should be in bed. Each player or team is given 10 minutes to concoct an adult beverage and to christen the adult beverage with an original title. (Note: On one rowdy occasion while playing this game, I mixed a cocktail of crushed ice, dark rum, pomegranate juice, ginger ale, single malt Scotch and sliced lime wedges. I called it “The Kilted Scotsman’s Wedgie.” Even my alcoholic dog wouldn’t drink it.) Finally, draw names from a hat to select the official Cocktail Tasting Panel. After the cocktails are mixed, the official Tasting Panel will sip and deliberate, sip and deliberate, sip and deliberate – until, at last, a winner is chosen to praise and applause. With the holiday at an end, those members of the Cocktail Tasting Panel who are not blindfolded but definitely blind may be assisted to their cars and assigned designated drivers.