Queen’s Handbag Tambola Tickets

Handbag tambola is housie played on a ticket shaped like a purse: fifteen numbers hide behind a lipstick, a perfume bottle, sunglasses, a wallet and keys, and six named prizes reward the first lady to complete each picture. This page has the free printable pack, the live online game, a prize ladder, a planner for 12 to 36 ladies and a one-hour run sheet.

What’s inside the Queen’s Handbag?

Every woman has heard the question “what’s in your bag?” at a party, usually followed by someone tipping out a purse full of receipts, safety pins and three lipsticks. Queen’s Handbag Tambola takes that familiar joke and turns it into a numbers game.

The ticket itself is cut in the shape of a handbag, complete with a curved handle along the top and a little “What’s in my bag?” medallion like a designer tag. Inside, fifteen numbers are packed into five everyday essentials:

• Lipstick: the one item nobody leaves home without.
• Perfume: a small bottle for that touch-up spritz before dinner.
• Sunglasses: for the drive over, or simply for style.
• Wallet: cards, cash and that old movie ticket.
• Keys: always at the very bottom, always found last.

Each item carries three numbers. Print tickets in sets of six and the whole board of 1 to 90 is shared out once, so no two guests are holding the same luck.

Ready-to-print Queen's Handbag Tambola pack

12 different picture tickets (2 on each A4 page) with a caller sheet, a prize sheet and a rules page. Print it as it is, or press Create your tambola ticket above for more tickets and your own party name.

Download the free PDF

The prize list, item by item

These handbag tambola prizes are named so the caller can have some fun announcing them. Here is what each one asks for:

1. First Find: any five numbers. Like digging in your bag and pulling out the first thing your fingers touch.
2. Pout Perfect: the three Lipstick numbers.
3. Glam Queen: Lipstick and Perfume together, six numbers. If someone has already won Pout Perfect, they are halfway there.
4. Shades On: the three Sunglasses numbers. The winner has to wear sunglasses for the next round, if you have a pair handy.
5. Money Matters: Wallet plus Keys, six numbers.
6. Bag Full of Surprises: all fifteen numbers, the full house.

Because Lipstick feeds two prizes, it is worth asking the group to watch that picture closely. It is often where the first loud squeal comes from.

Running a ladies’ handbag tambola afternoon

This theme suits kitty parties, ladies’ sangeet afternoons, office women’s day events and birthday lunches with the girls. It plays well indoors in a living room or a café private area.

Best time to start

After the starters and before the main course is ideal. Guests have settled in and caught up on news, and a game gives the hostess time to get lunch on the table. For an evening party, start around half past seven so you finish before dinner.

Dress code ideas

• “Bring your favorite bag”: everyone carries the bag they love most, and you can vote on the best one.
• One color for everyone, such as red lips and black outfits.
• Sunglasses on arrival, for a fun group photo.

Prizes that make sense

Keep them small and useful, the kind of thing that ends up living in a handbag. A lip balm or mini lipstick for Pout Perfect. A travel-size perfume for Glam Queen. A sunglasses case for Shades On. A card holder or keychain for Money Matters. For the full house, a pouch or small clutch looks lovely as a final reveal.

Seating

Arrange chairs in a loose circle or around a dining table. Ask guests to keep their bags at their feet: you may need them for the twist below.

Play Queen’s Handbag tambola online

If some friends cannot make it in person, start an online game and drop the link in your group chat. Every guest gets a ticket on her phone, the game calls out each number by itself, voice and all, and the ticket marks itself. When a friend claims, the host screen lets you check it. Put the TV view up so the room can see the board, with a QR code for anyone who wants to join.

A bag-check twist between rounds

Pair this ticket with a quick round of the classic bag game. Between prizes, the caller names an item (“a safety pin”, “a hair clip”, “something with a cartoon on it”) and the first guest to pull it from her bag wins a bonus sweet. Our handbag bingo game with printable cards has a full list of items to call. It is a nice break that gets everyone laughing before the full house push.

A printing note: color printing makes the lipstick reds and perfume pinks pop, while black and white is fine for a casual group. Choose A4 or Letter in the maker to match your printer. If you want a matching set, the Kitty Queen tambola and Shopping Divas tambola carry the same glam feel, and the rest live in the picture tambola collection. For a short read on how the humble bag became a fashion item, see the Wikipedia article on handbags.

Ladies kitty party tambola: why this theme works

A kitty party runs on small, familiar jokes, and the contents of a handbag are the most familiar joke of all. Because the five pictures are things every guest carries, nobody needs the rules explained twice: lipstick is the first loud squeal, keys are always found last. That makes this a good opener for a new group, where members have not yet learned each other’s habits.

The theme also works beyond kitty parties. Women’s day events at offices, bridal showers, farewell lunches and birthday brunches all share one thing: a table of women with handbags at their feet. Put the pictures on the tickets and the room has a talking point before the first number is called.

Here is how ladies kitty party tambola fits a kitty party: the pictures need no explanation, the prizes give the host lines to announce, and the whole game fits comfortably around the other events of the day.

How to play handbag tambola step by step

The rules of handbag tambola are the rules of ordinary tambola, with pictures instead of rows. Here is the whole game in six steps, using the prize names printed on the sheet:

1. Hand out the tickets. Give each player one ticket and read the prize list aloud, starting with First Find and ending with Bag Full of Surprises.
2. Call the numbers. The host calls numbers from 1 to 90 in random order, or lets the online game call them.
3. Mark your pictures. Each player strikes off the numbers on their ticket, and each picture holds three of them.
4. Claim a prize. The first player to complete a pattern shouts the prize name, such as “Pout Perfect!”, before the next number is called.
5. Check the claim. The host reads the numbers back against the caller sheet. A wrong claim loses that ticket the prize.
6. Finish with the full house. The game ends when a player marks all fifteen numbers and wins Bag Full of Surprises.

New players learn handbag tambola in about two minutes, because the pictures show them what to look for. If the group has never played tambola, our guide on how to play tambola explains the classic version.

Handbag tambola: the prize ladder in numbers

Every prize in handbag tambola needs a different number of marked numbers, so the prizes arrive in a predictable order. We simulated 3,000 games with 24 tickets, which is 4 sets of six, and recorded the call on which each prize was first completed. The table shows the median, with the middle half of games alongside:

With 24 tickets the first five arrives on about call 13, and the full house on about call 73, so the whole ladder runs over 60 calls, or about 10 minutes at 10 seconds a call. A one-picture prize arrives around call 29, and a two-picture prize around call 51, so most of the excitement happens in the middle of the game. When you plan handbag tambola, announce the prizes in the order they are likely to be won, and keep the biggest for last.

Handbag tambola tickets: how many to print and how long a game lasts

This planner answers the question behind handbag tambola tickets: how many to print and how long the game lasts. For a kitty party, the right number of tickets depends on how many guests want to play. This planner rounds up to whole sets of six and uses the same simulation as above for each size of group. One ticket for each player is the usual choice, and you can print a few spares for latecomers:

For 12 guests, print 12 tickets (2 sets of six) and expect the full house around call 76, which is about 12.7 minutes of calling. For 36 guests you need 36 tickets and the full house arrives around call 71. The bigger the group, the earlier each prize is won, because more tickets are in play: the first five comes on call 14 with 12 guests but on call 12 with 36. That is why handbag tambola stays quick even at a large kitty party, and why it suits a short slot in the program.

What one ticket looks like during handbag tambola

A ticket holds 15 of the 90 numbers, which is one sixth of them, so on average it has one sixth of the numbers called so far marked. By call 30 a typical ticket has 5 of its 15 numbers marked:

That is the average ticket, though. With 24 tickets in play, the best ticket reaches five marked numbers on call 13, and the best ticket completes all fifteen on call 73, long before an average ticket does. This gap between the average and the best ticket explains why the prizes in handbag tambola are won so much earlier than the table above suggests.

A ready-made run sheet for handbag tambola

Here is a run sheet for handbag tambola that fits 60 minutes. The times are suggestions; stretch the snack break or shorten a round to suit your kitty party.

The tambola rounds take 40 of the 60 minutes, which leaves room for food, photos and conversation. If you only have half the time, play one round and keep handbag tambola for the full house, since the biggest prize makes the best ending.

Prize ideas for handbag tambola: a gift for every pattern

Match the gift to the pattern: small gifts for the quick prizes and the best gift for the full house. These ideas fit a kitty party:

Decor and dress ideas to go with the prizes:

• Ask everyone to bring the bag they love most and vote for the best one
• One color theme, such as red lips and black outfits
• Sunglasses on arrival for a group photo
• A paper lipstick-and-keys banner behind the caller

Keep the prizes simple, wrap them in the theme colors and put them on a table where everyone can see them before the first call. A prize table in view keeps interest high all through handbag tambola.

Three twists to try with handbag tambola

A small twist makes the game feel planned. Pick one, or use all three across the rounds of handbag tambola, and handbag tambola stays quick whichever you choose.

The mystery bag

Put a prize in a paper bag and let the winner of Glam Queen guess what is inside using only touch.

Bag-check bonus

Between prizes, call out an item such as a hair clip; the first lady to find one in her bag wins a bonus sweet.

Lipstick swap

The winner of Pout Perfect trades lipstick shades with the lady on her left and wears them for the next round.

If you like handbag tambola, you may also enjoy Kitty Queen Tambola, Chai Chaat Chatter Tambola, Shopping Divas Tambola, or browse the whole theme tambola collection.