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Party Games
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These games and activities can be made even more fun when you adapt them to the theme of your party!

There's A Bug On My Back

Pair up your party guests (three's okay too) and put a sticker or a picture of a bug on each child's back. Have the guests try to guess what the bug is by asking questions that can be answered with only "yes" or "no." For example, "Do I have legs?," "Can I fly?" and "Am I Green?"

Musical Animal Acts

Everyone gets into the act with this fun variation of musical chairs. Set up one fewer chair than the number of guests at your party. Start the music and have the children walk in a circle around the chairs, until you stop the music. When the music stops, each participant tries to sit in one of the chairs. The player left standing must pull the name of an animal, written on a piece of paper, out of a hat. Then, they must act it out while the other guests try to guess what the animal is. Start the music again and repeat the game until all the animals in the hat have been acted out.

Duck, Duck, Goose

This classic children's game is perfect for any party. Gather your guests to sit in a circle and let the birthday child begin as the "Goose." He/she walks around the circle tapping each child on the head, saying "Duck" with each tap. When he/she is ready to choose the next person to be the Goose, he/she says "Goose" when tapping that person on the head. That child gets up and chases the birthday child around the circle. If the new Goose does not tag the birthday child before he/she makes it all the way around the circle and sits in the open spot, then the new Goose becomes "it." If the new Goose tags the birthday child, then the birthday child remains "it" for the next round and the game continues.

Jungle Knots

This game will make your party guests tumble with laughter. Instruct your guests to stand in a circle facing inward. To begin, everyone extends his or her right hand into the ring and takes a hold of someone else's hand. Then, they do the same with their left hands. The object of the game is to see if they can untangle the "knot" by stepping over, ducking under people, or turning around. Whatever happens, they can't let go of hands!

Floating Balloons

Pass out a large balloon to each guest. Let them blow up their balloon and offer your help tying each one securely. The object of this game is to hit the balloons up into the air and keep them afloat for the longest period of time. This is a fun and easy way to start or end any party!

Roundabout Relay

Your guests will jump for joy during this fun relay. Before the party, cut four large shapes out of cardboard. (Birthday Express shipping boxes work well for this activity). For added fun, make the shapes theme-specific to your party, (i.e. Flying saucers for an Alien or Star Wars party). At the party, divide your guests into two equal lines and give the first person in each line two of the cardboard shapes. These become the only thing they can step on as they travel from the front of the line, across the room, around a chair and back to the line again.

The game begins by having the first child on each team place one cardboard shape on the ground and step on it. Then, they place the other cardboard shape on the ground in front of the first and step on it. Next, they pick up the first cardboard shape and place it on the ground in front of the other, etc. When they reach the finish line, they hand the two cardboard shapes to the next player in line. The team to make it all the way around the course first, wins!

Pin the Tail on the Donkey

This game can be made theme-specific by pinning any object that is relevant to your party's theme, (i.e. for a Pirate party, you can draw a treasure map and have your guests try to pin treasure chests nearest the area where "X" marks the spot). When it's time to play the game, mount your poster on the wall and place a piece of tape on the back of each object the children will be pinning on the poster. Before each child takes a turn, have them close their eyes, spin them around, and point them toward the poster. The child who pins their object closest to the designated spot, is the winner! You may want to play this game several times to give your guests more chances to win.

Ha, Ha, Ha

The object of this game is to keep a straight face while the other players try to make you laugh. All players form a circle and one player begins by saying, "ha." The next player says, "ha, ha," followed by the next player who says, "ha, ha, ha," and so on around the circle with each player adding another "ha" to the string. Each player must pronounce their "ha ha"s as solemnly as they can, to avoid laughter as long as possible. Any player who laughs or makes a mistake must drop out of the "ha ha" circle. However, that player then gets to try to make the remaining players laugh in any way they can (except by touching them or talking). The player who keeps a straight face the longest, wins!

Jelly Eating Contest

Make one bowl of Jelly for each child (plus have a few extra on hand). Line the bowls along the ground. It's a good idea to place a tablecloth or other protective covering on the ground for easy clean up. Put a cartoon pooch's name (Red, Jake, Bluey, Goldie, etc.) on each bowl; it'll make calling the race more fun. Each player places their hands on the ground beside their bowl and must keep them there throughout the game. When the command is given to start, all the contestants begin eating their Jelly. The first one to clean their bowl completely, wins. Be sure to have a camera ready to capture the memorable moments this game is sure to make!

Smile a Thaumatrope

This is a quick and fun way to show kids the concept of animation. Cut a 5cm square piece of cardboard, and make a small hole on two opposing edges. Then, attach short pieces of string or rubber bands through the holes. Draw a circle on one side of the cardboard and a smiling mouth and eyes on the other. Hold the string between the thumb and forefinger of each hand. Begin to twirl the square rapidly. While it is twirling, you will see a composite face. It's this principle of rapidly changing static images that make cartoons possible. Science and fun, all in one.

Bean Bag Throw

This is a great activity for kids of all ages. Purchase bean bags suitable for tossing, or create your own with dried beans, socks and rubber bands. Draw a character (or image) relevant to your theme on the side of a cardboard box. Cut a hole in the box, large enough for the bean bags to be thrown through easily. If you are using a theme like Dinosaurs, make the character's mouth be the hole. Place the box about ten feet away and give each child several chances to toss the bean bags through the hole.

Birthday Cake Hunt

Kids love to hunt for surprises! So on your child's big day, create a special hunt for the birthday cake! You will need the help of a few family members, neighbors, or friends. Let the children separate into teams and give each team a set of clues and party favors to find. Give each child a bag to put their favors in and make sure that each guest has at least one favor so nobody feels left out. The clues and favors should lead them to the location of the cake. We recommend keeping the cake close to home and under adult supervision. Excited children running through the house with a cake can be messy! The first team to locate the cake gets served first.

Water Buckets

Divide your partygoers into two teams, and line them up next to each other. Give the first person in each line a small bucket or cup full of water. About 20 feet away, place an empty cup or bucket for each team. When you say "GO!," the first person runs down to the empty bucket, pours the water from his or her container into the bucket, and races back to their team with their empty container. The next teammate must then race down to the full bucket and pour the water from the bucket into his or her empty container, and then return it to the next person in line. Your guests will have fun trying to keep as much water as they can in their buckets. The game ends when each team member has run down and back once.

Bobbing for Apples

Before the party, purchase a small apple for each child who will be in attendance and tie a string to the stem of each one. Then either hang the apples from a fixture in your home, a tree branch, or a swing set. Be sure that the apples hang low enough so the children can reach them with their mouths. To play the game, the children must try to take a bite out of their apples without using their hands. The children will have a challenging time keeping the apples still long enough to take a bite. This activity makes a wonderful photo opportunity, so be sure to have your camera ready!

Decorate A Birthday Banner

There may be a young Pro Hart coming to your party and here's a great way to find out. Purchase a large piece of white butcher paper from your local arts and crafts store. At the top of the banner, write "Happy Birthday (your child's name)." Mount the paper on a wall within easy reach of your guests. You can also lay the paper on the floor if you're worried some of the artists may mistake your wall for their canvas.

Provide a variety of crayons and waterproof markers and let the children create their own masterpieces. Don't forget to ask each artist to write their name and age beside their drawing. You can even encourage them to write a special message to the birthday child. After the party, fold it up and save it, or if you'd prefer, take a close-up picture so you can tuck it inside your photo album later.

Magic Coin

Pick five, 5cent pieces with different dates on them. Place the coins in your top hat and ask one of your guests to pick a coin and look at the date, but not tell what it is. Then, let all the guests pass the coin around to look at the date. After everyone has seen it, quickly put the coin back into the hat and shake up the coins. Have your Coin Magician reach into the hat and pull out the chosen coin. The secret? The Coin Magician knows which coin was chosen because the coin will absorb heat, so the coin everyone has handled will be warm. Once everyone knows how the magic is done, let all the children take a turn being the Penny Magician.

Story Time

Invite your guests to sit in a circle to hear a wonderful story! While the children listen, you can also have them color a picture related to your party's theme. This activity will not only keep the children entertained, but it will also help calm everyone down as the party comes to an end.

Hunny Bee Guess

Before the party, fill a jar with yellow and black jelly beans. Count the jelly beans before you put them into the jar. Put a "Honey" label on the front. As your guests arrive, have each one guess how many beans they think are in the jar. Write down each person's guess. At the end of the party, the person who guesses the closest number is the winner and gets to take home the "Honey Jar of Jelly Bees!"

Delightful Ballroom Dress-Up

Your party girls are ready for a magical ball, they just need a little dressing up! Collect dresses, skirts, blouses, scarves, high-heeled shoes, ribbons, shawls, hats, gloves and costume jewelry, to create your own beauty box. Neighbors, friends, relatives and secondhand stores are excellent sources for dress-up items. Encourage the girls (it won't take much) to make themselves even more beautiful than they already are by donning the clothing and accessories of their choice. If possible, provide a mirror so the girls can admire themselves in the party room, or allow them to use one in a nearby room. Play music to set the mood while the girls dress.

Once the girls are elegantly attired, give them the opportunity to dance around to the music. This is a perfect photo opportunity for you. Use a Polaroid camera so you can send home a photo with each guest. If you don't have a Polaroid camera, develop your film as soon as possible and send a print to each guest with a thank-you note.

Where's the Slipper?

This pass-around activity requires a small amount of advance setup time. You will need a small pair of doll slippers, scissors, tape, wrapping paper, and music. First, wrap one slipper. Cut a small piece of wrapping paper and wrap the slipper again. Repeat wrapping individual layers around and around. Remember to use as little paper as necessary, to make the unwrapping easy. About halfway through the number of layers you choose to use, insert the other slipper, and keep wrapping. Make enough layers so that each guest has the opportunity to unwrap at least one layer.

At the party, seat your guests in a circle, start the music and have the children begin passing the wrapped ball quickly from one person to another. Stop the music. The guest holding the ball removes a layer. Continue until you find the first slipper. Then, reverse the passing order until the second slipper is uncovered. A small prize may be awarded to the person who finally finds the matching slipper, or you can choose to wrap a candy or small trinket in each layer, rewarding all of the guests throughout the game.

Blind Drivers Bluff

Blindfold the person who will be the "driver." (It usually works best to let the birthday child be the first driver.) Spin the blindfolded player around several times. The other players move around the driver making car and truck noises. The driver tries to locate the players by their sounds and tag the person closet to them. The first player who is tagged becomes the driver and the game continues.

Digging for Buried Treasure

This is a perfect game for someone who has a sandbox. Hide a number of small toys in a sandbox and let your guests dig through the sand in search of fun treasures.

Fill the Bucket

For this fun game, you will need: 2 buckets or bowls of equal size; one spoon or small shovel for each guest; a pile of sand next to each bucket (make sure you have enough sand to feel each bucket).

This game can also be played in a sandbox. Divide your guests into two teams. Have each team sit around their bucket. When you say "GO," each team must try to fill their bucket with sand, using only their spoons or shovels.

Leap Frog

This classic children's game is sure to be a crowd pleaser at your party. It's best played outside where there's lots of room to leap. Show your guests how to get into a frog position by bending down and dividing their weight evenly between their hands and feet. Instruct the children to form a line and remind them to keep their heads down.

The frog at the end of the line begins by placing their hands on the back of the frog in front of them, jumping in the air a little, and sliding their legs around the body of the frog they're leaping over. They continue jumping over all the other frogs in line. The person who is now at the end of the line, does the same thing, and so on, until everyone has jumped through the line several times. Try mixing up the order of the frogs and keep leaping!

Balloon Relay Race

Instruct the children to stand in two single-file lines, facing forward. Place a balloon between the knees of the first child in each line. When the race starts, the first child on each team turns to face the next person in line. The second child must grasp the balloon with his or her knees and turn to pass it on to the third person, and so on. If the balloon falls to the ground, the team must start over. The first team to successfully pass the balloon down the line, wins!

Fire Alarm Relay

Sound the alarm and put on the gear - there's no time to waste! Your fire fighters will need to dress as fast as possible, run to the blazing fire, attempt to put it out, undress, and return to their team line. Before the party, collect two sets of fire fighter's clothing - boots, oversized jackets, hats, and gloves. Use masking tape to mark the start/finish line on the floor. Put chairs across the room with an empty wrapping paper tube on them. This serves as the location of your fire and the hose to put it out.

At the party, divide your fire fighters into two equal groups and have them stand in two lines. Either you or the birthday child should demonstrate what you want them to do. They will need to put on the firefighter's clothing, run to the chair, pick up the hose, run around the chair with the hose spraying the fire, set the hose back on the chair, return to the dressing station, take off the clothes, and go back to their line. The next person in line then repeats all these actions until all team members have taken a turn. The team that completes the relay first, wins!

Building Muscles

Jet pilots have to be strong to handle their planes, so here's a quick workout for your little Top Guns. This game will take some preparation but it's worth it. You'll need to inflate 50 to 100 small balloons. Recruit some help from friends and family (Dads work well because they're full of hot air). Divide the kids into two teams, and select one guest on each team to be the "weakling." The remaining guests will be "personal trainers." Gather the teams on opposite sides of the room and divide the balloons between them. Instruct each weakling to put on a union suit (one-piece long underwear) over their clothes.

When you say "GO," the teams of personal trainers must make the weaklings grow instant muscles by stuffing as many balloons as possible into the union suits. Give the teams one minute to do this. When time is up, let everyone admire the weaklings' new muscles (have a camera handy). Then, remove and count the balloons. The team that used the most balloons, wins! Try again with new weaklings for more fun.

Freeze Tag

For this popular game, guests need to spread out in the party area (or better yet, outside where there's room to run). Let the birthday child be the first "tagger." The tagger tries to tag all the other guests. If a player is tagged, he or she must freeze. Players who are not frozen can "melt" frozen players by touching them. The first player to be frozen three times becomes the next tagger.

Red Light, Green Light

Before the game, lay two lengths of rope, or crepe paper, about 25 feet apart in your play area to make start and finish lines. The birthday child stands in front of the finish line (they're the Police Officer), while the others stand behind the start line. The game begins when the Police Officer turns his/her back on the other players and shouts, "Green Light!" He/she then turns around and counts to five.

While the Police Officer is counting, the other players try to run or walk quickly toward the finish line. When the Police Officer has finished counting to five he/she shouts, "Red Light!" and turns around quickly. The other players must freeze instantly. If the Police Officer catches anyone moving, that player must return to the starting line. Play continues until one of the participants crosses the line while the Police Officer's back is turned. That player then becomes the Police Officer.

Fishing Pond

You will need a helper for this activity. Tie a string across the room and lay a sheet over it so no one can see what is on the other side. Use an old fishing pole, or make one using a stick and some string. Attach a clothespin on the end of the fishing pole's string. Let each guest take a turn "casting" their line over the sheet. Have your helper stand on the other side and attach small gifts, favors, or treats to the clothespin. When they're done, the helper gives a slight tug on the line. When the kids "reel" in their lines, they'll be delighted to see what they've caught!

Squirting Gallery

Partygoers can try out their accuracy with this fun outdoor game. Set up a number of plastic pop bottles about eight to ten feet away from where the kids will be standing. Place a jump rope on the ground to designate where the kids should stand. Give the kids squirt bottles or squirt guns and let them try to knock down as many bottles as they can. For younger children, decrease the distance between the bottles and the shooting line.

Racetrack Rely

See how fast your drivers can make their cars go in this fun-filled relay race! Divide your guests in two teams and line them up next to each other. If you can, play this game outdoors, so that you have more room for a racecourse. Place an object, or choose a landmark, 30 feet away that each player must drive their car to, go around, and come back.

When the game begins, the first person in each line becomes the car and carries the second person on his or her back around the track. When car and driver return to the team, the driver becomes the car for the third person in line, etc. The game continues until every player has "driven" around the racetrack. (This means the first person in line, who was the first car, must drive the last person in line around the track to complete the relay.) The team who finishes first, wins!

Balloon Wrestling

Instead of wrestling one another other for a prize, let your guests have a match with a balloon! Before the party, insert a small, light-weight party favor such as a sticker into the opening of a balloon before inflating it. Then, blow air into the balloon and repeat until you have a balloon for each guest. Decorate the party area with the balloons as you normally would.

When the party is almost over, give a balloon to each guest. Tell your wrestlers that they must pop the balloon by sitting, jumping, kicking it, etc. in order to win the match. They'll love the great surprise they find inside and will have a lot of fun trying to pop the balloon!

Edible Jewelry

You will need at least two feet of string for each guest, lollie or sweet cereal with holes, and small bowls to put them in. Before the party, fill the small bowls with the lollies or cereal and place them within easy reach of your guests at the party table. Give each child a length of string and let them create a necklace, bracelet, anklet, etc. They'll have lots of fun creating their own yummy, edible jewelry!

Round Up the Herd

For this game you will need two brooms, a long string to mark your course, six balloons (and a few extra in case any should pop). Set up an obstacle course in your party area using boxes, chairs, bushes, trees, etc. Mark the path of your obstacle course with string. Divide your party guests into two teams and line up both teams at the starting line.

Give the first person in each line a broom and three balloons. (Be sure to use different colored balloons for each team). They must use the broom to herd their wild ponies (balloons) through the course. Each player must herd their balloons through the entire course to complete their turn. The first team to finish the course, wins! If a balloon pops during a player's turn, he or she must take a new balloon to the starting line and begin again.

Message Mix-up

Seat your guests in a circle. Help the birthday child think of a message related to your party's theme. The birthday child then whispers the message to the person on their left, and so on. When the message has traveled all the way around the circle, the person on the birthday child's right tells the message out loud. Then the birthday child tells the original message.

Expect the unexpected when you learn the original vs. the final mixed-up message. Try again with another player starting the message and continue until your guests are ready for a new activity.

Paint A T-Shirt

Kids love picking out their own clothes and they will love designing their own personalized T-shirt! Ask guests to bring their own T-shirt to paint, or purchase inexpensive T-shirts at a discount or thrift store. Before painting, line the inside of each T-shirt with cardboard or waxed paper, so that colors don't bleed onto the other side of the shirt. Use sponges dipped in fabric paint or fabric pens to decorate the shirts. Lay the shirts in a safe place to dry, and heat-set painted shirts in the dryer if necessary.

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