Birthday Party Games

Planning a birthday party especially for young ones can get pretty exhausting. The last thing you want to do is have to worry about keeping them entertained. The key element to a great party isn't just good decorations, it's the additive of enjoyable games in the mix. Here's a game list I've put together for a fun filled party your child can keep in their memory bank.

1. Kiss the Frog (alternative for boys : Pin the Tooth on the T-Rex)
2. Hot Potato Unwrap
3. Gurgle song
4.Jello Drinking
5.Follow the Yarn
6.Who Am I
7.Balloon Bust (alternative to pinata)
8.ABC Balloon Relay
9.Bubble Gum In Whipped Cream
10.Musical Numbers Game

Kiss the Frog is just a different version of Pin The Tail On The Donkey geered more towards girls. Draw or find a poster with the picture of a frog and put it up somewhere. Each one of your party goers puts on lipstick and a blindfold. Each takes turns at having a go at kissing the froggy lips. Whoevers lipstick gets the closest wins. It's your job to decide if a prize would be included. (Maybe a toy prince perhaps?)
Pin the Tooth on the T-Rex is basically the same as Pin The Tail On The Donkey aimed more towards boys, use a picture of a T-Rex instead and try to get the guests to pin his teeth in his mouth,

Hot Potato Unwrap is a kind of version of hot potato. Except your passing one present around wrapped in tons and tons of tape. When the music stops the person left holding has to try and unwrap the present before the music starts again. If they don't they keep passing it around until it's finally unwrapped. Whoever finishes unwrapping it before the music starts wins the prize.

Gurgle Song is a great game to play especially with a large group of people. Put a bunch of songs that you would think the guests would be familiar with into a hat. Have whoever goes first draw a song title and give them a glass of water. The person then has to gargle the tune of the song until someone guesses it correctly. Whoever guesses the song gets to go next and repeat the same steps. A great ice breaker and alot of fun to do. (If they have a specific song in mind and don't know the song drawn, just have them do one of their choice.)

Another great ice breaker is Jello Drinking. Get groups of two to three people and pass them a bowl of home made jello and a straw. Have a race to see which group drinks the jello through the straw the fastest. Whoever does wins a prize. ( I wouldn't put a package of jello on the prize list though *winces*)

Here's a fun form of scavenger hunting called Follow The Yarn. Make sure you have a lot of space for this one, in a living room or maybe even outside. Get as many different colors of yarn as you'll need depending on the amount of guests you'll have. At one end of the yarn tie and hide a prize or maybe a goodie bag. Each guest has to follow their yarn until they get to the prize. Make it as creative as you can! Maybe have them climbing under obstacles or around or lifting things to get to the string. It's entertaining for everyone involved to watch and experience what they have to do to get to their prize.

Well Who Am I? Could I be Superman or maybe a president of the United States at one point or time?Who Am I is a great game to play, get a bunch of names of famous people or super heroes, whoever you think the guests will know more about and tape a name to the back of each guest. Make sure they can't see it! Each person in turn goes up to whoever they want and asks a question pertaining to what name is on their back. The other person can only respond with a yes or no to the question. For example (maybe I was Super Man) good questions would be to ask Can I fly? or do I have a theme? Am I man? Or a woman? All in all the fun is in the guessing. You could make it a competition to see who'd guessed their's the fastest or with the least amount of questions to win a prize. (other easier forms for young ones would be types of animals or animated characters depending on the theme of the party)

A great alternative for young children in place of the pinata (I liked this idea alot) is called Balloon Bust. Find a spare room or area and cover it with blown up balloons. The crazier you are with the amount of balloons the better it is! Hide candy, toys and prizes underneath the balloons and let them go wild finding the prizes. (It's nice when you don't have to worry about a wooden stick in a child's hands.)

Find out how many children know how to spell the birthday child's name. ABC Balloon Relay is the way to go! Split the kiddos into even teams (if you can)
and have a trash bag for each team with 26 balloons in it. Each balloon contains a letter, have them sit on the balloons to pop them until they can spell out the birthday child's name. The fastest team wins the prize! (if the birthday child's name contains more then one of the same letter make sure to include the right amount of letters needed to spell out the name)

Here's a way to get messy and have fun doing it! Just make sure you don't mind the mess! Fill bowls or anything you want with whipped cream (foil pie tins work well) and hide a piece of bubble gum at the bottom of the mound of whipped cream. Whoever gets to the bubble gum first wins! This is simply called the Bubble Gum In Whipped Cream game. (makes sense doesn't it ?)

Last but not least to put some extra musical flavor into the party. Musical Numbers Game is a fun option. In a big circle, place various numbers written on pieces of paper and tape them or whatever you need to do to get them to stay in place. Each guest walks around the circle and when the person controlling the music stops it, the guests stop at whatever number they are on or near. Whatever number the person playing the music calls (maybe they could draw the number so no foul play occurs) the person on that number get's a prize.

There are many suggestions for games at a party, but these are the ones I liked the most. Most of them can be adapted to different age groups which makes it a lot easier on planning parties with specifics. What I love about these games is that they allow room for more ideas. The list is just a beginning to the many more games out there for birthdays and the like. By planning great birthday parties you could be creating memories that may last a lifetime.