Party Games for a Party at Our Home

For my daughter who is a very big tom-boy, we did shaving cream wars. It's inexpensive and messy. Kids love it. Also you can do a fear factor type set up. outmeal and gummy worms for example. using only a cup and holding with the mouth try to find as many gummy worms in the oatmeal as possible in a set amount of time. hope those ideas will help.

A.

We have been to several b-day parties for 4 and 5 year olds and have several ideas for you. One party that we went to did a picture scavenger hunt outside, with prizes for those swho found the most items! It kept them busy for a good 30 minutes. There is another game called Hulla bal-loo that they played and the kids wanted to do it over and over and could either be inside or outside(it's made by the people who created cranium. The other one that was hilarious was tying panty hose aroung their waists with a potato in the foot and having them try and knock an object with it like a ball down the grass and across the finish line. That one was at a seven year old b-day though LOL! Hope those help and have a great time! Blessings, J.

You can also get a obstacle course bounce house or a wet slide bounce huse. Older kids love those too!

K.

Hi,

When I was little we would play "drop the clothes pin in a jar". Use the wooden or plastic clothes pins, mayo jar. Have the kids stand over it, hold the pins up to their nose and drop them in. Whoever gets the most in wins a prize. Kids love it.

Hope your party is a sucess!

L.

How about having a pinata? Kids of all ages love pinatas.

Do a circus/carnival type theme and have games that fit the theme. Ex: Ring toss, relay races, etc. Have the older kids run the games at stations. That way, they are involved, and feel like they have a job to do. Pottery Barn Kids has some really cute carnival theme games and decorations right now, www.potterybarnkids.com. You could even give the older kids candy and small prizes to hand out at their stations. Hope you have fun!

Something we always used to do as kids that got every kid in our neighborhood over at our house everday was croquet. We sat up a croquet set in the front yard and played all day. It was a lot of fun and that might be something the older kids could do, too. Have a wonderful party :)

We just had a party for my daughter's 5th bday. We wanted everyone to be outside and were having a wide age range of kids. We had each of them make marshmallow guns. We found the plans on the internet and put all the pieces for one gun in a sack. When the kids arrived, we handed them each a sack and they had to put the pieces together. The little ones needed help from mom and dad, but the bigger ones managed fine. I then had tons of stickers and markers for them to decorate their guns with. We then gave each kid a small bag of marshmallows and sent them out. They had the best time shooting each other and hiding and shooting their parents. The big kids stayed outside and helped the little ones. It was great. They all took their guns home, so the game and party favor were taken care of. We made 17 guns for about $35 in supplies we got at Home Depot.

I'm thinking it will be difficult for a 12-yr-old to be interested in what goes on at a 4-yr-old's birthday party, no matter what. You might get him involved if he's helping somehow. Maybe have him lead a game or activity. Or, just let him invite a friend over to play playstation while the little kids do their thing. Big bro can join in the fun for cake and ice cream. An outdoor scavenger hunt might interest the different ages.

Here are several ideas... I have more if you need more~!

Name That Sound
This game is great for young kids. You'll need a helper to make it work best.
Gather a selection of items and instruments that can make a recognisable noise or sound. For example:
- a pair saucepans lids- a whistle- a toy drum- a box of matches- a rattle- a packet of cereal
- a set of keys
etc.Now demonstrate each item to your party of kids so they know what to expect.
To play the game, simply hide behind the sofa or a screen, and randomly make noises with each instruments. Ask the kids to name that sound. Each kid who guesses a sound correctly wins a prize.
Pass The Parcel An old classic that always goes down well at a kids party.
Wrap up a gift in wrapping paper, then hide several more sweets and smaller gifts in further layers of wrapping paper. Ensure you have enough layers for the number of children playing.
To play the game, get everyone sitting in a tight circle, then start your music. The kids must pass the parcel around from person to person, until you stop the music. Whoever has the parcel when the music stops can unwrap a layer and claim the prize in that layer (if there is one). Keep going until somebody wins the main prize.Make sure you stop the music at the right time to ensure everyone gets a turn to unwrap a layer.

Traffic Lights You will need three pieces of coloured card for this. Cut out a red circle, a green circle and a yellow circle. Or you can just use white card and colour it in.
Now get some music playing in the background and ask your party kids to start "driving" around the room, making beeping and engine noises. They can pretend to be lorries, buses, car, bikes - whatever they like.
Every few minutes you hold up a coloured card and shout out either
"Stop - the lights are Red!" or"Slow down - the lights are Yellow!" or"Go, go, go - the lights are Green!".If the lights are red, the kids must stand absolutely still. If they are yellow they must slow right down. On green they can run around normally.
At the end you can ask all the "vehicles" to park neatly.

Musical Island You need a small piece of carpet, cloth or card that one person can stand on. Alternatively you can use a hoola-hoop.
This is the "island".
Ask your children to stand in a rough circle and for one of them to be standing on the island. Now start the music, and they walk/dance around in a circle, taking it in turns to stand on the island.When the music stops, whoever is standing on the island must drop out of the game. If nobody is on the island you continue to the next round.
The prize winner is the last person in.
Use the pause button on your CD player or tape machine to stop the music

Brick Tower This is good for your toddler party. Kids from 1 year upwards can play.
Sit in a circle with a selection of building bricks to play with. Each child should be given one brick. You place a single brick in the middle of the circle, then take it in turns around the circle to add a brick to the tower.
If the tower falls down you all applaud and start again, with the next child around the circle.
Mums may need to help out the very young. You can reward everyone at the end with a little prize each.

Musical Statues This simple game is similar to musical chairs - except you need no chairs! Kids always enjoy it. Everyone dances around to your music until you stop the song. They must then freeze completely - in whatever dancing position they were in. Anybody caught moving is out.Start the music again fairly quickly and keep repeating until you have a winner. The non-players can help you spot any statue movements.

Hi, here's a good resource for party games for kids. I used it when I was room mom for both of my boys at school. http://www.partygamecentral.com/pgcstandard/gameliststd.a...
Hope this helps!

D.

i can think of a cpl that might help. theres treasure hunts,horse shoe,ring toss,waterguns,waterballoons,relay races,you can put a balloon on a spoon or in a measuring cup and have two rows and it be a race to see whos team finishes first. apple bobbing,or pass the apple to each other but u have to pass it by necks. hot potato.hope this helps.

Scavenger hunts are always fun if you have enough chaperones for each team! Old/young both love them.