Party Game Ideas

Anyone who has ever hosted a children’s party knows how important it is to keep the entertainment going!
The party game ideas below will help keep the kids amused whether the party is at home or in a hall. Many of the games can also be adapted to incorporate the theme of your party.

 

Pass The Parcel

Pass the parcel is always popular with kids of all ages. After all, who doesn’t like presents?
Make sure each layer has a treat and keep track of who has had a turn so no one is disappointed. 

 

Musical Statues

A great game for burning off excess energy. The kids can show off their best dance moves while wearing themselves out! To prevent any upset or bored children, instead of being out when the music stops, give out stickers for the best poses. When the game is finished the child with the most stickers wins a prize. 

 

Sleeping Lions

A great game to play after the party food or when it’s time to calm down! Everybody lies down and stays as still as they can while an adult walks around looking to see if anyone moves. If you see them move, they are out and leave the ‘sleeping’ area. The winner is the last one still lying down.

 

Chocolate Game

What you need – hat, scarf, gloves, dice, large bar of chocolate (such as Dairy Milk) on a plate, knife and fork.

Everyone sits in a circle and takes it in turns to roll the dice. As soon as someone rolls a ‘6’, they become a ‘chocolate eater’ and have to put on the hat, scarf and gloves, pick up the knife and fork, and attempt to cut a piece of chocolate off (which they can eat!)
Meanwhile, everyone in the circle continues to take turns rolling the dice. If someone else rolls a ‘6’ they take the hat, etc off the existing chocolate eater, put it all on and then attempt to cut a piece of chocolate with the knife and fork. The original person in the middle returns to their seat.
Be warned – this can become a fast paced game as children realise that the quicker they take their turn, the less time the person in the middle has to get the chocolate! The game continues until all the chocolate has gone. (For larger groups, you may want to have 2 dice circulating at the same time)

 

Pin the Tail on the Donkey

This can be themed for any party (eg stick the nose on the clown, stick the hat on the pirate, etc). You need a large picture of the donkey / clown / pirate and a cut out tail / nose / hat. Children take turns to be blindfolded and attempt to stick the item in the right place. The person who gets closest wins.

 

Balloon Relay

Divide children into teams and ask them to stand in a line with a small gap between each one. Give the person at the front of the line the balloon and they have to pass it along the line in without using their hands. They might want to try and pass between knees, under chins, etc. Another variation is ‘under, over’ where the balloon is passed backwards and players take turns to pass it over heads and between legs.

 

Greetings, O Great One

Children sit in a circle and one is chosen to be blindfolded. The blindfolded player stands in the middle and is turned around 3 times. They then point to one of the children in the circle. That child goes to the blindfolded player, shakes their hand and says ‘Greetings O great one” in a disguised voice. The blindfolded player has to guess who it was. If they guess correctly, they swap places with the child who greeted them. If they guess incorrectly, they have another go.

 

Flour game

In advance, create a ‘flour cake’: put flour into a round bowl and hide a sweet somewhere in the middle. Press down the flour to really compress it into shape. When you are ready, put a plate on top of the bowl, turn it upside down and tap the bowl gently to release the cake – if you have compressed it enough it will remain in shape. Children take turns to slice a small piece of the cake. Whoever slices it and discovers the sweet loses – they have to pick up the sweet from the flour with their mouth!

 

Musical chairs

This game needs enough chairs for each guest – and enough space to put the chairs out! Everyone starts sitting on a chair. Play music and remove one chair. When the music stops, each child sits on a chair – the child who doesn’t have a chair is out. Keep playing until there is only one chair left. (To make a shorter game, remove 2 or 3 chairs at a time) The winner is the person who sits on the last chair.

 

Smarties Swap

Each child has a straw, an empty paper plate and a paper plate with 10 smarties on. On the start signal, they have to use the straw to move all smarties from one plate to the other without using their hands. They do this by putting the straw on top of a smarty and sucking the straw which lifts the smarty up. The winner is the first to move all of their smarties from one plate to the other.

Scroll to Top