Kid Birthday Party Games

Plan games and activities that start within 15 minutes after the party guests arrive.  If you leave children to their own devices, your party may turn chaotic. Try to plan multi-faceted games and activities, so that if one game does not appeal to Mary, she will find something of interest in the next game. That way, no one gets bored and wanders off. If you planned a game that is not going well, move on.  Don’t force the kids to play just because you planned the activity. If some of your activities are outside activities, be sure you have other games and activities to fall back on if it starts to rain or gets cold. Above all, look at all the games before the party and be sure you have all the pieces and supplies necessary to play the game and that YOU understand the rules well enough to explain them in ‘child speak’.  Make sure every guest feels included.  Don’t have one prize.  Plan prizes so that everyone can go home with a prize, even if they failed miserably at the game. Keep your prizes simple – nothing expensive or fancy.  A sheet of character stickers or a bite sized, mini chocolate bar, is probably enough.  You may wish to skip the prizes altogether.  If you plan to give everyone a favor bag as they leave, prizes are really not necessary, anyway. Even if you don’t want to have a themed party, you will
still want activities and games to keep the kids busy and send them home happy. 

This is the part of the event the children will talk about – they won’t ask for your cake recipe! If you have hired an entertainer for the party, ask them to arrive about thirty minutes after the party start time.  That way even the latecomers will not miss the performance.  Stay away from clowns for children ages 1-3 because they are often afraid of clowns.  Puppet shows are a great alternative to clowns at this age. Schedule the entertainer first and then allow the kids to transition to other planned games and activities. Keep in mind that the activities you plan will have to be age appropriate.  The most difficult party to plan is a 1st birthday party where you are inviting ‘friends’.  In this scenario,you have to entertain a bunch of 12-month-old kids.  Not an easy task!Because the one-year-old scenario is so different, we will give you some ideas specific to first birthday parties and young toddler parties, in a moment.  In the meantime, let’s talk about children ages 4-10.