Party Activities – How to

Kid’s Party Games

This is the Most important factor for a successful kid’s party!

Kid’s don’t really care about the decor and are often too excited to eat anything (other than the cake!)

What kid’s want to do is play!

They especially love Pinatas and Treasure Hunts!

The Party Activities have to be fun… (make sure you have a long list planned in case some do not “fly”).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are an infinite number of Party Games and Activities that can be played and that can be altered to fit the theme:

  • “Duck, Duck, Goose” could be named anything … like “Bug, Bug, Spider” ( bug party),and the kids love to run around in circles!
  • Bingo is always a great crowd pleaser, have as many themed pictures as empty spaces on the card (leave the center space as a “free” one).  Make one set of pictures for each card but stick the pictures down in a different order on each card – one picture per square. They come together pretty quickly. Please use our handy BINGO template
  • Relay Races – Can suit any theme and give the children a chance to burn off a little of their energy. It’s nice to pace the party so that you use high energy activities to kick the party “into high gear”, and then quieter/slower activites to calm the kids down.
  • Guess how many _____________? in the Jar. This will work with any theme and is exciting for the children to try and guess.
  • Dumb luck games – turn over the card/pull the stick/choose the beanie baby ……. and see if you found the ….. big fish/pot of gold/magic potion etc…
  • Throw the __________ in the ___________ (kids love shooting at targets – a ball in a bucket for an example).
  • Quiz/Educational games – This will teach them a few things and can help them to cool down if the kids are getting a little too rambunctious
  • Search games – always the hit of the party!
  • Obstacle Courses
  • Pin the __________ on the ____________ 

 

Game Stations

Have “stations” set up (number depending on the number of children.) Have some of the moms man the party activities at the different stations. This way more of the kids are engaged at the same time. (If the children have to wait they will become bored and disruptive… you want to maximize the fun and minimize the boredom!)

Game Station Change Alert 

A “royal kazoo” , a “cowboy bell” a “fire truck siren”, etc are used to signal the children to change stations. This way, most of the children will be engaged in an activity at any given time and won’t start fussing/hitting/biting/fighting (yikes!).

Set up Game stations with Old-fashioned games and make them fit the theme by how you refer to them.

For example…. “Pitching Pennies” (everyone tosses their penny at a wall and the penny that lands closest to the wall is the winner and takes the other pennies).

The pennies could be

  • “Royal coins” (princess party)
  • Spanish doubloons (pirate party) or…
  • Copper atoms (science party).

 

Old Fashioned Games Rock!

Often the best Party Activities are the “Old School”Games

Such as:

  • Marbles
  • Jacks
  • Pitching Cards
  • Tiddlywinks,
  • Crokinole
  • Croquet
  • Darts
  • Bowling
  • Horseshoes
  • Bowling

 

 

Game Rewards

There are 2 schools of thought here, whether young children should “win” prizes, or that “everyone should be a winner”. One way to do it is by having the children actually “win” … not prizes but … tokens/coins/points which are redeemed at the end for prizes.

If a child is very unlucky, you can stack the odds in their favour so that they win a few points. At the end of the party , children cashing in their points will receive roughly comparable prizes for their redeemed points as a way of “evening out the playing field”.

Additional Tips

Have a few of the moms (the most helpful) stay and assist. Be sure to give them a heads up beforehand so they know that you need them to stay.

If you have all the moms/dads stay then you are fighting a “war on 2 fronts”, trying to entertain both kids and parents (very difficult), although some families do it that way with the kids having a big play date. (This can be chaotic though with younger children or a lot of children).

Sometimes it can be fun to set up a “LIVE TV FEED” (a video camera firmly mounted on a tripod and out of the way but within view of all the activity).

The kids can have fun watching themselves (before and after the party).

Although this sometimes can become a distraction with the children becoming self-conscious and sitting glued to the screen (and the less screen time the better!) It can be hilarious “interviewing the party goers” with some silly questions!