4 Fun Birthday Party Games

Birthday parties don't have to be big occasions for stressed-out parents and over-stimulated kids. They can be a carefully orchestrated event centered around a theme complete with a single game (or series of games) to keep kids entertained, engaged and having fun. Many birthday party games can be played with few, if any props and prizes can be anything your imagination dreams up. Below are four of multi-age birthday party games that can be adapted for the theme and age group of your party.

1. Party Guest
This game requires no props at all!

One child leaves the room (or area) for a pre-determined amount of time (no more than a minute). While he or she is out of hearing, the remaining guests decide who he or she will be when returning. When the person returns, the guests take turns suggesting things this person might have brought to the party. When the Party Guest guesses who he or she is, the Party Guest will trade places with the child whose clue was guessed. This birthday party game will probably not take a lot of time with younger kids and may be appropriate for a starting or ending game. For younger children it may help to offer some suggestions and help develop a list of items the guest may bring before the Party Guest returns to the room.

A variation on this game would be to have costumes or props that the guests then wear as each new Guest is guessed! This would work especially well with children who have a large dress up wardrobe that could be used in service to the game.

2. Mad Tea Party Croquet
This birthday part game requires a croquet set or a yard bowling/bocce set with garden stakes. You will need to create signs for each "wicket" with instructions such as "Jump", "Sing", "5 Jumping Jacks" or "Eat a cookie".