Birthday Party Games That Win Every Time

Pass the Parcel! We'd never heard of this one until we saw the Bluey episode about Lucky's Dad's Rules (best. episode. ever.), and now my kids want to play it ALL the time. Similar to Hot Potato, kids pass around a wrapped gift while music is playing. When the music stops, whoever is holding the gift gets to unwrap it. According to the Bluey episode, the original way to play is to wrap a single gift in various layers of wrapping paper, so you go through several rounds before a child actually opens the gift, which they get to keep. Another version of the game includes small prizes within each layer of paper, and strategically stopping the music to make sure every child gets a prize.

Hot potato. We just had a birthday party for a five-year-old, and ended up playing hot potato along with pass the parcel. Though I’ve loved pass the parcel since we discovered it on Bluey, think the kids enjoyed hot potato even more, as they were able to toss the “potato” (we used a small plushy) to each other out of order, which made the game more active and the kids more engaged. When the music stopped, whoever was holding the plushy got out, and the last person in got the prize. This kept the kids from slow passing, too, since the goal was NOT to get caught with the plushy!

Obstacle course. This is one of the best birthday party games for an outdoor party! Get creative using pool noodles, cones, hula hoops, and existing playground or other outdoor equipment for obstacle challenges. My kids love to time themselves to keep trying to improve their time getting through the obstacle course.

Nerf war! My son's friends have done birthday party games where each kid brings their own Nerf blasters and ammo and they all go to town in the yard. My advice is to label your kid's gear so it's easier to identify during cleanup. We've lost a lot of Nerf bullets this way, but the kids do love it!

A Minute to Win It party was a huge hit with my son and his friends in elementary school. We just got the supplies for a handful of different Minute to Win It games, and the kids had a lot of silly fun with it. Inexpensive, too!

Water balloon toss. It's an especially great party game for warmer weather!

A treasure hunt was always my favorite birthday party game when I was a tween and started having at-home parties with a smaller number of friends. Write out a series of clues leading the group to seek out various locations in and around the house, and have a treasure prize (or party favors) to discover at the end. If you've got a bigger group, you can split the kids into teams with two different sets of clues and have them race to the treasure.

My tween went to a Survivor-themed birthday party and had a blast. The kids were divided into teams and had to compete in a variety of party games, like a trivia challenge and being the first to put on a frozen t-shirt. They got to take home their team color bandana and a tiki cup as party favors.

Hula hoop contest. The hula hoops make fun party favors for the kids to take home, too!

Spoon races. Try different variations for a quick and easy party game idea, like using water balloons, ping pong balls or hard-boiled eggs.

Freeze dance is an especially good active party game for kindergartners and younger kids.

Charades.