Ideas for party games, party activities and party entertainment.

Need inspiration for party games?  If you've had enough of pass-the-parcel, musical statues and musical bumps, maybe the ideas below will inspire you to keep your young guests entertained.

Party Game Ideas

Ideas for Party Entertainment

Bunnies in the Burrow - each child curls up on the floor and closes their eyes.  One of the children has a light sheet r blanket placed over them so they are completely covered.  Very quietly the other children are tapped on the shoulder - they all get up and try to guess which party guest is hiding under the blanket.

Corners - an excellent game to play in a hall.  You need 4 brightly coloured pictures (animals/food/characters...or pictures that tie in with your party theme).  Stick one picture on each wall.  The host turns their back to the children and starts to play music.  The childre dance around the room.  When the host stops the music, each child runs to on eof the pictures.  Still not lookin, the host shouts out one of the pictures - all the children standing next to that picture are "out".   The game ends when there is one child left. 

Treasure Hunt.   There are various ways of holding a treasure hunt depending on the age of the children.  they are ideal entertainment for parties held at home.  Here are a few of our favourites.

Variation 1 (for very  young children) - place lots of card shapes (eg teddy bears, butterflies, flowers etc) or wrapped sweets around the house and garden.  Each child has a container and has to collect as many as they can.

Variation 2 - place lots of different coloured balls around the house and garden.  Each child has a container and a "colour".  They must collect as many of  "their" colour as possible.  This can be applied to any theme, so that if you are having, say, an animal themed party, each child is given a different animal to look for.  

Variation 3 - this is my favourite, and I always play this at the end of parties - the party bags are the treasure.  It takes a little preparation but is well worth it.  Draw and colour picture clues and place them around the house and garden.  For example, the first clue may be a picture of a garden shed - the children race to the shed, where they find a picture of a television - they run to the tv where they find a picture of a tree....etc etc.  It's helpful to have lots of pictures because kids love this game, and it can go really quickly.  I always use their party bags as the treasure, so it's a clear indication that it's just about time to go home!

Memory Game - this is great for small groups of  children.  Place a few items on a tray (eg, ball, fork, comb, pencil etc) and let all the children have a good look and try and memorise what is on it.  They then all shut their eyes while you remove an object.  On opening their eyes, the children have to guess which object is missing.

Poison Apple - a sure winner for primary aged children.  Make some apple shapes out of card and colour them in different colours.   One child closes his eyes while the others quietly point out one of the apples.  This becomes the "poison apple".  When the child opens his eyes he has to try and guess which apple is poisonous by pointing at them one by one.  When he points at the poison apple, the other children make a big fuss of being poisoned and falling to the floor (the more drama, the better).  Each child takes his turn, and the child who picks out the poison apple in the least number of guesses is the winner.

Traffic Lights - an old favourite, this one.  All the children pretend they are driving cars around an imaginary town.  The host shouts out "red" and the children stop - at "amber" they move slowly, at "green" they go fast! No point or winners to this game - they just like following the instrustrions!

Animal Charades - put lots of pictures of animals in a bag, and let the children remove one.  Whatever animal is on the card, they have to do an impression of it for the others to guess.  

Party Entertainment

If the thought of organising and refereeing all these games brings you out in a cold sweat, if might be an idea to consider some alternative entertainment, such as the ideas listed below:

Bouncy Castle

Bubble Machine and music

Children's Entertainer (e.g. magician, clown)

Disco

Karaoke Machine

Face Painting

Ball Games

Treasure Hunt

Craft Activities - can be either very simple such as colouring sheets, or let the children make their own masks, crowns or tiaras.

Decorate cookies or fairy cakes with coloured icing and sprinkles.  

They could also decorate their own party bags or boxes.  This is not only creative fun, but is cost effective too - as the party activity also doubles up as their party bag!