Have you ever hosted a birthday party and the planned games run through more quickly than you expected and the children turn to you and excitedly say “What’s next?”. It has happened to me a couple of times and I’ve been left scratching for some more games that I can organise quickly to keep the children entertained for longer.
Here are 5 games that need no preparation and are great to have on hand for when you need them. Having these ideas as a back up will make you feel more prepared and relaxed for a great party.
1. Pirate’s Life
This game is suitable for any party, not just pirate themed parties. The first time I played this was at my daughter’s 13th birthday party and the girls loved it. If you do have time to prepare, the commands and actions could be adjusted for any theme.
One player is Pirate Captain who calls out commands from the list.
The Pirates (all the other players) have to do the action of the command. The last person to do the action is out. The last remaining player is the winner.
Commands:
Shark attack – Hands together on top of head like a shark fin and swim around
Row your boat – Move arms in a rowing motion
Captain on deck – Stand to attention and salute
Climb the rigging – Use arms and legs to pretend to climb
Walk the plank – Lie on the ground in plank position
Treasure! – Two players form an X on the ground
Arrrrg Matey – Pretend to sword fight with another player
Peg Leg Charlie – Hop on one foot
Mermaid – Lie on the floor and pretend to flip your legs like a mermaid tail
2. Who Am I?
Wearing the name of a real or fictitious celebrity or character on their forehead, players have to guess who they are by asking questions that get a yes or no answer. This is best for age groups who can read and write. For younger kids, you could use pictures of characters.
Ask each of the players to write the name of 2-3 well known celebrities or characters on a sticky note without showing anyone else and put them in a bowl. (You can do this stage in advance if you want to).
Select a sticky note from the bowl and attach to the forehead of each player ensuring they don’t see the name they have been given.
Sitting in a circle, players take turns to ask questions to work out who they are. The questions can only have a YES or NO answer. For example, Am I alive? Am I male? Am I a book character? Players have up to 20 questions to guess who they are.
The game continues until children have guess who they are or they use up their 20 questions.
3. Limbo
Using the limbo song (or any popular song) and a broomstick or rope, the kids will enjoy seeing how low they can limbo backwards.
Two people hold a broomstick or rope at a height that is easy enough for everyone to limbo under. One by one, children go under the limbo stick without touching the stick and without putting their hands on the floor. Children are eliminated if they touch the stick or floor.
After everyone has one turn, the stick is lowered.
Repeat until one person is remaining.
4. Paper Scissors Rock Tag
This game needs a bit of space as there is chasing and tagging involved. It combines 2 games – paper, scissors, rock and tag – with 2 teams competing to win players from the other team.
Divide players into 2 teams. Each team has a safe zone and there is a centre line marked between them.
Teams gather and decide on their sign – paper, scissors or rock
Both teams meet at the centre line facing each other. The announcer calls ‘Paper, Scissors, rock…Go’ and together, on the word Go, each team performs their sign.
The winning team then chases the losing team, trying to tag them before they make it back to their safe zone. Anyone who is tagged must join the winning team.
Repeat until one team is empty (or when everyone has had enough).
5. Duck, Duck, Goose
A favourite game with young kids but older kids enjoy it equally as much.
Children sit in a circle. One child who is ‘in’ walks around the outside of the circle in a clockwise direction tapping each child on the head and saying ‘duck’ to each child until they say ‘goose’ to one (any) child.
The ‘goose’ jumps up and chases the child around the edge of the circle trying to tag them before they sit down in the spot where the ‘goose’ had been sitting.
If the goose doesn’t tag the child that was in, they are then in and the game starts again.
I hope you have a great party!
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