Kid's Party
Party Ideas • Party Games • Adult
Name That Tune
You'll need a CD player and some compact discs with compilations of songs related to your theme (Luau, 50's, retro) or just some good favorites of an era appropriate for your party guests. Play the first few bars, and see which guest can name that tune the fastest. Keep track of points and award the winner a music CD. If your group is large, play a variation on this game. Using famous songs, list song titles on one side of a page, and the original Artists or songwriters on the other side. Make enough copies for all guests. Challenge guests to match as many as possible.


Baloon Popping Contest
Divide guests into two equal groups. About 25 yards away place two bags of inflated balloons in colors to match your theme colors. These balloons should be over-inflated to make popping easier. At the sound of a ringing bell or whistle, the first two relay contestants, one from each team, run to the bag, and remove one balloon. Each must sit on it until it pops. Once the balloon pops, the players run back to the starting line, and tag the next player in line. The first team to complete the course wins. Not a quiet game, but a guaranteed favorite!

Limbo
The young and the young at heart always enjoy the classic beach game of "limbo". Try using a string of twinkle lights, a strand of sparkly garland, a bamboo pole, a flashlight (lights out), or any item to match your theme for your limbo stick. For a fun variation on the game, make it a little more challenging by adding a "Super Stomach" to guests as they take their turn. Have a couple of oversized shirts, and some fluffy pillows on hand.

Play Dough-Tionary
This game is fun for people of all ages. Someone will have to create the game ideas, but it is fun to watch. What you'll need, a couple of jars of Play Dough, pieces of paper cut up and put into a hat or basket one for each team, and on each piece of paper an object that can be created out of Play Dough. Examples: Easy - ball, worm, stick, More Difficult - flower, car, stroller, house, etc... Note: Each group can have uniqure terms if you want, then no one can get clues from the other teams.

Ready to Play
First divide up into teams. You'll need to have several jars of play dough, and give one to each team of 3-4 people. They will need to pick one person to go first, that person would draw a word from a basket. They will have about 15 seconds to think about what to make, to at the same time say go, at this point one member of each team begins to sculpt the word out of the play dough, while their team members tried to guess what it is. Note: You cannot scuplt letters! The first team to guess correctly gets a point, the team with the most points after 8-12 rounds wins.

Hula Hoopla
Hula hooping isn't just for kids or 50's Sock Hops, but it will make grown-ups feel young again! Purchase or borrow a couple of hula-hoops. They are available at discount chains for about $3.99 each. Let guests know that at a specified time there will be a "hula" contest, and encourage them to practice during the party if the mood strikes.

Name Game
Provide each guest with 5 small pieces of paper, and a pencil. Ask them to write down the names of 5 famous people, leaders, movie stars, authors, sports figures, politicians, artists, inventors, scientists, etc. Fold the papers, and put them into a hat. Seat guests in a large circle. Each round is limited to 30 seconds, so have a watch with a second hand available. The first player pulls out a name, and tries to get the person beside them to guess the name. After the name is guessed, the clue giver can continue pulling names out of the hat for the full 30 seconds. Here are the rules: They can talk, but can't point to items. They can't spell out the name, but can say the letter the name starts with. They can reference just about anything, but the person's name. As an example, if the name is "Sammy Sosa", the clue giver might say "The guy who had almost as many homeruns as Mark McGuire in the 1998 baseball season." "He plays for the Chicago Cubs", etc. Both the clue "giver" and the clue "guesser" get points for as many names as they guess in the 30-second time frame. Have each participant track his/her own points. The turn then passes to the guesser, who now becomes the clue giver, and his/her neighbor becomes the new guesser. This game is a blast to play, and really is not as difficult as these instructions would make it seem! Give it a try!

Name Game - Another Version:
You'll need a piece of paper and pen for everyone. Then instruct each person write out as many names as they can of famous people living or dead, cartoon characters, sports heroes, leaders of countries etc. Fold them and put them in a hat or bowl. Divide your group in half. Have one person from a group start by asking their group to guess who it is by giving as much information as they can, even the first letter, if they don't know they person try rhyming the name. They get one minute to see how many they can guess. Then its the other persons turn. Keep track of how many each group get correct after everyone is done the team with the most right answers wins.

Couples Game: Like The Newlywed Game
Who's Your Mate? - Have one person from each couple leave the room. The host/hostess tailors some planned questions to the group and to certain couples. The other half of each couple stays in the room, and answers questions about their mate/date. They're supposed to answer each question the way they think their mate/date would respond. They need to write each answer down, so that when their partner returns he/she can give their own answer to each question. Assign point values for each question that is a match. Then reverse roles of the couples for the next set of questions. The couple with the most points wins a prize. Make sure the prize is something they can share!

Who's the Murderer: Good for teens, groups of 5-8 people
All except the detective sit in a circle while the detective waits outside. One person from the circle is elected to be the murderer, and then the Detective is called back to stand in the circle. When he is ready, the Murderer winks at people in the circle. Anyone who sees that they have been winked at lets out a blood-curdling scream and dies. The Detective has three attempts to guess the murderer.

Pass The Orange, Ball, etc...
Arrange for teams of about 8 to stand in a line, one behind the other (arranged boy, girl, boy,...). Give each team an orange which the first person should tuck under his chin. This should be passed to the person behind. When the orange gets to the last person, they come to the front of the line and start again. The winnnig team is the first one which gets their starting person to the front again.

Who am I?
A Good game to get people talking together at the start of the party As they arrive each person has a piece of paper pinned to their back. The paper contains the name of a famous person. By asking questions which can only be answered with "Yes" or "No" such as "Am I still alive?", "Am I fictional?", etc. the person has to guess their name. Successful guessers may have another go.

Bubble Gum Game - Good For Families
This game can be played as a relay race or be based on individual times. Split your guests into teams of 3-5 people. Get some paper plates, bubble gum, and whipped cream (in a can). Put a piece of bubble gum on the plate and swirl the whipped cream over it until the bubble gum is completely covered. Then have your guests dig through the whipped cream and find the bubble gum. Here's the catch, players must keep their hands behind their backs and dig through the whipped cream with their faces! Once they find it, they must chew it and blow a fairly good sized bubble. Go through until every one has had a turn. The person who blows the bubble first is the winner. You can also do several rounds until you have one winner. *Depending on what your guests wear, you may want to have a towel or garbage bag to use as a bib.

Two Truths - One Lie - Get To Know You Game
This is a great game for people who are trying to get to know each other. Everyone sits in a circle and takes turns telling 3 things about themself, one of them is a lie.

Example:
I have been to Florida 8 times.
I have a green bike.
My dog once ate my homework.

Then everyone else guesses/votes on which is the lie. It's really funny to see what people come up with for their lie and you learn a lot of funny truths too.