**Collaborative post**
There’s nothing like a great party game to get things cooking at a kids’ birthday party. From traditional favourites to something a little more modern, these three party games – Scavenger Hunt, the Snake Game and the Chocolate Game – will make throwing the perfect birthday celebration a piece of cake.
The whole planning for kids parties is the part I love the most, from planning the theme, scrapbook design ideas and making the invitations myself – I just love party planning, just not the clean up after the party!
Scavenger Hunt
Parents will need to provide wrapped lollies or small treasures to hide, and a keen eye for hiding places.
How this party game works:
- Before the birthday party kicks off, or while the little guests are pre-occupied with other party games, hide wrapped lollies or small treasures around the house or garden.
- Gather guests and let them know the area in which the treasures are hidden, e.g.in the garden, all around the hall or all of downstairs (also let them know any areas which are out of bounds too – this is especially helpful if you are hosting the party at home, you won’t want the bedrooms ransacked).
- Watch the of children delight in using their imagination to search under, in, behind and on top of objects in the defined boundaries.
Snake Game
Parents will need to supply one edible ‘snake’ per child (this could be a long jelly sweet, a flump or even some liquorice, a long piece of string, spare string to be cut to size, and scissors.
How this party game works:
- Tie a long piece of string above the height of the children’s heads between two poles, hooks, or other points across the room or garden.
- Line children up beneath the string.
- For each child, cut a piece of string that is long enough to run from the piece of string above them to about even with their mouth (this can not be done in advance as the children will differ in height).
- Tie one end of each child’s piece of string to the long string above.
- Tie the sweetie snake to the dangling end of each child’s string.
- Instruct children to keep their hands behind their back and that on “Go” to start eating their snake – whoever finishes their snake first – without using hands – wins.
Variation: This game can be made a bit trickier by playing with doughnuts instead of snakes.
Chocolate Game
Parents will need to provide a family-size block of chocolate, a knife and fork, a playing dice, a wooden cutting board or plastic plate, some dress-up items such as a hat, sunglasses and gloves.
How this party game works:
- Sit children in a circle and place the chocolate, cutting board, utensils and dress-up items in the middle.
- Children take turns to roll the dice.
- When a player rolls a six he or she must step into the middle, put on all dress-up items and use the knife and fork to cut away and eat one piece of chocolate at a time,
- Dice rolling continues around the circle until another pair of sixes is rolled, at which point the child in the middle must put down utensils, remove dress-ups and return to the circle.
- The game continues like this until all of the chocolate is eaten.
Variation: To make this game faster paced, allow a player who rolls a six or a three to take their place in the middle; or add a second dice.
Kid’s parties can be rather expensive by the time you’ve factored in an entertainer, food and drink and possibly venue hire but you can keep down the costs by doing the entertainment yourself – I’m sure everyone has a favourite party game which they could help you organise – after all, many hands do make light work.
You may also like:
- Harry’s Pirate themed birthday party
- Planning your child’s birthday party – a checklist
- Kids Halloween Party Ideas
- Milestone birthdays to celebrate
