30 birthday party games

Pass the parcel

Players

5 to 20

Minutes

10 to 15

Ages

3 to 8

You need

A prize wrapped in as many layers of paper as there are children, a sticker or small treat between the layers, and music

1. Sit the children in a circle.
2. Play music while they pass the parcel around.
3. When the music stops, the child holding it tears off one layer and keeps what is inside.
4. The adult running the music makes sure every child gets a turn to unwrap.
5. Whoever tears off the last layer wins the prize in the middle.

Musical chairs

Players

6 to 16

Minutes

10 to 15

Ages

4 and up

You need

One chair fewer than the number of players, set in a row back to back, and music

1. Players walk around the chairs while the music plays.
2. When it stops, everyone sits on the nearest free chair.
3. The player left standing is out and helps run the music.
4. Take away one chair each round until one chair and one winner remain.
5. For children under 5, nobody goes out: take chairs away but let players share them.

Musical statues

Players

4 to 30

Minutes

10

Ages

3 to 10

You need

Music and space to dance

1. Everyone dances while the music plays.
2. When the music stops, everyone freezes like a statue.
3. Anyone who wobbles or giggles sits down and becomes a judge.
4. Stop the music at different moments so nobody can predict it.
5. The last dancer standing wins.

Pin the tail on the donkey

Players

3 to 20

Minutes

10 to 15

Ages

3 to 8

You need

A large drawing of a donkey without a tail, or the party's theme animal, a paper tail with each child's name, tape and a blindfold

1. Tape the drawing to a wall at the children's height and put tape on the back of each tail.
2. Blindfold the first child, or let them shut their eyes, and turn them around gently once.
3. Point them toward the wall so they can walk up and stick the tail on.
4. Take off the blindfold so they can see where it landed.
5. The tail closest to the right spot wins.

Treasure hunt with clues

Players

3 to 15

Minutes

15 to 25

Ages

5 to 12

You need

8 to 12 clue cards, hiding places the children can reach, and a treasure such as the party bags

1. Write the clues so each one leads to the next hiding place, with the treasure at the last.
2. Walk the route yourself and hide the clues in reverse order.
3. Give the children the first clue; use picture clues for those who cannot read yet.
4. Let a different child read each clue, so everyone has a job.
5. At the last place, the children find the treasure and share it.

Without a printer: Write the clues by hand on index cards.

Open the material: Scavenger hunt riddles and hiding clues

Piñata

Players

4 to 15

Minutes

15

Ages

4 and up

You need

A piñata filled with candy or small toys, a rope to hang it, a light stick and a blindfold, or a pull-string piñata for young children

1. Hang the piñata from a branch or beam, with an adult holding the free end of the rope.
2. Mark a wide circle that waiting children stay outside.
3. Youngest first, each child is blindfolded, turned around gently and given three swings.
4. The adult raises and lowers the piñata to keep it fair.
5. When it breaks, everyone collects a fair share of the treats.

Hot potato

Players

5 to 20

Minutes

10

Ages

4 and up

You need

A soft ball or beanbag, and music

1. Sit in a circle and pass the ball quickly, as if it were too hot to hold.
2. Stop the music at random.
3. Whoever holds the ball when it stops is out, or does a silly task such as hopping on one foot and stays in.
4. Keep going until one player remains or the songs run out.

Duck, duck, goose

Players

6 to 20

Minutes

10

Ages

3 to 7

You need

Space for a circle

1. Children sit in a circle facing in.
2. One child walks around the outside, tapping each head and saying duck.
3. When the walker says goose instead, that child jumps up and chases the walker around the circle.
4. If the walker reaches the goose's empty place first, the goose becomes the next walker.
5. If the goose tags the walker first, the walker goes around again.

What's the time, Mr. Wolf?

Players

4 to 20

Minutes

10 to 15

Ages

4 to 8

You need

Open space with a start line and a wall or fence for the wolf

1. One child is the wolf and stands at the far end with their back to the others.
2. The others call out: What's the time, Mr. Wolf?
3. The wolf answers with a time, such as 3 o'clock, and the others take that many steps forward.
4. When the wolf answers dinner time, the wolf turns and chases them back to the start line.
5. Whoever is caught becomes the next wolf.

Balloon relay

Players

2 teams of 4 or more

Minutes

10

Ages

5 and up

You need

Two balloons and a marker for each team's turning point

1. Teams line up in pairs, and the first pair holds a balloon between their backs with no hands.
2. They walk to the turning point and back; if the balloon drops, they stop and put it back.
3. The next pair takes the balloon and goes.
4. The first team whose pairs have all finished wins.
5. Pick up any burst balloon pieces at once, because they are a choking risk for small children.

Sleeping lions

Players

4 to 30

Minutes

5 to 10

Ages

3 to 8

You need

Floor space for everyone to lie down

1. Everyone lies still on the floor as a sleeping lion.
2. One or two hunters walk around trying to make the lions move with jokes and funny faces, without touching.
3. A lion who moves or laughs gets up and becomes a hunter.
4. The last lion lying still wins.
5. Play it near the end of the party to calm the room before going home.

Bubble chase

Players

Any number

Minutes

5 to 10

Ages

1 to 4

You need

Bubble mix and a wand, or a bubble machine, and a soft, clear area

1. An adult blows bubbles over the clear area, away from faces.
2. The toddlers chase and pop them with hands, feet or a clap.
3. For children who can follow, call a body part: pop one with your elbow.
4. Wipe up slippery patches on hard floors.

Parachute play

Players

4 to 15

Minutes

10

Ages

1 to 5

You need

A play parachute or a large bed sheet, and a few soft balls

1. Adults and children hold the edge all the way around.
2. Lift it high and bring it down slowly while counting to three.
3. Drop the soft balls in the middle and shake the sheet to make them bounce.
4. Lift it high again and let one child at a time run underneath before it floats down.

Predictions for the birthday baby

Players

Any number of adult guests

Minutes

Runs through the party

Ages

Adults

You need

A card per guest, pens, and an envelope

1. Leave cards and pens by the door with a few prompts: first word, favorite food at five, future job, height at 18.
2. Guests fill in their guesses and sign the card.
3. Seal the cards in an envelope marked with today's date.
4. Open them on a later birthday and see whose guesses came closest.

Sardines

Players

5 to 15

Minutes

15 to 30

Ages

6 and up

You need

A house or yard with agreed hiding areas

1. Agree which rooms or parts of the yard are in play, and close off the rest.
2. One player hides while everyone else counts to 60.
3. Players search on their own; whoever finds the hider quietly squeezes into the hiding place too.
4. The group in the hiding place grows until one seeker is left.
5. The first player who found the hider hides next.

Wink detective

Players

6 to 20

Minutes

15 to 20

Ages

7 and up

You need

Folded slips of paper: one marked W for the winker, one marked D for the detective, the rest blank

1. Everyone draws a slip in secret; the detective shows theirs and stands in the middle.
2. The others sit in a circle and look around at each other.
3. The winker freezes players by winking at them; a winked player waits a few seconds, then freezes in a funny pose.
4. The detective has three guesses to name the winker.
5. The round ends when the winker is named or the guesses run out; draw new slips for the next one.

Birthday one-minute challenges

Players

2 to 20

Minutes

20 to 30 for several challenges

Ages

6 and up

You need

Balloons, cotton balls, spoons, paper plates, ping pong balls, plastic cups and a timer, depending on the challenges you pick

1. Choose four or five challenges and set up a station for each.
2. Examples: keep three balloons in the air, move 15 cotton balls onto a plate with a spoon held in the teeth, bounce a ping pong ball into a cup.
3. Players or teams take turns while the others count down the last 10 seconds.
4. Score a point for each challenge completed within the minute.
5. Give the birthday child the first go.

Open the material: One-minute party games

Charades for kids

Players

4 to 20, in two teams

Minutes

15 to 25

Ages

5 and up

You need

Prompts children know, such as animals, sports and everyday actions, and a one-minute timer

1. Split into two teams.
2. A player picks a prompt and acts it without words or sounds.
3. Their team has one minute to guess.
4. An adult whispers the prompt to children who cannot read yet.
5. Swap teams after each turn and count the right guesses.

Without a printer: Whisper each prompt to the actor, or show it on a phone.

Open the material: Charades for kids

Spoons

Players

4 to 10

Minutes

15 to 30

Ages

10 and up

You need

A deck of cards and one spoon fewer than the number of players

1. Put the spoons in the middle and deal four cards to each player.
2. The dealer takes a card from the deck and passes one card to the left; everyone keeps passing one card to the left as fast as they like, always holding four.
3. A player who collects four of a kind quietly takes a spoon.
4. As soon as anyone takes a spoon, the others grab one too.
5. The player left without a spoon gets a letter, and after spelling SPOON they are out.

Sticky note who am I?

Players

3 to 12

Minutes

15 to 20

Ages

10 and up

You need

Sticky notes and pens

1. Each player secretly writes the name of a famous person or character on a sticky note.
2. Stick the note on the forehead of the player to your left, so they cannot see it.
3. Players take turns asking one yes-or-no question about their own name, such as: Am I a real person?
4. A yes earns another question; a no passes the turn.
5. Players who guess their name keep answering for the others, and the last to guess picks the next theme.

Two truths and a lie

Players

4 to 15

Minutes

15 to 20

Ages

10 and up

You need

Nothing, or the prompt list for players who need ideas

1. Each player thinks of two true things about themselves and one believable invented one.
2. On their turn, they say all three in any order.
3. The others vote on which one is the lie.
4. The player reveals the answer, and everyone who guessed right gets a point.
5. Nothing needs to be private: hobbies, places and skills work well, and anyone can pass.

Open the material: Two truths and a lie ideas

Truth or dare with a pass

Players

4 to 12

Minutes

15 to 30

Ages

10 and up

You need

The question and challenge list

1. Sit in a circle and take turns clockwise.
2. Each player chooses truth or dare.
3. Read them a question or a harmless challenge from the list.
4. Any player may pass without saying why, and nobody films or posts a turn.
5. Keep dares inside the room and swap any that a player cannot comfortably do.

Open the material: Truth or dare questions for groups

How well do you know the birthday person?

Players

6 to 50

Minutes

15 to 20

Ages

Teens and adults

You need

15 questions the birthday person has answered in advance, an answer sheet per guest or team, and pens

1. Before the party, the birthday person writes 15 questions about themselves, with answers they are happy to share: first job, favorite film, dream trip.
2. Guests or teams write their answers on a numbered sheet.
3. The birthday person reads out the real answers, with the story behind any they like.
4. Guests mark their own sheets.
5. The highest score wins; break a tie with a number question, such as how many countries the birthday person has visited.

Without a printer: Guests number a sheet of paper from 1 to 15.

Open the material: Printable trivia answer sheets

The year you were born quiz

Players

6 to 50, in teams

Minutes

20 to 30

Ages

Adults

You need

Questions about events from the birthday person's birth year or decade, answer sheets and pens

1. Pick 10 to 20 questions about news, films, music and inventions from the decade the birthday person was born.
2. Read them to the teams, who write their answers.
3. The birthday person answers too, as a team of one.
4. Reveal the answers and add up the scores.
5. The birthday person wins any tie.

Without a printer: Read the questions from a phone; teams write on any paper.

Open the material: Decades trivia questions from the 50s to the 2010s

Photo timeline guess

Players

Any number

Minutes

15 to 20

Ages

Teens and adults

You need

10 to 15 numbered photos of the birthday person at different ages, paper and pens

1. Collect photos the birthday person is happy to show and number them.
2. Pin them up or show them on a screen in a mixed order.
3. Guests write down how old the birthday person was in each photo.
4. Reveal the ages; a guess within one year scores a point.
5. The birthday person can tell the story behind a few of the photos.

Memory and wish guessing

Players

8 to 50

Minutes

15 to 20

Ages

Teens and adults

You need

Cards, pens and a bowl

1. Each guest writes a favorite memory with the birthday person, or a wish for their year ahead, without signing it.
2. Fold the cards into the bowl.
3. The birthday person reads each card aloud and guesses who wrote it.
4. The writer may own up or stay anonymous.
5. The birthday person keeps the cards afterward.

Charades for adults

Players

6 to 30, in two teams

Minutes

20 to 40

Ages

Adults

You need

Prompts on slips of paper and a one-minute timer

1. Split into two teams, and mix a few prompts about the birthday person into the pile: their job, a hobby, a famous trip.
2. Agree the signals first: number of words, which word, and sounds like.
3. An actor has one minute to get their team to guess, without speaking.
4. Score a point for each right guess.
5. Teams alternate until everyone has acted.

Without a printer: Actors read each prompt privately from a phone.

Open the material: Charades for adults

Birthday bingo

Players

3 to 30

Minutes

15 to 25

Ages

5 and up

You need

A different card per player, the call list and counters

1. Make one card per guest and the call list, and print them.
2. Let the birthday child be the caller.
3. Players cover each called item with a counter.
4. The first to complete a line shouts bingo, and the caller checks it.
5. Play a few rounds so more guests can win a small prize.

Without a printer: The caller reads the whole list first, and each guest draws a 3 by 3 grid and writes in nine words from it.

Open the material: Birthday party bingo cards

Birthday quiz board

Players

2 to 5 teams

Minutes

25 to 40

Ages

8 and up

You need

A TV, laptop or projector

1. Show the board on a screen and name the teams.
2. The birthday child's team picks the first category and point value.
3. The team answers after a short huddle.
4. Reveal the answer and record the points on the board.
5. The team with the most points when the board is empty wins.

Birthday word search

Players

1 to 20

Minutes

10

Ages

7 and up

You need

A copy of the puzzle and a pencil per player

1. Hand out the puzzle as a calm table game while guests arrive or while the cake is cut.
2. Players circle the birthday words from the list.
3. Check finished sheets against the answer key.

Without a printer: Show the puzzle on a tablet and let players take turns finding words.

Open the material: Birthday word search