It’s that exciting time again, time to celebrate your child’s birthday. You love giving them a special day, but planning parties can be a challenge. You feel like the usual Chuck E Cheese or laser tag parties have been done to death. Wondering how you can come up with something fun that hasn’t been done before? Check out this list of ideas and see if you think your kid would enjoy them.
Key Points of Adding Unique Party Games to a Birthday Party
- There is no limit to the type of games or other activities you could include. Depending on your child's age their input will be vital and very useful.
- Think about the games they play on their normal day or with friends. You can greatly expand on what your child and their friends already play.
- If your child loves a specific game show, think American Ninja Warrior, Amazing Race, or The Voice, for example, you can base a lot of the party on these specific activities and it's almost guaranteed to be a success.
Bubble Wrap Bounce
Who doesn’t love popping the bubbles on bubble wrap? I admit that I still find it satisfying even at my age. Most of the time, as parents we’re telling the kids to stop popping bubbles on bubble wrap. But what could be more fun than having them do it on purpose?
You can buy a whole roll of bubble wrap at moving supply stores or where you can rent moving trucks. Use the roll as a fun sensory game for kids to run across. Or you could tape the bubble wrap into a ball and fill the center with candy, similar to a piñata. Who can resist?
Pool Noodle Balloons
Picking up items with flat utensils isn’t just challenging for using chopsticks to eat Chinese food. You can apply the same principle to a party game. Blow up a bunch of balloons and give each child a pool noodle and ask the kids to pair up.
Set a timer for five minutes and tell the kids to get the balloons into a box using only the pool noodles—no hands or feet allowed! The kids will quickly learn that teamwork is essential to pick up the balloons. The team that gets the most balloons in the box before the timer runs out wins.
Squirt Gun Tower Fight
This is a good activity for when the weather is fairly warm. Set up a tower of upside-down plastic cups and give two of the kids squirt guns filled with water. The goal is to knock down the tower first. Then, stack the cup tower back up again, refill the squirt guns, and have the next two kids try to knock it down with the water. The point is not so much about winning, it’s just fun for the kids to knock things down with squirt guns!
Find the Plastic Animal
This one gets messy so you’ll want to save it for the end and have some paper towels on hand. Also, this is more appropriate for older kids. Make up several packages of Jell-O and hide a plastic animal in each. The goal of the game is for kids to find the plastic animal and get it out of the bowl with only their mouths. It’s harder than it sounds!
You can make any party for kids fun as long as you’re willing to let things get a little messy. Whether you want to let kids play old-school games like carrying an egg in a spoon or try one of the ideas above, it doesn’t take much effort to get kids to laugh and have fun.
Game Show Recreation
Thanks to the wonders of both the internet and television, western culture is rife with game shows. They span all types of interests and people. We have American Ninja Warrior, The Price is Right, and America's Got Talent to name a few.
It's pretty likely that you and your child have a favorite game show in one way or another. For a truly rememberable party and party activities, you could recreate the various shows in your backyard or house. For example, if your son or daughter is obsessed with American Ninja Warrior you could build a child-friendly obstacle course similar to the show and have siblings and other parent friends act as judges.
This is, of course, only an example. Use your best judgment to recreate certain shows and be doubly sure that activities are age appropriate and all parents are on board with everything first.
Playing laser tag or bowling is definitely a good birthday party. You won't hear any child complain about getting to eat cake and shoot light beams at their friends. However, if you want to throw a party and have your child, their friends, and their parents talk about the party for years to come, you'll want to use this guide to kickstart your creativity and make a party worth talking about.