B-day Party Games

They absolutely love games that let them move...freeze dance, red light/green light, simon says, and musical chairs are great and can be played multiple times.

The girls tend to like crafts better than the boys but it's always nice to have something they can work on or color as they arrive before everyone gets there.

Toilet paper mummy wrap. Pin the tail on the ______. Musical Chairs. Scavenger hunts. Relay races such as carrying eggs or cotton balls on a spoon, or balancing something on their head, or putting on/taking off clothing that's too large. Passing the orange from neck to neck. Duck Duck Goose. Charades. Princess Trivia. "I Spy" (show a plate of items and they have to remember what's there.) Bingo!

I've done crafts at a few of DD's parties but they were always a flop. The kids wanted to be up and moving around rather than sitting. If you want to do a craft, package it in a baggie and give as a party favor.

Honestly, go to the library and get an old book on party games. You'll be astounded at things you've forgotten and these kids have never seen. I did this when my son was little, and neighbors with much younger kids have done them recently. So much fun! It's all about exercise and not about winning or having expensive props! Sack races, potato races, bean races -- just use old pillow cases or wooden spoons from the dollar store and some potatoes! They have a blast, and they run around, semi-learn to work together, and it's great! Everyone can do stuff at one time, vs. something like "Pin the Tail" which has a lot of kids waiting in line. Musical chairs is good if you have something for the kids to do who are "out" - sometimes letting them be the ones to stop the music is a good thing. But it's tough on the first one of 15, so use caution if you have a whole crew.

For quieter times or for kids who don't like to run around, there are memory games you can play (put a bunch of items on a tray, cover it, uncover it and let them look, then recover it or remove it. Since they are only 6 and don't write well, have them work in teams of 2 or 3 with an adult who writes down what they remember seeing. (No helping! It's just for the kids!) Use common household items: pencil, straw, spoon, paper clip, pieces of string, spare keys, salt shaker, small paper plate or napkin, toothbrush, mirror, hammer, roll of tape, bottle of glue, small toy like a hot wheel or lego, anything.)

You can also do a treasure hunt - we buy those plastic Easter eggs (and you can call them anything - dinosaur eggs, alien eggs, anything). Put little prizes or candies or stickers in them, then hide them in a room the kids aren't using. If it's an empty hall, bring in some things that can shield the eggs - a wastebasket, grocery bags with your supplies in them, a spare briefcase or laptop case, a pair of sneakers, you name it - and put the eggs inside. The game is the entertainment, and the stuff they find is their prize so you kind of give away the goody bags early on with no extra expense. You can split it up by giving each kid a color or by putting a sticker or symbol on each egg - then give each kid a card with a sticker on it or that symbol, and say, "Find the eggs with your sticker on them." They can either ignore the eggs that aren't theirs, or help each other (which is really fun and builds cooperation). If you have a lot of kids, they can work in teams. Keep a list of where you put stuff too - makes it easier to help at the end or make up for a kid who didn't find much.

You can also do a little in the healthy snack area with some veggies and dip (ranch dressing, humus), which also helps the kids who have food allergies.

Have a great time! Just do less than you think you need to, and any ideas you didn't use or activities you didn't get to can be saved for next year.

We did a back yard party one year where I rented carnival games from my city parks and rec department. For about $30 I got a bean bag toss, ring toss, soccer kick, basketball toss, kerplink, a tug-of-war rope and a big parachute. If you have time and are crafty you could make many of these yourself. You can do a ring toss using sealer rings and the little Chubby soft drinks, and the child wins the soft drink, you can cut out a carboard box for a bean bag toss etc. If you can get a hold of a parachute I find parachute games really entertain the kids for a long time, and you can find lots of games to play with the parachute.

I will be doing this very thing in about a month and a half. My daughter will be 5 and this year she has friends she can invite. Most of the cousins are older so it will be mostly her friends that will play. When my older kids turned 6, we had a pirate treasure party. I had a treaure chest and they had to find clues and then once finished, they got t opick a prize from the treasure chest. We also had some games to play--including x marks the spot (like pin the tail), musical chairs, team to pop the most balloons, act it out--they popped a balloon and had to act out the character or animal. I was afraid they would think it was lame since most friends were already into video games but they had a blast. To make it harder, we put a little bit of helium in the balloon they had to pop. Plus I had a craft table where they decorated paper bags with stickers, stick on jewels, markers, etc and used those for the pinata. We will most likely do something like that again--just not in my house. For food, you could do things like chicken wings, fries and hot dogs, mac and cheese. Kid friendly and not too much work. I always also have a tray of steamed veggies and salad.

bozo buckets
if you can get a glass milk jug then the clothes pin game is great
pin the tail on the donkey (wings on a fairy, kiss on the frog etc)
any kind of art thing (ours made christmas ornaments but you could do easter)

if you have a tv there the girls did that dance game on wii at my granddaughters party

as far as food goes it depends on the time. if it is around a meal time plan something easy like hot dogs or pizza and some finger foods, carrots and ranch dressing, fruit like apple slices, grapes and strawberries, chips etc

we found a cupcakes are better than cake give them all a plain cupcake and let them frost and decorate it themselves with sprinkles etc

I am so glad to see you do this! I did it for my youngest's birthday and it was a blast. We did a lot of the things you see in the answers. There are great books in the library on this and check out the family fun website.
We tied balloons on their ankles and they had to burst them. Last one with a balloon wins. It's getting close to Easter so there are many options there.