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Games for any Birthday Party

Catch the Balloon
Equipment: 3 or 4 balloons
Formation: Circle
Arrange the players in a circle on the floor and have them number off. Put the highest number in the center to act as 'it'.

"IT" holds a balloon and calls out a number while dropping the balloon to the floor.
The holder of that number then tries to catch the balloon before it touches the floor.
If the player is successful 'it' tries another number.
If the balloon touches the floor then that player is "it".

Back-to-Back Balloon Pop
Equipment: A supply of balloons
Formation: Pairs

Pick teams of two.
Have the pairs stand in a line or circle back to back, with a balloon held between their backs. On the leader's signal, the players press together, trying to burst their balloon.
The first team to pop its balloon wins.
If you prefer not to have winners, play until all of the Balloons are popped.

Balloon Popping Game
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. (Note: Any game that balloons are popped in is not a game to be played around small children. They make pick up the pieces, put them in their mouth and choke.)

Gift Unwrap Game
Number of players: about 10-30
Type: Can be a stunt, if the group is very large, or the entire party may play
Winner: The person who FINISHES unwrapping the present

How to play:
A gift is placed in the center of the group. A basket with dice is passed around. When a person rolls double sixes, they run up to the gift, don the hat, scarf and gloves (goggles if you want too!) and begin unwrapping as fast as they can. (The more items they need to put on the less they'll be able to unwrap) The dice continue to be passed and as soon as someone else rolls double sixes, they take their turn at the present. Play continues until the present is completely unwrapped.

Items needed: Dice, Basket, Hat, Gloves, Scarf, one very well wrapped present. It helps to have several layers of wrapping paper and even boxes within boxes to keep make the game more challenging.

Poor Kitty
Equipment: 1 blindfold
Formation: Circle

Arrange the group in a circle with a blindfolded player in the center.
Then have the players move around the circle very quietly. The blindfolded player should approach the circle in any direction and secure a victim who, in a disguised voice, says 'poor kitty' and then imitates the 'meow' of a cat. If the blindfolded player fails to identify his prisoner, he releases him and the game continues. If he succeeds, the two change places.

Hats and Shoes
This can be played with just hats and shoes or an assortment of different clothes.

Put an equal number of different items into a bag a shirt, a hat , pants, socks, shoes. Each player will receive a bag. On the word Go they have to put on the items in the bag, the one to put all the items on first is the winner.

(Adult or larger clothes than the children work best so they can be put on over their own clothes)

Statues
Played to music, all the players move round while the music is playing, when the music stops the players have to stand like statues, anyone who moves is out, start the music again and repeat as many times as you want.

Upset the Fruit Basket - Musical Chairs variation
It's a variation of musical chairs and works well with large groups 10 or more. Get a group of people to put their chairs in a ring. Just like musical chairs. Give each person is placed into a fruit group, for example you could have 4 apples, 4 oranges and 4 bananas (you can add more types of fruit if you have quite a few people). Each group of fruit should be 4 or 5 people is good, add more fruit names if needed. Then everyone sits in their chair and you call out apples and only the apples have to stand up and walk around the circle. While they are walking you remove one chair and at some point you call out apples again and all the apples scramble for a chair. The fruit left standing is out of the game. Then next you call out either a banana or orange. But if you say "upset the fruit basket" then everyone has to get up and walk around the circle. The winner of course is the last fruit in the basket.

Bubble Gum Game
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.

These 3 games were sent in by Amy. Thank you!

Guess the advertisement
Cut out adverts from magazines and papers; cover up the product names. Pin them up and ask everyone to write down the brand names. You can also record themes from TV ads and now you can get hold of a CD featuring famous advertising tunes.

Who wants to be a millionaire?
You could do your own version of this TV program with the top prize being a fiver. Make the quiz as authentic as possible and mimic the hosts usual banter. �You have 20 thousand, if you get this right you could win 40 thousand � Are you sure that is your final answer?� Look through the newspapers to get ideas for your quiz questions and award lots of small prizes, such as individually wrapped chocolate bars or miniature bottles of alcohol.

The Sound Game
Make a tape recording of every day sounds and actions in the home such as striking matches, opening a tin, running a bath, sweeping and so on. Don�t forget to preface each sound with a number. The person guessing the most sounds is the winner.

Giggle & Laugh
Ages 2-9
Three or More Players

Object: To giggle and laugh when the handkerchief is in the air and to keep a straight face when it hits the ground.

Materials Needed: Enough space for players to move around freely and a handkerchief or other light weight piece of cloth that will float down slowly when thrown into the air.
Directions: Kids stand "frozen" in a circle and can't move until freed by the "magic handkerchief". When the handkerchief has been tossed up into the air, all the players must giggle and laugh out loud until the handkerchief hits the ground ~~~ then they have to stop instantly and become frozen again. If any player smiles, giggles or laughs after the handkerchief hits the ground that child must leave the circle. Continue until there is only one player left and that player wins the game.

Other Objects to use: bubbles, feathers, music, etc.

Animal Bingo
Ages 2-10
Two or More Players
Object: To mark out all the squares in a row on the card.

Materials Needed: Prepare ahead of time bingo cards using animal stickers instead of numbers - make each card a little different. Also prepare one set of calling cards (use a square of cardboard or paper and place a sticker on it).

Directions: Place the calling cards into a bowl or box. Give each child a playing card and either a paper chip or marking pen (paper chips allow you to use the bingo cards later). Have one of the children be the caller or an adult if all the children want to play. When one of the children have completed a row... have them yell "bingo" then the game stops and you check the child's card. If he or she is correct... then they win the game.

Party Games 2

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Some games are from
AmazingMoms.com