Birthday Party Games for Kids

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Kids birthday party planning can be done within your budget if you use some of FFM's kids birthday party games.

More and more, families need to watch their pennies and are coming up with frugal and creative ways to throw great kids parties right in their own homes.

Our list of birthday party games for kids will help you do just that.

We've played them at our own parties, or my kids have gone to the parties of friends and come back with stories of the games that were the most fun.

Those usually turn out to the be ones with practically no store-bought supplies required.

Those are our favorites here at FFM. :)

More Frugal Birthday Party Games for Kids, Teens and other Fun Stuff

• For a little kids birthday party activity have a cupcake table and let everyone create their own sweet treat with these cupcake decorating ideas.

• Check out these indoor party games for those chilly season birthdays.

• For a teen event we've got teenage party games.

• For an unexpected B-Day treat try ice cream floats for everyone. Easy. Fast, and Cheap.

• Want more childrens birthday party games? Look over our entire list of fun party games. This list is always growing.
  
  
  
  Guess How Many?
  

  One of the best birthday party games for kids to start as soon as your guests arrive.

  Fill a jar with jellybeans, chocolate kisses, or any other kind of candy you want, and invite your guests to guess how many items are in the jar. (An old mayo jar, peanut butter jar, or even baby food jar can be used, as well as marbles, nuts, raisins or M&M's to fill them)

  Have everyone put their guess on a slip of paper with their name. At the end of the party whoever guessed closest without going over wins the jar and it's contents.

  This is an especially fun birthday party game if you have containers of different shapes and sizes, each with a different goody. Have 3 or 4 set up around the room. That way you can have more than one winner.

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  Who am I?
  

  One of the best icebreaker birthday party games for kids who are 8 and under.

  You will need:

  • Old newspaper or magazines with pictures of celebrities your kids are familiar with.
  • Safety Pins

  1. Sometime before the party take your old newspapers and magazines and cut out some faces of celebrities that the kids at the party would know. (Disney Channel, and/or pop stars work well for kids 6-13)
  2. As each guest arrives pin a face to their back so everyone can see it but them.
  3. The guests ask each other yes or no questions to try and guess who they are.

  Another source for celebrity pictures is simply to print them off the internet. Little kids can be Dora The Explorer, Bob the Builder, Batman etc.

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  Bean Bag Toss
  

  An easy make-it-yourself game that's a favorite of the birthday party games for kids. You can play this inside or out.

  You will need:

  • A cardboard box
  • Some old socks
  • 1 bag of beans

  Make bean bags out of the old socks by cutting the tops off and filling the toe with beans.

  Stitch the sock closed or glue the opening with fabric glue, holding it together with clothespins until the glue dries.

  Use scissors or a sharp knife to cut circles in the box in whatever pattern you'd like. You can use more than one box with 3 or more holes that go up in size. Make the smaller holes worth more points.

  Decorate the box with paints, stickers, or markers in the theme of the party.

  Have players take turns tossing the bean bags from a few feet away.

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  Hot Tater
  

  This is one of the coolest indoor birthday party games for kids because it has what I like to call "orderly action". It can be fast paced but there is no running around the house. :-)

  You will need:

  • A Tater

  OK...you don't really have to use a potato for this birthday party game for kids. (A real potato wrapped in foil is fun to use.) But if you don't have a potato any solid object with no loose pieces or sharp corners will do. A bean bag, a ball, a stuffed toy, etc.

  • Some music you can start and stop easily

  1. Have guests sit in a circle.
  2. Hand the tater to the guest of honor and start the music.
  3. As soon as the music starts the tater gets passed around the circle until the music stops.
  4. The guest with the tater when the music stops is out and leaves the circle. ( I always like to give everyone a grab in the surPrize Box as they come "out" so there are no real "losers".)
  5. As players leave the circle, the circle gets smaller and the music starts again.
  6. This continues until there is only one player left.

  This game can be a lot of fun especially if the music starts and stops often to keep it moving.

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  20 Questions
  

  One of the most popular indoor birthday party games for kids. This is a good game when you have a group of 6 or less.

  Choose a player to be "It" and have that player leave the room.

  The remaining players pick an object in the room.

  The player who is "it" then comes back and tries to guess what the object is by asking each player a question in turn.

  "It" gets to ask up to 20 questions in order to guess what the object is.

  If after 20 questions "it" doesn't guess the object then he must take another turn with a new object.

If the kids are young it's best to move on to the next person whether the object is guessed correctly or not so that everyone can get a turn.

This birthday party game for kids is great fun for the kids to play, ( and funny for the adults to watch).

You will need:

• Plenty of multicolored latex balloons. Enough for two balloons for each guest so you can play this game at least twice.
• Small prizes (stickers, candy, small party favors) separated out by type.
• Construction paper

1. Cut small slips of paper from the construction paper and write a prize on each one. Ex: Sticker, Candy, Favor, then roll them up tightly. Rolling them around a pencil works pretty well.
2. Slide a paper roll inside each balloon then blow them up.
3. Mix up the balloons and put them in a pile or in a couple of laundry baskets at one side of the room.
4. On "go" everyone runs to the balloons, grabs one, and runs back to their spot where they have to pop it by sitting on it. The first person to pop their balloon gets a special prize, which can be something as simple as a full size candy bar and the prize listed in their balloon. Everyone else gets a prize from whatever catagory is listed on their slip of paper.

One of the sweetest birthday party games for kids involving a candy jackpot.

You will need:

1. A lot of blocks
2. Different candies

Everyone sits in a circle and one by one each takes a turn placing a block on the tower. After each successful block a piece of candy is added to the pot. The higher the tower the bigger the pot of candy. When the tower falls the candy is split among the participants.

This birthday party games for kids can really be played with any small shiny object.

Try to find the thimble. Players can seek but they shouldn't speak as they search for a hidden "thimble".

You'll Need:

A thimble, small toy, or ornament in line with the party theme.

• With everyone out of the room, one player (most likely you mom) places the object somewhere unexpected but in plain sight.
• The other players return and start searching. No one is allowed to speak.
• As players see the object they don't touch it but instead sit down near it. Little kids will have to try hard not to give away the objects location by looking in its direction or giggling. This continues until the last person spots the object and grabs it.

There are no winners here. This is just another fun kids birthday party game.

For very young players have a few rounds with the object in a pretty obvious place so they can play without getting frustrated.

Birthday party games for kids don't get more frugal than this one. All you need is a newspaper with enough pages for each player to have two.

This game is best played in a large room or outside on a dry surface.

Pick a start line and a finish line. Players line up at the start and each are given two pieces of news paper. They must get to the finish line as fast as they can but are only allowed to step on newspaper.

The first player across the finish line wins.

One of the birthday party games for kids that's good for a middle school aged bunch.

You will need:

• Bags of Marbles- the dollar store usually sells these cheap so get plenty.


• Small plates or saucers- two for each team.


• A bag of plastic straws

Some of the best birthday party games for kids are played in teams. Break your guests up into teams of at least 2 each.

Give each team a saucer with about 10 marbles in it. The more players you have the more marbles you will need.

Line the saucers with the marbles up on one side of the room and put an empty saucer for each team across from them a few feet away.

Players need to move the marbles from their start plate to their end plate using only their straws. Whether they use suction or roll the marbles, or a combination of both. No hands or feet allowed

On 'go' the first player on a team moves 1 marble. When that marble is in the end dish the next player goes. They keep taking turns until all their marbles are in the end plate.

First team with all their marbles in the end plate wins.