Party Games

Blowing the Ball

Put a ping pong ball on the edge of the table. Blindfold the player and make him stand with the back to the table. At the word ‘Go’ make the player take 5 steps forwards, turn around 3 times and head back to the table to blow the ball. Since the player is likely to be disoriented they will blow in the wrong direction which will be fun for the others.

Draw Blindfold

Give the players paper and pencil and then blindfold them.

They have to make a drawing on any subject, depending on the age of the players. The drawing has to be made in segments. The players will be asked to complete the drawing in parts. This will be done by the person conducting the game.

For example, draw the body of a cat and put your pencil down. Then, draw its ears and put your pencil down. Then its tail and so on and so forth till the entire animal is drawn.

The results are very funny and will have everyone in peals of laughter.

The Clothes Relay

In this game, players are divided into 2 teams. Each team is given a bag with a scarf, a belt, a hat, and gloves.

At the word ‘Go’, the first player of each team will run to the bag, wear the belt and hat, put on the gloves, tie the scarf, and then take them all off and put them back in the bag and run back to the team. The next team member will do the same till all the team members have participated.

Whichever team completes first, wins.

Dumb Charades

Players are divided into 2 teams, A and B. In a bowl names of movies or books are written on slips of paper and folded. One member of A team picks up a slip and shows it to members of team B. S/He then acts out the name for her/his team members to guess the right name within a time limit. The other team tries to mislead. If team A guesses correctly, they win a point. Then it is the turn of team B to do the same. The team with the most points wins.

Pin the Tail on the Donkey or any other animal
This is a great game for all children, from 5 to 55! All you need is a picture of a tailless donkey (or any other animal) along with enough tails for each player, a blindfold, and some pins to attach the tails.

Each blindfolded player takes a turn to pin the tail on the donkey. Whoever manages to pin the tail closest to where it should be, wins.

You can vary this to fit any theme. For a haunted house it could be the cap on the drawing of a witch and so on.

London

This game is mostly for children. Children stand in a line as if for a race. One child stands at the finishing post with his back turned. He spells out L O N D O N, or any other city and as soon as he finishes he turns around. The other children have to start running when he starts spelling and freeze in position before he stops and turns. The speller then walks around the kids for a bit, trying to make them laugh, or move. If a child laughs or moves, he is eliminated. This goes on till either one child reaches the end and touches the speller and takes his place, or the whole race begins again. Children can strike various poses for fun in this game.

Newspaper Dance

Get some dance music organized and get another person to play it.

Spread sheets of newspaper on the floor and put on the music and get the players to dance. The music is stopped and the players have to climb onto the newspaper. Those who are not on the paper are eliminated. The newspapers are folded in half and the music starts again, and then stops with the players climbing on the folded newspaper. This goes on till there is only one person per newspaper, after which, remove the papers one by one till there is only one winner.

An extra element of fun is added when you make couples dance together. Very soon one will have to carry the other to stay on the small piece of newspaper!

Treasure Hunt

Hide clues around the house leading to the treasure which is also the prize. The clues should be fun in themselves and have to suggest the place of the next clue leading finally to the treasure. Each clue is read out loud by the person conducting the game so everyone has an equal chance throughout of finding the treasure.

Apples and Oranges Bobbing

Place apples and oranges in a tub of water; they will float. With their hands tied behind their backs, the children take turns to try and retrieve a floating fruit with their teeth, in 2 minutes. The players who get the fruit get to eat it!

Passing the Parcel

This is a popular party game for all ages. Prepare the parcel beforehand. The prize is wrapped in many layers; each layer has a forfeit tucked into the wrapping. The players sit in a circle and when the music starts they pass the parcel around until the music stops. Whoever is holding the parcel at this point must tear open a layer and read out and enact the forfeit. Then the music starts again. This continues until the last layer and the player who removes the last layer finds the prize.

Memory Game

This game requires the players to concentrate. All you need is a tray filled with many objects from around the house along with some pens and paper for each child.

Once the children are seated around a table, place the tray with the objects in the center of the table and give them a minute to try and memorize what’s on the tray. Once the time is up, remove the tray and each child has to write down as many objects as they can remember from the tray. The child who remembers the most number of correct objects is the winner.

Musical Statues

To play these games you need a fun CD as children will love dancing to their favourite songs. For musical statues, get the children to dance about and when the music stops they have to freeze as they were. The one who moves is eliminated. This is repeated till you have a winner.

Musical Chairs

If you have enough room, musical chairs is another fun game. Start with one less chair than there are participants. Players have to dance about until the music stops, at which point they have to find the nearest chair to sit on. Since there is one less chair, there will be one participant left standing. He gets eliminated. Remove a chair and start again. Keep removing chairs so that there are always fewer chairs than the number of players so at every round one person is eliminated. This carries on till you have a single winner.

Simon Says

This is a great game for younger children and can be adapted to fit with any party theme. Choose a leader (this can be any adult) to act as ‘Simon’ who will call out a series of commands that the children have to follow such as ‘Simon says sit down’ and all the children have to sit. The children must follow all the instructions that begins with ‘Simon says . . .’ But the leader should put in some instructions without beginning with ‘Simon says’ and the children who do this task by mistake are out.

Find your Partner

This is a great game for older children and adults. It breaks the ice when people don’t know each other too well. This works well when you have lots of guests. Make a list of as many famous couples as there are guests. You can list the same couple twice if you are running out of names. Write the names separately on slips of paper and fold so that the names don’t show. Put all the male names in one bowl and the female names in another. Ask the guests to pick up a slip from the proper bowl. After everyone has a slip, the guests are asked to open their slips and find their partners. Whichever couple finds each other first, wins the prize.

Photo Source: Newspaper Dance: https://parentssquare.com/
Photo Source: Musical Chairs: https://partygames.guide/