Tips for Kids Birthday Party Games
There’s more than a few members of the Bakehouse team who have children, so we thought, who better to ask for some advice on some fun and easy kids party games
These birthday party games will make any birthday party a hit without having to spend a fortune.
A few birthday party games may need some supplies but they’re generally pretty common objects that you probably already having laying around your house, or are often there for a Birthday party anyway. Of course, don’t be afraid to improvise or you play the game but with a slight variation.
Our birthday party games are great for kids of all ages, so don’t stress, sit down with a sweet treat and a coffee and find the perfect game for your next birthday party.
Tommy’s Tasty Treasure Hunt
Turn your house into a treasure island and have the kids hunt for the pirates loot.
You don’t need much for a treasure hunt, but you will need
- Some tasty prizes for your “treasure”
- Paper and pencil for clues
- Costumes (optional for a themed treasure hunt)
Tasty Treasure Treats
We’ve got some really tasty treats that won’t break the treasure chest, including Gingerbread Men, AFL Cupcakes and Funny Face biscuits.
Don’t leave the kids clueless
One thing to keep in mind when you create your treasure hunt is that some kids aren’t going to get complex clues, so don’t make it harder than it has to be.
- Make picture clues for pre-readers.
- Clip images from magazines or find them online if you can’t draw
- Challenge older kids with riddles, puns, or even maths problems – Eg. tell them they need to take 3×6 steps or turn 45 degrees, for example.
Try increasing the activity level in your treasure hunt. With each clue, include direction on how to travel to the next hiding place: hopping, crawling, waving both hands in the air, and so on.
Don’t forget to hide your clues, otherwise its going to be a pretty tough treasure hunt. Again, adjust difficulty to match kids’ abilities. You can hide clues under rocks, inside plastic Easter eggs or perhaps see if you can find ways to leave messages without paper. Use magnetic letters on the fridge, or twigs in the garden to create an arrow to follow.
Stay & Play Safe
Make sure that you have cleared up any potentially dangerous items from around the house and garden, so the hunters have a safe environment to play in
Toss the Water Balloon
What better way to cool off on a hot summer’s day than with a party game that gets kids soaked with water balloons? The object of the game is to catch the water balloons so that they don’t pop. But having them burst in your hands can be just as fun!
What you need
- Filled water balloons
- A garden or an outdoor area
- Suncream
- Prizes
How to play:
Line your party kids up in pairs and have each pair stand a couple of feet apart facing each other.
The object of the game is to have kids throw the filled water balloon back and forth to their partner without it bursting. After each catch, the child who caught the balloon has to take a step back. The pair who still has an intact water balloon after everyone else’s has burst wins.
Play Safe
Make sure you are there to watch over the kids, and ensure that no-one is throwing their balloons too hard. Don’t fill your balloons up too much with water.
Of course, for the perfect kids party games, you need to set up the perfect party.
Paper Plane Game
This is a great game to be played indoors or outdoors and we’re sure its one we’ve all played before. It’s all about seeing whose Paper Plane can fly the furthest. You can even mix it up a bit and give prizes to the plane that stays up the longest, or perhaps the plane that looks the coolest!
What do you need?
- 1 x A4 paper (per person)
- Small Cakes and Slices as prizes
How do you make your paper plane?
- Fold the paper along the width and then unfold it to create a crease.
- On one side of the paper, fold each corner in towards the centre, to the point where the inside edges are even with the centreline crease.
- Starting at the very tip of the point, fold the paper over on each side so the inside edges line up with the centre crease.
- Turn the paper airplane over and fold it in half along the centreline.
- Fold the first wing with the line of the fold running nearly parallel to the centreline of the plane.
- Fold the second wing the same as you did the first.
- The plane is now ready to fly!
How to play
- Ask your party guests to decorate their planes any way they would like, but make sure you can tell whose is whose.
- Line everyone up at a certain point, if you have a skipping rope you can use that to show the take-off point – Make sure the room is a good size, just in case you have a Jumbo Jet of a plane amongst your designs.
- On the count of three, tell your party guests to launch their paper planes into the air – The flatter you throw, the better you will do.
- Keep an eye on all the planes – The winner will be the plane that flies the longest!
The great thing about this game is that you can keep on creating planes in weird and wonderful ways – Any one of which could be a new record holder.
Reward your winners with a tasty treat – Our Gingerbread Men, AFL Cupcakes and Funny Face biscuits are always a popular choice!
Here are our top tips for the perfect kids party.
When it comes to party time, it’s easy for parents to stress out and blow out the budget, but throwing a birthday party for your child should be fun for all. It just takes planning, a well-paced party schedule and a brilliant birthday cake.
Let them eat cake
Every birthday party needs a Birthday Cake, and luckily Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses has been baking magical moments since 1901.
Ideally if you’ve got a theme you’ll want to stick with it (or pick a theme to fit the cake you want to make!). It is always fun to sit with your child and let them pick the cake they would like on their big day.
Just click on the Celebration Cakes section of the website, or take a look at some of our custom cakes for some inspiration.
Remember, within reason, to include the party boy or girl in the preparations, keep the party to 1.5 to 2 hours to avoid any over-excited meltdowns and if numbers are an issue, use the fall-back rule that the number of guests should equal the age of your child plus one.
Every Party Needs a Theme
The best place to start with any party is with a theme. Once you have a theme in mind, it opens the doors to a huge world of options, from food to decorations. These little details are what make the bash something really special.
Often it’s a no-brainer (your little boy is super-hero-mad), but if you’re scratching around for ideas, here are a few possibilities:
- Traditional fancy dress – for boys and girls of all ages
- Builder – for boys age 2-5
- Fairy or princess – for girls age 2-8
- Under the sea – for boys and girls age 3-8
- Pirate – for boys (and girls!) age 2-8
- Spooky – for boys and girls age 6-10
Maybe ask your children to help you to create some eye-catching invitations to give your guests a taste of what’s to come. A hand drawn invite will definitely stand out on the fridge and will set the tone for the good times ahead.
Food, glorious food
Keep the offerings simple. Party pies and sausage rolls, cupcakes, crisps or fairy bread always go down well.
But it is also good to keep any party theme going, for example ‘AFL Cupcakes‘ (order a range of cupcakes so that your guests can choose their favourite teams) for a sporty party, or Gingerbread Men for a pirate party.
Be aware of any food allergies – it’s best to avoid anything with nuts and to offer a gluten-free option. You may also want to offer some healthy snacks, like ‘traffic light’ fruit pops (balls of watermelon, banana and kiwi fruit on a paddle pop).