Tips For Party Games

 

It is always a good idea to play some ice breaker games to get everyone comfortable and into the spirit of things.

 

Keep some music playing in the background to avoid any awkward moments. Ask your child what type of music he/she enjoys and it’s likely to be the same for his/her friends.

Keep the games short and sweet. Children under the age of three have short attention spans and so can only concentrate on the one game for a short amount of time. Keep them interested by rotating the games.

 

Try to give every child a good chance to win something. It will boost their confidence and prevent any upset children at the end of the day.

 

Have plenty of games in mind as not all children will enjoy the same games and more importantly children can get bored easily, especially if a game isn’t going their way. It’s far better to have too many games than too little – you don’t have to play them all!

Ensure that you have planned sufficient indoor games (or at least games that are adaptable for indoors) in case of poor weather.

If you are playing games that need certain materials make sure that you have plenty of the required material. Items can get lost or broken so easily when you need them the most!

 

Remember that older children don’t need to be entertained all of the time. Older children can enjoy a few minutes to take it easy and have a chat and a laugh about what they have enjoyed that day. Don’t feel like you need to keep them occupied the entire time – you will exhaust yourself as well as the children.

 

Many games can be adapted to the theme of your child’s party, if there is one. For example “duck, duck, goose” can easily become “Barbie, Barbie, Ken” or “Batman, Batman, Joker”. For the older children “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” can become “Pin the Crown on the Princess”.

 

Try to arrange the children into teams of equal strength and ability. It can be a good idea to involve teenage brothers or sisters in the team games to guide the teams and keep them game going as smoothly and as fairly as possible.

 

If necessary change the rules of the game to suit the children’s needs and want. Rules are there to guide the game, but it’s not a game if it’s not fun! And if the game still isn’t working after adapting the rules, get rid of it and start a new game.