Birthday Party Planning - Games

This is the fourth part of the series on Birthday Party Planning which started with the introduction. This post discusses party games.

Obviously party games need to be age appropriate, so I will divide them up into brackets. But please know that the categorisation is a generalisation; Rachel would always concentrate at least a year before many her age would and I know some who still at 6 would rather not sit and wait for pass the parcel.

Under 3 year olds
This age can really only cope with an hour including some food and cake, therefore you'll only need one or two games such as:
Pass the Parcel with something in every layer
Pin the tail on the donkey - or blu tack the nose on the clown
Musical bumps
Burst the bubbles - who can burst the most bubbles

Pre-schoolers
They have more stamina now, and get bored more easily, so there are sll the above plus...
Musical Statues
Balloon over and under race - two teams
Follow the leader
Sleeping Lions

5 year olds and over
All the above, yes Rachel still demands Pass the Parcel, plus...
Treasure Hunt
Duck, Duck, Goose
Memory Game - who can remember all the party items on the tray
Guess the object - blind fold them and get them to feel weird objects
And just dancing competitions, especially for girls

And if all else fails then give them a load of balloons and they'll be happy for hours trying to catch them and throw them.