Planning a party doesn’t need to be pricey or complicated! It doesn’t need to be fancy to be fun. Here are 4 easy games you can set up for your next kid party!

1. Tic-Tac-Toe. These games are a lot of fun and involve throwing accurately (or spinning). While it’s not the ideal place, you can set it up like I did to review concepts (we’ll be using this for our preschool co-op and I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel twice). Since Sweet Pea hasn’t seen Frozen, she doesn’t know who Elsa and Anna are, so it didn’t make sense to leave those stickers on this tic-tac-toe game we were given. I replaced it with shapes, numbers, and the first 9 letters of the alphabet. For younger kids, they can also simply play by color.
2. Bean Bag Toss. Grab some old coffee cans or any open container. Boxes of similar sizes would even work. Get bean bags or balls. You can toss bean bags (or balls) to knock over the cans. Or toss the bean bags into the cans (line them up in a row). You could even put the cans upside down and put a ball/bean bag in the can and guess which can contains the hidden item. Lots of possibilities with bean bags and cans!
3. Ring toss. I found these rings at a thrift store and saved apple juice bottles (okay, so I might have actually taken them out of the recycling) to toss the rings around. We only had two bottles, but more or less would work too. This is a great chance to practice counting, if you’re so inclined, or simply let the kids practice taking turns and having fun.
4. Boredom Buster/Energy Eraser (Super Hero Workout). This is a super simple game to tire the kiddos out. Write actions on Popsicle sticks or pieces of paper. Roll a die and that’s how many times you do the action. More about this activity can be found here.

Bonus ideas: 

1. Bowling. We have a kid’s bowling set that we set up (and by “set up,” I mean we put it out. Not much to set up!). You could use empty puffs containers, Pringles cans, or something similar for your pins.
2. Basketball. Set up the kid’s basketball hoop and let the kids take turns making baskets.
3. Set up an area for crafts. Markers, crayons, glue sticks, scissors, stickers, paper, etc. depending on the age of the kids can be a lot of fun.
4. Remember that when kids are coming to your house to play or for a party, your stuff is different than theirs, so it’s automatically more interesting. During Sweet Pea’s party, the girls had a lot of fun jumping on the trampoline (a small exercise one, nothing fancy) and walking on the balance beam.

What I like most about these activities is that no one needs to sit there and monitor them. Little to no explanation is needed. Just walk up and play. What do your kids enjoy doing at birthday parties or play dates? Please share below!

For more birthday ideas, check out my post “3 Tips for a Great Birthday Celebration.”

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