Planning your child’s birthday party is certainly no mean feat.
After you’re past the planning stage – picking a day and time, making a guest list, sending out invitations, buying all the right party food, you can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Of course part of the food preparation is also making a big and exciting birthday cake… (It will no doubt be shaped like Peppa Pig or something even more intricate depending on your little one’s most adored character at the time).
With the cake out of the way, you’ve done very well to tick off all these things to do for the party and you’re feeling pretty good.
But don’t get ahead of yourself just yet… Keep in mind when you get to the big day, you’ll have 20 kids hyped up on party food and you’re going to need a game plan… literally a game plan.
While it’s nice to want to be creative and try to think of crafty new games that the kids have never tried – they can sometimes be messy or not quite go to plan. That’s why it’s the old fashioned party games that are a sure crowd pleaser (and less fuss for you).
For toddlers, party games can be as simple as:
- Duck, duck goose
- Statues
- Twinkle, twinkle little star
- Story time
Story time doesn’t sound like much of a game, but think back to nights before bed where your little one insists “one more, just one more” (about three more times) and you’ll see how this will be a simple way to keep the kids entertained at the party.
As they get older, the best games of all time are certainly:
- Birthday cake hunt
- What’s the time Mr Wolf?
- Pass the parcel
- Musical chairs
- Pin the tail on the donkey
- Egg and spoon race
- Follow the leader
The list goes on and on, so another great way to be sure you’re picking the right games is to ask the experts…
Talk to your kids about any of their friends’ parties they’ve recently been to and see what games they love the most.