50+ easy birthday party games for kids {no-stress party planning}

In today’s post: Find fifty super easy birthday party games so you won’t have to stress about planning your kid’s party!

Alright ladies, repeat after me: planning my child’s birthday party does not have to stress me out. Period. We’ve somehow moved into an era of ah-mazing kid’s birthday parties, complete with magazine-worthy decorations, a bevy of color coordinated eats, and entertainment that’s planned to coordinate to the minutest detail with the party’s theme. Hey, if party planning is what you love, I get it: sewing is what I love, and I do all sorts things that most people think are insane (like making clothing out of duvet covers and whatnot). However, if you’re not a profesh party planner, don’t stress! Birthday parties don’t have to be a triumph of baking and decorating and coordinating. Honestly, all you need for a successful kids’ party is a yummy cake and some easy birthday party games. I promise.

I’ve already posted about 20 different birthday cakes that are so easy to decorate even I can’t mess them up. Today, I’ve gathered up ideas for over 50 different easy birthday games that you can play at your child’s next party, and the best part is none of them cost much money or take much time to prepare. And you can even customize many of them to match your party’s theme. So take a gander at these ideas and save the stress for something really important. Like who’s going to win Project Runway 😉

photo above © Can Stock Photo Inc. / paleka

Fun + easy games for your kids’ birthday party

Balloon tennis: Tape paper plates onto large craft sticks of paint sticks and use them to bat filled balloons back and forth. This game is so simple, but little kids love it! You can have them play in teams with one balloon, or give each child her own balloon and see who can keep it in the air the longest.

Balloon pop: Blow up lots of balloons, placing tickets in some of them. Let kids try to pop as many balloons as they can, either by sitting on them or stomping on them. Kids can turn in any tickets they find for a small treat.

More games with balloons: Find 6 easy balloon games on Chickabug

Games with water balloons: Find 10 easy water balloon games on Chickabug

The candy bar game: This is one of our favorite easy kids party games! Each person has a candy bar in front of them at a table as well as a spoon and butter knife. There is also one pair of oven mitts and a pair of dice. One person has to put on the oven mitts and try to open his candy bar and start eating it with the spoon and knife while the person next to him rolls the dice. When the person rolling the dice gets doubles, the dice go to the next person in the circle while the first person has to stop eating his candy, take off the oven mitts, and pass them on the one who just rolled doubles. That person then puts on the oven mitts and starts trying to open and eat her candy bar while the person ahead of her rolls the dice and tries to get doubles. Play continues around the circle until someone has opened and eaten his entire candy bar, at which point everyone can eat finish their own candy bars.

The other candy bar game: Get 2-3 candy bars per person playing, all of different varieties. Place them in the middle of the table and give each person a lunch sack. Each person around the table takes turns rolling a pair of dice, and whenever a 7 is rolled that person gets to choose a candy bar and hide it in her sack. Continue until all the candy bars are gone. Then, set a time for 5 minutes (more if there are lots of players), and keep taking turns rolling dice. When someone gets a 7, they can steal a candy bar from someone else, but they must remember who has the candy bar they want and ask the right person for the right candy bar. If they ask the wrong person, they don’t get to steal the candy. Continue until the timer goes off. Consider evening out the candy bars at the end of the game so some people don’t end up with 5 while others end up with none. To make it easier for younger players, don’t hide the candy bars.

Car racing: Turn your kids’ love of cars into an easy birthday party game. Draw lanes on a piece of cardboard to create a car track. Hold the cardboard up at an angle (or just place it on stairs) and let kids take turns racing matchbox cars down the track. Visit Persia Lou for info on building a simple track and racing lego cars.

Hot potato: Players sit in a circle and an item (ball, toy, etc) is passed from one person to the next while music plays. When the music stops, whoever is left holding the item is out. Continue until someone wins, then start again. To make it harder for older kids, have everyone hold and pass the item using a spoon, or blindfolded, etc.

Tic tac toe toss: Draw a tic tac toe board on a dollar store tablecloth and put it on the ground. Divide kids into two teams, and have the teams take turns tossing bean bags (or socks filled with rice) onto the game board until one team gets tic tac toe.

Coin toss: Buy a piece of foam core at the dollar store and glue plastic cups on it, covering the entire board with cups. Use a few cups of a different color. Let kids try tossing coins at the cups, and give them a prize if they get a coin in a colored cup. Suuuuper easy kids’ party game.

Relay race (egg race, etc): Divide kids into two teams. One child from each team carries something from the beginning to a bucket at the end, then runs back and tags the next person in line. Whichever team carries all their items to the end first wins. You can use eggs on spoons, or balloons that must be carried in between kids’ knees, water in cups that must be carried on top of kids’ heads, etc. You can even transfer water with a sponge or a cup with a few holes punched in the bottom.

Candy memory game: Get 10 sets of 2 matching candy bars. Glue the candy bars onto poster board in a grid fashion, then cover each candy bar with a plastic bowl. Let kids take turns uncovering 2 candy bars at a time to try to find a match. Kids who find a match get to keep the candy bars.

Minute to win it games: Find 10 different easy to play minute to win games here.

Pin the tail on the donkey: This easy birthday party game can be customized for any theme. Print out a large photo with one missing piece, and then blindfold each child in turn and let them try to attach the missing piece in the right place. Pin the propellor on the plane, pin the nose on the clown, pin the eyepatch on the pirate, pin the crown on the princess, etc.

Money grab & movie theater: This game is great when you want to take up lots of time at a party. Blindfold one child and sprinkle spare change on the floor around her. Spin her around until she’s a little dizzy, then give her 15 or 30 seconds to grab as much money as she can. Repeat for each child. The kids can then spend this money to buy snacks (bags of popcorn, small candies, etc.) at a “concession stand”. Have kids watch a movie & eat their snacks.

Even more easy birthday party games

Ring toss: Turn the carnival classic into a game for a kid birthday party by setting up water bottles and letting kids take turns to see who can toss a ring over a bottle. Try this super cool glow in the dark version from A Pumpkin and a Princess (and find other fun glow in the dark party ideas).

Bowling: Make bowling pins out of 2-liter bottles that have a little water in the bottom. Bowl using any type of ball. You can also make bowling pins out of stacks of toilet paper or cut up pool noodles. Find a fun minion version here.

Knock over the cans: Use empty tin cans, and cover them with paper or pictures that relate to the party’s theme. Set them up in a tower, then let kids take turns throwing a bean bag at the tower to knock it over. You could use plastic cups instead of tin cans.

Squirt gun cup collapse: Set up a tower using plastic cups, then give two kids squirt guns and let them see who can spray down their tower the fastest. Have the kids set the tower back up and hand the squirt guns off to the next contestants.

Bucket ball: Set up a couple different sized buckets together at one of the room, with larger buckets having a lower score than smaller buckets. Have kids stand behind a line and take turns tossing a ball into the buckets, and see who can get the highest score in 5 tosses. Kids could pretend to be tossing trash for an Oscar themed party, treasure for a pirate themed party, gold coins for a Mario party, etc. You could also use frisbees or beanbags for tossing.

Make simple marshmallow catapults and have a contest to see who can shoot a mini marshmallow the furthest.

Hula Hoop games: Find 7 different easy hula hoop games here.

Relay obstacle course: Set up an obstacle course in the backyard and split the kids into two groups. One person from each group runs the course, then runs back to tag the next person in her group. Whichever group finishes first wins. Obstacle ideas: jump through a hula hoop, jumprope 5 times, spin around 3 times, run around a cone, do a forward roll or somersault, hop on one leg, crawl under something, etc.

And there you have it: over 50 easy games you can pull together in a snap for your child’s next birthday party! Remember, you don’t need anything elaborate for the kids to have fun – games for kids birthday parties can be super simple and the kids will still love them!