This weekend is Dominic’s birthday party. He’ll be 11. We’re having a party at our house. I don’t think it will be very big, but I want to have some sort of planned activities besides pizza and cake.
What kind of games can you help me dream up? They have to not require a lot of “equipment” that isn’t easily found around the house or bought very cheaply at a non-specialty store…
They might be a tad old for this, but… a “string maze”, if you have a patio. Purchase N favors. Wrap them. Attach to each one some string. Hide the favors around the patio. Then take the string and wind it all around and over and under everything, including the strings from previously deployed gifts. Then put a handle (a toilet paper tube is ideal) on the end of the string, write a child’s name on it, and hide the handles.
For more sedate inside things, they might enjoy “telephone pictionary”. Everyone sits in a circle, takes a piece of paper, writes something at the top. Pass it to the left. Everyone draws a picture of what’s written, then folds it down so only the picture is visible. Pass it to the left, write the phrase that corresponds to the picture they see, etc. Non-competitive, but very fun.
Another possibility: Zoom-Zonk. Everyone sits in a circle. One person turns to their left and says “zoom”. The person to their left either turns to THEIR left and says “zoom” or turns back to the first person and says “zonk”. Basically, there’s an imaginary race car over one player’s head, they look one way and zoom it. the next person either continues it in the same direction with another zoom, or makes it u-turn with a zonk. Anytime someone loses the rhythm, or speaks out of turn, or looks the wrong way, they are out, the circle gets smaller, etc. Last 2 players win. You can’t zonk a zonk.
Another possibility: the sentence game. Everyone sits in a circle, and starts rhythmically clapping. One person starts a sentence by saying a word. everyone goes around in order having to say words that fit into the sentence, or punctuation to end the sentence. If you can’t (usually due to laughing too hard) you are out. (In college, we called this game “John is a butt period”.)
I suppose Spin the Bottle is right out?
Invite the local playground bully. Take all the kids outside, and explain the concept of “Kill the man with the ball”. Give ball to bully. Pop a cold one as Justice ensues.
(I should add here that unless it is raining, I want these little monsters outside. Only under the most dire weather situation will the party be an indoor affair. The inside of my house is small and filled with breakable and/or knock-over-able stuff. And no, it would not be practical to dismantle 80% of my belongings for a 2 hour party–plus I have no other place to put them)
A game I remember liking when I was a kid was called Mr. Mumbles. I don’t remember the exact rules but it went something like this: Everyone gets into a circle. One person starts: you put your lips over your teeth, like you were pretending to be an old man, then you turn to your right and say to the person next to you something like “My name is Mr. Mumbles…” and then something about…a party? I don’t remember. Anyway, you can’t let your lips slip–if your teeth show, you’re out. When you get the phrase out, that person has to do their lips the same way and give some scripted reply that I can’t remember, then they turn to the next person and the process repeats. The last person left wins. It usually ends in very sore lips and stomach muscles that hurt from laughing Does anyone know this game, who can help me remember the rules more specifically?