Birthday party game ideas, please?

[anonomom]

DD's 3rd birthday party is tomorrow, and I'm belatedly panicking that we don't have enough activities planned. There'll be a pinata and a small craft project, but other than that I'd planned just to let them play. There'll be 6 kids between 3-4, and an equal # of 6-year-olds (big sibs). Do you have any suggestions for simple, easy games that ideally don't require much equipment?

[crl]

Muscial chairs. You can do this without the chairs, just carpet squares or pillows instead.

Duck, duck, goose

I wouldn't worry too much though. We have never had party games or even a craft project. The kids seem to to just entertain themselves.

Catherine

[elbenn]

I think it is likely that the kids will mostly just want to play. If you're looking for an activity, how about a scavenger hunt? There could be clues hidden around leading to a basket of treats or goodies (could be stickers or candy or bubbles, etc.).

[urquie]

Balloons will keep kids busy for a long time! Get a pack of big, long, skinny ones (baseball bat size) and two packs of regular ones. Just playing with them was the hit of our last party.

To use up more time, we also used them for games... How many can you pick up and hold on to in one minute (we had some water balloon size as well, which was good for this game) and we let them race to pop the big ones by sitting on them. Then we threw water balloons through a little tykes hoop, which got even better when DH held a bucket, under the hoop, to catch and recycle the balloons. The kids loved his attempts to stay dry. :). At the end, we challenged them to pick up as many broken balloon pieces as they could. :D

[Mermanaid]

They will most likely entertain themselves but I do think it's a good idea to have something up your sleeve. Some things that my kids have loved:

Freeze dance
Cake walk (with small candies as winners)
Bowling (we have a small bowling game)
Toss (just get a rolled up sock or something and set up bowls in different distances and try to get sock in)

Do you have a theme? Maybe we can help with a game that ties in?

[anonomom]

Thanks for all of the great suggestions! We don't have a theme, really. Favors are tutus and wings I got from that halo heaven sale, but the decor and stuff is all just plain yellow (dd's favorite color).

[elbenn]

How about the tutus and wings being the treasure for the scavenger hunt? The clues could come from fairies.

[anonomom]

What a cute idea! I may try that.