Picture the scene, you've planned you party down to the last detail. If you're overly organised like me you may even have a running order of all the games and activities you plan to have during the party. But then what happens - that big craft activity you have planned to take at least 20 minutes, has been completed in all but 5 minutes, now you have at least 15 minutes extra to fill before the parents arrive to pick up their children.
So what do you do? There are only so many rounds of musical bumps you can play, and you can only slow down the gaps between pass the parcel for so long before the kids loose interest! So here are The Party Pirate's top 10 quick and easy standby party games, that require no planning or equipment and will keep the kids entertained right until the end of the party.
Balloon races.
Ok so we said no equipment, but surely there must be a balloon or 2 lying around at a kids party! Divide the guests into 2 groups and have them stand in 2 lines. Then give the front of each line a balloon and they have to try and pass it through their legs to the back of the line. The the person at the back holding the balloon runs to the front and starts all over again. You can keep going until you are back to the original leader at the start of the line. First group to finish are the winners. You can vary this for older kids by passing a small ball or orange under their chins.
Memory Game.
Grab a selection of 10 or so random items and lay them out in front of the children. Then either cover the objects of get everyone to close their eyes (no peeking!), and hide one of the objects. See who can guess which object is missing.
Pass the message.
You might remember this one from the playground. Everyone sits in a circle. the first person thinks of a sentence of phrase and whispers it to the person next to them, they then whisper it to their neighbour and so on until you reach the last person who says out loud the massage they have heard. Guaranteed to end up in lots of giggles.
Sleeping Lions.
A great game for younger guests when they need to unwind a little. Everyone lies of the floor and pretends to be asleep, the party host can then go round and tickle them to try and wake the lions. Last one to wriggle is the winner.
Sly Fox.
The party boy or girl stands at the front or the room with their back to everyone. Starting from the other end the others must try and creep up on him without him seeing them. Every now and then the he can turn round quickly and the others must freeze. If anyone is caught moving they are out.
Hunt the thimble.
Send the guests out of the room, while you hide a thimble or small object. See who can be the first to find it.
I went to the shop and bought…
Each player adds an item to the list and must also repeat the rest of the list, who will be the first to forget something?
Mummy Wrap.
Divide into 2 teams. Choose a "mummy" from each team and the other players must see who can be the first to wrap their mummy by covering them in toilet paper.
Freeze Tag.
This one needs a lot of space so is best played outside. Just like a regular game of tag, but when you get caught you have to freeze and stop running until another player comes past and crawls through your legs to unfreeze you.
Simon Says.
Another old classic. Simon tells the rest of the players what to do - "put your hands on your head" etc, but if they don't say "Simon says" first, don't follow the instructions or you're out!
