Birthday Party Game and Craft Ideas

I would try to find something active to do... Bingo and lanyard making both involve sitting in one spot. For this age group, sit down games = boring. You could do the lanyard, as that would be actually making something that can be taken home... But I definitely wouldn't pair it with a sit-down game.

Maybe a relay race, or water balloon volleyball. (Use water balloons as a ball, and the kids work in teams of two with a bath towel to catch the balloon and toss it back over the net.)

If it's indoor, balloon tennis would be fun. Make rackets with paper plates attached to a stick, and they bat a balloon back and forth. Make some ridiculous rules to go with it.

Or, buy a bunch of cheap water guns and let them have a water fight.

I would come up with some physical games they could play because kids generally are all jazzed up for a birthday party. Limbo, relay races, tag, water balloon toss, etc. then you could attempt a craft or a game like bingo and have snacks or a meal. If your boys are interested in the lanyards, you could attempt it but is may be too quiet an activity for boys.

Bingo sounds good, however, it might be hard to "wrangle" boys of that age into "sitting" down to play. Might be better to have some more active
games esp for the 11 yr olds. I'm just going to throw out a bunch of ideas.
You can decide what is best.
-A craft might not be so good.
-How about things like:
-a small mini golf course in the backyard w/4 holes. Get a bunch of cheap golf clubs (or buy kiddies ones) & just trying making it into the hole.
-You have a string strung across two poles, tight. Then you hang a donut
hanging from the piece of string, ppl kneel w/their hands behind their
back & try to eat the donut. First one wins.
-A pinata?
-If you're going to do a craft, I'd suggest making a "car". A small one. The
body out of wood, they paint.
-Borrow some scooters from friends, have helmets & have them ride around the backyard if you have a lot of cement/patio.
-Have a video game for them to play on a tv w/2 ppl playing at a time for 30 mins if they get restless (diff age groups may end up doing this).
-Buy a few soccer balls for the backyard including a few goal nets.
-Do you have a basketball net? Get about 6 basketballs.
-Buy about 6 kick balls from the Dollar Store just for fun to have around.
-You can hand out puzzles (15 pcs), keychains w/some candy.
-Serve pizza, hot dogs, cookies, chips, pretzels.

I think Bingo would be a little slow for that age group. However, if you make your own Bingo cards with animals or foods instead of numbers, that may make it a bit more entertaining.

There is one activity we do at EVERY birthday party we throw - Get those mini powdered doughnuts and tie twine or string through them. Hang them from a broom handle just above the heads of the kids, one at a time. Have the kids keep their hands behind their backs and have them try to bite the doughnut off the string. It's a blast because the kids get powdered sugar all over their faces and the kids love watching each contestant attempt to eat them. It's also fun to plop the doughnut on their faces and then lift it just before they are able to bite! :D

We typically give out the snacks/goody bags right as the kids leave. This helps with mess and trash...

I had this same dilemma last week - back up plan for my son's 8-1/2 birthday pool party (we always are away for his actual birthday) and storms were predicted. He wanted to set up a rotating game station - chess, checkers, Battleship, etc (kids could sit down and only commit the time to one game before they moved on) and a second craft/game called Clay Master. Apparently one person is the clay master and selects an item (you can make cards with choices on them before hand). Then everybody has 3 minutes to produce their own clay sculpture of that item. Secret ballot (that is heads down, hands up vote) for the best creation. The winner gets to be clay master for the next round

Thankfully the weatherman was wrong and we had fine weather for the kids to be outdoors. Because no sane person wants a herd of 8 year olds running through their home.

While the kids did not stop moving outdoors, I think they would have been fine playing less active games indoors. After all, these are school age kids and many of them have attended movie parties requiring them to remain quiet and in their seats for a full movie.

I think Bingo might be ok, or might be too time consuming. Try running a round w/ the family to see about how long it takes. I dinged Yahtzee from our game list because I thought it would be too time consuming and kids couldn't join or drop out easily.

I don't really know about the lanyards. I think a craft idea would be fine though. My son has done several small crafts at the camps he has been attending this summer. Zoo camp, aviary camp and day camp all seem to do crafts. And the kids seem to enjoy them and not have any issue that they need to stop running to do them.

If you can have the party outdoors, 100% do so. Then you can honestly just set up a sprinkler or a badminton net, bocce set, croquet course or water balloons or even just throw a bunch of different balls around the yard and let them go. If they can be outdoors, I don't think you need specific organized activities. I do love badminton, bocce and croquet for parties. These are likely to be fairly new games to the kids, nobody plays them competitively (ok nobody under age 60) and they are fun. Even the non athletic kids are usually happy to participate.

I recently had a birthday party at my house for my 6 year old. I had all these simple relay type games planned- sack race, egg on spoon...they went well because they were active games. But really, they had a blast just playing in the yard- they make up their own play and I almost hated to stop them for the games. I would not do Bingo or a craft (too time consuming), but maybe with girls it would work a little better?? My son, who loves crafts btw, never really wants to stop playing with friends for a craft. I also did water balloons and a pinata, both were a huge hit.

I don't think that is a good age group, especially boys, to expect to sit down and play a game or craft.

They are old enough that they can pretty much come up with their own entertainment. As the birthday boy what he wants.

You got great ideas from others on activities that would keep them active and busy.

My daughter is turning 9 in a few weeks and what we've been doing the past few bday parties, and the kids really seem to enjoy it - I purchase several 'prizes' from the Dollar store, (usually one for each guest) wrap them up and then we play games. when someone wins, they get to pick their prize, unwrap and take home. Everyone wins! Last year we played Bingo but only about 4-5 girls wanted to participate. When I Googled birthday party games, I found so many fun ideas! When it comes to crafts, I've noticed that if you set up a station with instructions (if necessary) the kids will wander over there when and if they want to. Tattoos are really popular!

Scavenger hunts are fun too. You can do stuff they can get on your street, or if you'd rather, hide stuff in your yard. They had a blast. We've also done water balloon toss, some variation of "pin the tail" (like bones or eyeballs on a skull at Halloween), etc. Stuff that keeps them moving and doesn't take more than 10-15 minutes to play seem to work the best. (google games for that age group - you'll get some awesome ideas.) I usually do a little prize for the winner of each game and grab bags. As a side note, I always put bubbles in my bags if I make them (six packs are Walmart are really affordable), although once we did a car/hot wheels themed party and each boy got a different hot wheel car when they left. Way cheaper than bags and they loved them.

I think the plastic lanyards are hard to work with and they take a lot of time. I used to work on one for an entire week at camp and then never knew what to do with it.

Check the Dollar section at Target or a craft store. You can often find craft kits for $1-$3. At Target I recently bought some sand art kits, some beaded lizards and lady bugs, wooden race cars and boats to build and paint, and fabric daypacks to decorate with fabric paint or markers. None of the kits cost more than $3. They have been great for rainy days with my own kids.

For my daughter's party in a couple of weeks we are painting wooden dragons that I bought at Michaels Crafts. I think they were $3 a kit.

Another idea might be simple science experiments. Check Pinterest for ideas. I've seen a ton of them this summer. Most of them use common household items. They could mix up their own slime to take home.

Sponge ball water fight ... We just had one with the neighborhood kids from ages 3-10 and it was a lot of fun. Like a water balloon fight, but you can reuse the sponges and you don't have to clean up little bits of balloon for the next year.

http://www.createcraftlove.com/2013/06/sponge-ball-water-...

Kids in that age group want to run and play and jump and yell.

Waterfight. Slip and slide. Nerf guns. Movie, popcorn and pizza. Popsicles.

Don't worry about having stuff to give them. It will be in the trash or forgotten by the end of the week. Cupcakes or cake is enough of a treat.

I can honestly say that these kids are likely going to be too old to do much other than hang out and eat cake. I would ask birthday boy what he wants to do and if he says nothing then don't plan anything extra.

My boys turned 7 and 9 this year and originally wanted a sports party. They wanted friends over to play baseball, football, basketball, run, and play. They wouldn't have sat down to do a craft. When we have a friend or two over for them they are playing all the time - and mostly moving around.

So I suggest you find active things for them - but if it's bad weather you have gotten some good ideas.