Party Indoor Games

Every theme party, birthday party or celebrations should include some form of party games. Whether your party will be outdoors or indoors always keep a list of fun party games to play.

When planning your party games, consider the guests you will be inviting and their ability to play. Children usually like lots of quick participation games and adults usually like games that challenge their physical or mental abilities.

Either way,choose games that coincide with your party theme.


WHO IS IT?

Supplies: Variety of magazines, posterboard, glue, marker, pencils and paper.

Object of game: Guess who each person is.

Buy a copy of a weekly gossip magazine, sports magazine or newspaper. Cut out photographs or celebrities, politicians, pop stars, ball players, television or movie stars. Glue them to a posterboard. Number the photographs.

How to play: Have each guest look at the photographs on the posterboard. Have each guest guess number their paper and guess the identities. The person who got the most correct, wins.

MESSAGE PUZZLE

Write a message, related to the theme on a lightweight cardboard. Cut it into pieces. Have guests put puzzle together and read message. First player to complete, wins.

PIN THE "????" ON THE "????"

Put a twist on Pin the Tail on the Donkey by adapting it to your party theme.

Pin the Patch on the Pirate (Pirate Party)
Pin the Nose on the Clown (Carnival or Circus Party)
Pin the Flower on the Stem (Springtime or Garden Party)
Pin the Basketball on the Hoop (Basketball Party)
Pin the Kiss on the Spouse/Partner (Couples Party)
Pin the Wheels on the School Bus (Back to School Party)
Pin the Dots on the Dominos (Dominos Party)

WHO AM I?

Have each guest choose a celebrity they want to be and write it on a piece of paper. Fold paper. Ask each guest to ask yes or no questions until the celebrity is revealed.

Take turns. One question per guest.

Questions can be: Is it a woman? Are they bald?

The one who guesses correctly gets to be the next celebrity.

CHARADES

Divide the guests into 2 teams. Play a traditional game of charades using the names of movies, books, TV shows and songs.

If your having a party theme, adapt the guesses to your theme.

Example:

Baseball players for a Baseball Party.
Names of Dinosaurs for a Dinosaur Party.
Famous Pirates for a Pirate Party.

GUESSING GAME

Fill a jar with pennies, marbles or other item related to your party.

Tape the correct number on a piece of paper to the bottom of the jar. Each guest writes their name and guess on a piece of paper.

The winner keeps the jar of goodies.

MAP IT OUT

Materials: One map of the same state for each team. One pencil for each team captain.

Gather teams around a map on a table. The team selects a captain.

The object of the game is to spot locations of cities first.

The leader calls out the name of a city. The group hunts for it on the map. When found, the captain must draw a circle around it and raise his or her pencil high in the air. The first hand to go up wins one point for his or her team.

The first team to reach 21 points is the winner.

RIDICULOUSLY FUNNY INTERVIEWS

Materials: Pencil and paper.

Have the players write down the responses to the following questions or commands.

1)Write a number between 1 and 50. 2) Yes or No? 3) A number, not over 20, or none. 4) A measurement, not more than 3 yards. 5) A weight, not over 350 pounds. 6) An occupation. 7) Another occupation. 8) A number, not over 100. 9)A sum of money. 10) Another sum of money. 11) Names of two well-known living people. 12) One vice and one virtue.

Prior to the party have the following questions written down. Do not show them to any of the guests. Read each question in order and ask for some group responses.

1) What is your age? 2) Are you married? 3) How many children, if any? 4) What is your height? 5) What is your weight? 6) What is your last occupation? 7) What occupation do you desire? 8) How many years were you at your last job? 9) What was your weekly salary there? 10) What salary do you now require? 11) Do you have any references? 12) What are your chief characteristics?

SPELLING TEST

Prior to the party, prepare about 120 small alphabet cards, cut up from index cards, each containing one letter of the alphabet.

Write out 25 words for the players to spell.

Divide the players into teams.

Scatter the alphabet cards face down on a table. Players are to run to the table and look for the letters in the word said. They must pick up a letter, look at it, and replace it face down if it is not the letter they want. Then the next player in line searches for a letter until all the letters to the word are found.

The first team to spell the word correctly earns a point.

The team with the most points is the winner.

AIR PING PONG

You need teams of 8 to 10 people.

Materials: Ping-Pong balls and table.

Form two teams on opposite sides of the table. The object of the game is to score 21 points.

Two teams sit or kneel on opposite sides of the table. Players keep their hands behind their backs. A Ping-Pong ball is dropped in the middle of the table by the leader and players are instructed to blow the ball across the table and off the edge of the other side, scoring a point for their own team. All balls going off the end of the table are dropped in the middle again.

Team who scores 21 points first is the winner.

OTHER GAMES

• Apples to Apples. • Backgammon. • Battleship. • Bingo. • Checkers. • Chess. • Clue. • Dominos. • Game of Life. • Hangman. • Mancala. • Monopoly. • Parchesi. • Pictionary. • Poker. • Scene It. • Sorry. • Trivia. • Uno.