Throwing Fabulous Birthday Parties

“Omg! It's my friend's birthday in one week's time!” You shout. “And I haven't prepared yet!!” Found yourself in this kind of situation before? I hope this guide will aid you in birthday party planning.

This can also be used for ice breakers or welcome parties.

Places

Now obviously, where should we hold the party?

1. At your house
2. At a mutual friend's house
3. At your favourite hangout, eg: a shopping centre, ice skating rink, or even a theme park
4. If you are rich, you can hold it at a chalet or a hotel

Things to do

First of all, this depends on the number of people you invite. Bear in mind that some people prefer smaller groups while others prefer large crowds. Which of them is your friend/relative etc?

Preparation should not be a daunting task. You definitely need food and drinks. Just get them from the nearest supermarket?? You must plan your party schedule and get the list of number of guests attending. Decide the games you want to play and how you want to play them.

Basic questions:

1. Who is coming?
2. When is the party held? (Date and time)
3. Where is the party held?
4. What are we going to do there?

Types of games you can play

1. Board games:
2. Card games: Uno, Big Two, Blackjack, and Bridge… Usually fun and easy entertainment for older party-goers
3. Computer games: Warcraft, DOTA, Counterstrike, Runescape, Maple story, Audition, Gunz, Gunbound and so on. If the whole group of friends love these, why not? Of course, these are more suited for guys.
4. Video/arcade games: Car racing, Para Para Paradise, Dance Dance Revolution and so on. Provided if any of you has the required gadgets. You can even go to arcades to play with your friends.
5. Outdoor games: football, basketball, badminton, bicycle tailgating, Catching, bowling…
6. Children games: Musical chairs, What is the time Mr Wolf and so on
7. Other party games (which will be written below)

PS: Make sure you cater for the guests and take into consideration what they like and do not like. We do not want to leave people out.

Common and Crazy Games

Before the party, we can have some sort of Secret Santa game. For those who do not know what a Secret Santa is, everyone has to draw lots to choose someone whom he/she has to give presents to. They can't let anyone know who he/she is giving presents to…

Double Dare

You can choose the victims in any style you like - spin the bottle, go according to a certain order or: spin the bottle the first round and get the “victim” to choose another friend.

This game has 5 options:

• Truth
• Dare
• Torture
• Kiss: kiss someone
• Promise: Promise something lame

The options are self-explanatory. Common Dares:

1. Write [fill in blank] with your butt
2. Call someone and say you love him/her
3. Dance with someone of the opposite gender [especially someone another person doesn't like]
4. Smack someone's butt
5. Dare the person to stuff his/her mouth with marshmallows or eat food that he/she hates

Bad Taste/good taste party:

Prepare a box with all sorts of clothes and accessories, from the most nerdy ones to the most fashionable ones.

Treasure Hunt/Scavenger Hunt

For treasure hunt, one person will set up Clue #1. Clue #1 will lead to Clue #2 which will lead to Clue #3 and so on until the “treasure”. Depending on the number of people, there can be team or individual competitions to spice things up. Be creative!

The disgusting food game

Prepare many food items and blindfold the birthday boy/girl. Then, mix the food together and feed him/her. Another version is to pass food from mouth to mouth or legs to legs and the person who drops the food has to eat it.

Blindfold obstacle challenge

Have two teams. Nominate one person from each team, maybe the birthday boy/girl, and blindfold him or her. Set up an obstacle course. The teammates must shout commands to allow the person to navigate around the course. However, words like up, down, left, right (in any language) cannot be used. So, they must invent their own codes.

Aiming game

Set up bowling pins or darts and start aiming.

Concentration

“Concentration, concentration, this is the game of concentration…”

Each person will have certain codes or actions. You have to call your own code/action first before you call any friend's. People who fail to react on time will have forfeits of course.

Competition/Crazy Olympics

Divide groups into two. Get everyone in each group to randomly label themselves 1-10 or depending on how many people are there. Then, the leader will randomly call out 1 number and they have to compete with each other in certain categories.

Suggested:

1. Whose hand, leg etc is bigger
2. Who can walk from place A to place B with the smallest number of footsteps
3. Who can name the most number of countries (or anything else) in a certain time limit
4. Who can shout louder
5. Who can memorize the most number of telephone numbers (or whatever) in a certain time limit
6. Who can shout for the longest amount of time without breathing
7. Sports can be included too, like racing, swimming, roller skating…

Pillow Fights:

Themed pillow fights can be held. For example, pillow fights imitating teachers or containing elements of a favourite computer game or television show.

Musical Contests

Play a song and everyone has to guess its title.

Another variety is to write singer names or song names on a card. Then, the contestants have to play the songs on musical instruments or sing them out. They have to guess the song and singer.

I have come to the end of my article. I sincerely hope that the information in the article has aided you. Let your imagination run wild and you can find many ways to play the games. Good luck in your party planning.