Your teenager may tell you that he is too old for birthday games, but if you pick the right one, your teen might change his tune. In fact, most teenagers love any type of game that involves competing against their peers, and if the game has an element of strategy or skill. Keep it cool by limiting the amount of parental supervision needed and providing a few outstanding prizes, and your teen is sure to have a great time playing games at his birthday party.
Size
Consider the size of the group of teens before you plan the games. Smaller groups lend themselves to games where individuals can compete with each other, while larger groups of teenagers do best in games where they can compete as groups. Be sure to provide enough game supplies for everyone involved.
Considerations
Consider your neighbors when planning a teenager’s birthday party. If the teens are going to participate in outdoor games, you might want to warn the neighbors first. The same suggestion applies if you live in a connected building, and you are going to make some noise. In addition, be sure to remind the teenagers not to engage in any suspicious behavior, such as sneaking into a neighbor’s yard to take a picture of a scavenger hunt item.
Prizes
Teenagers are too old for party favor bags, but they are not too old for prizes. Replace the typical gift bag with cool prizes for the winners of the games. This could include gift cards for music or videos, cash, headphones, or accessories such as an MP3 player holder.
Outdoor Games
Scavenger hunts are a great outdoor game to play with teenagers. Create a list of items, perhaps with a birthday theme, (such as, “a house with balloons outside of it”) and send each group of teenagers to take pictures of the items with a digital camera. Relays are also fun to play with teenagers, especially if you create a fun obstacle course (such as “swimming” through a toddler pool), but you might have to entice the shyer teens with a cool prize.
Indoor Games
Most teenagers love video games. Take advantage of this by hosting a video game contest. Compete with a singing game, or divide the teens into groups and play one of the games that involves musical instruments. Video games that involve dance contests are also a hit at birthday parties, especially with girls. Make it even more interesting by making the guests compete while wearing birthday hats. Or, break out the video camera and see who can make the funniest music video. Card games are another good indoor game idea, but only if you make it interesting. Host a birthday poker party, for example, complete with a green felt-covered poker table and bet with candy or gift cards.
Photo Credit
- teen on the party with noise-maker image by Alexey Klementiev from Fotolia.com
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