[regandrog]

I've decided to have my twins bday party at home this year, the past couple of years we have gone somewhere, anyway so now they are 8yo I thought I might need to upgrade from pass the parcel and musical chairs.

I'm just starting to think what might work best for a mix of boys and girls.

So any ideas of cool party games for this age group would be great.

TIA

[Lynken]

How about a mini relay course? The kids can cheer each other on. Have different stations with funny little activities.

EG:
Run to first station and put on a pair of Dad's shorts and a big floppy hat. Run to second station and blow 6 bubbles with your eyes closed. Run to third station and sing "head, shoulders, knees and toes" loudly with actions. Run back to first station, take off clothes, tag next person.

There are lots of ideas for stations that kids that age should be able to do: sing "Twinkle Twinkle" while doing jumping jacks, duckwalk a figure eight, write your name on a chalkboard with your eyes closed, say the alphabet backwards starting from J, etc...

If you're inviting a lot of kids, have teams otherwise it could take ages!

[hjv]

the clinker game

everyone gets a clinker and has to predict what colour it is on the inside (write it down as they may 'forget ' what their original answer was later
then everyone sucks off the the chocolate and you get a point if you get it right. first to 2 points wins

winking murder is very popular with my 7 and 9 year olds

person who can transfer the most smarties froom 1 bowl to another using a straw

pass the parcel but with little notes on each layer eg who can hop on one foot the longest, person with longest hair. Parcel gets passed to that person to start the next round of passing along

have fun!

[Sambambino]

Instead of games how about a craft activity.

I always do a themed party and add an activity to match the theme.

Last year DD had a Princess party and I bought wooden fairy wands for girls and pirate cutlasses for boys. The kids decorated these at the party.

This year she had a Rockstar party. I picked up bonds style singlets in KMArt for $1 each and bought a heap of badges, chain, ribbons and stick on gems. The kids had a ball decorating their own rock star singlets.

You could do a Masterchef Party - get kids to make their own pizzas (or add toppings to pre made bases or pita breads), make cookies or decorate cupcakes.

[Julie3Girls]

Keep pass the parcel, but make it more interesting - each layer has a note "Sing a nursery rhyme", "everyone hug the person next to them", "do 10 spins" etc etc. After they follow the instructions, you throw the person who unwrapped the layer a treat

Races - balloons between their legs. Pair them up and they have the race keeping the balloon between them. 3 legged races.

If it's hot, do something with water - pair them up with a water balloon, and they have to throw the balloon back and forwards. Last ones to still have their balloon win.
Water pistols.
Break them into teams - bucket at one end filled with water, bucket at the other end empty, mark it a halfway up the bucket. Use a cup, and they have to carry water from one bucket to the other as a relay. First team to fill up to the line wins.

[naomi_j86]

*Eating donuts off a string attached to the clothesline

*Treasure hunt - I bought a few packs of pirate coins from the $2 shop and hid them around the backyard. Can be done with lollies too.

*Pinata

*Biscuit decorating

*Musical statues

Are you having a theme?

[regandrog]

THanks for the ideas, we ended up with a Kids vs backyard theme (ie Bear Grylls Man vs Wild)

So we had an obstacle course, pinata (hunting our food), treasure hunt with compasses, make a popsicle raft, gross food challenge.

Turned out great.
25 kids and they all survived!

[Bam1]

Even better, you survived. Sounds like it was a great party.