Kid Birthday Party Games - Pre-teens
By MissTy (Tania Collins), Fri Dec 9th

Pre-teens are no longer wanting to play kiddie games but are notyet teenagers. They will not want to play running games yet arenot really ready to just hang out. Here are some ideas for yourpre-teen party.

Untie the Knot Place the guests in two separatecircles. Ask them to raise a hand and take hold of someone'shand on the opposite side of their circle. Then, using theirfree hand, grab the hand of a different person close by. Withoutletting go they must try unravel themselves. The first team todo so is the winner.

Matching Characters Identify couples from real lifeor fiction like Lady Di and Charles, Peter Pan and Wendy orWillie Wonka and Charlie. Place a piece of paper on eachpersons' back identifying them. Each person then asks 1 questionfrom every other person till they discover who they are. Theymay only ask questions such as am I male or female, a fictionalcharacter or real person, dead or alive, etc. Once they identifythemself, they can start looking for their partners. The winnersare the first matching couple.

Toilet Paper Game This is a wonderful ice breaker -especially if the guests don't know each other well. As eachguest arrives ask them to take a strip of toilet paper off aroll. When everyone is there get the guests to sit in a circle.Starting with the

birthday person, each person must revealsomething about themselves equal to the number of squares theytore off. You could also pass a bowl of sweets around. Tell eachguest to take a hand full. They must tell a secret for eachsweet they took.

Balloon Defense Tie a balloon to each persons' ankle.The idea is to try stamp on each other's balloons to pop themwithout having yours burst. Here are tons more wonderful balloon games.

Note for Note Have a selection of popular CD's(preferably of mixed artists) and a CD player which allows youto fast forward to the middle of a song. Press play anywhere inthe middle of a song and play for 2 seconds. Whoever identifiesthe song first gets a toothpick. The one with the mosttoothpicks in the end wins. You could have them identify thesong or artist.

Questions and Answers Get each person to write away-out question on a piece of paper. Fold and place in a bowl.Ask them to write a line from their favorite song on anotherpiece of paper. These are the answers. Pass the questions aroundand let every one take one. Each person gets a turn to readtheir question, then take an "answer" from the second bowl andsing it if they know the song. Some really hilarious answers toquestions come out! And strange versions to songs too.

Stork the lantern This game is played best outside atnight. One child is "it" and sits with a flashlight or lantern.They must look at the light. The other children move out intothe dark. They try get as close to the lantern as possible. Theperson with the light tries to listen for noises or spotmovement. Then they can look up and say something like "I seeyou with the red shirt". That person then sits down. The childthat gets the closest to the lantern wins.

Bubble blowing No not just any bubbles but big oddshaped bubbles. You will need a good bubble solution and shaped wire tocreate these huge bubbles.

Use these ideas, they are sure to be a hit.

About the author:Tania is a mom to two lively redheads, for whom she lovesthrowing parties. Blessings from Africa MissTy (TaniaCollins) I get all my free printable invitations from hereballoon games.