Teenage Birthday Party Games

Pop Culture Games

It seems like every teenager is “in the know” about current events in music, television and gaming. Turn that knowledge into a fun birthday party game with your teen. These kinds of games are perfect coed party games. If you are not sure about what’s in and what’s out, recruit your teenager and neighbors to help come up with ideas.

Reality Television

If your son or daughter is a big fan of Survivor or The Amazing Race, turn it into a fun party game. Create obstacles or missions for the teens to complete. Survivor can be done individually or as teams, depending on how many people attend. Pair up people for The Amazing Race.

Survivor obstacles can be as difficult or as easy as you feel like making them, as long as they are physical. The Amazing Race requires a little more planning, as you must come up with some clues to send the pairs off and running to get to the final destination.

Reality television shows often make great all around teen party themes, so ask your son or daughter about making a themed party around his/her favorite program.

Game Shows

Classic game shows like Family Feud and Win, Lose or Draw are perfect for parties. You can also make up your own versions of new games, like Deal or No Deal, with gag gifts as the final “prize” in the box or suitcase. Turn Cash Cab into a fun trivia game that can be played if you have to pick up teens who are not yet driving - just use questions from a board game like Trivial Pursuit.

Video Game Challenge

Popular games like Guitar Hero can be played in a round-robin tournament. Offer food and drinks to kids who are not currently playing, and have a poster-sized bracket to follow the winners. Have a special prize available for the first place finisher, like a gift certificate to a local game store.

Indoor Party Games

Most indoor teenage birthday party games can be played outside if weather cooperates. Even if you have plenty of physical outdoor games planned, you may want a few back-up indoor party games ready to go just in case.

Indoor games that usually go over well with teenagers include:

• Truth or Dare: Just be sure to tell the kids you will not tolerate anything sexual or mean-spirited.
• Charades: Act out movies, songs, animals and more in this classic game.
• Mad Libs: Write a story about the birthday boy or girl. Have everyone fill in the blanks with nouns, verbs and adjectives, then read the final result aloud for everyone's enjoyment.
• Two Truths and a Lie: Teens should sit in a circle and tell everyone two truths and a lie. Everyone must guess which statement is the lie. This is a good game for teens who are new to an area and do not know people very well.
• Improv Scenes, Questions and Songs: Write down a few fun scenes for the teens to act out, such as arriving at a birthday party or asking a question in math class. Then, tell them that everything they say must be phrased as a question or as a song title. If they mess up, someone else takes their place until only one person is left.
• Talent Show: Although not exactly a game, having a talent show is a good way for teenagers to show-off to their friends and stay entertained. Give teens about 15 minutes to figure out what their talent will be with just the items available at the party. Though some will have actual talents, such as singing, that can be done anywhere, the improvised talents of most kids will be hilarious for everyone to watch.

Outdoor Party Games

The teen party activities you plan for outside depends on the theme of the birthday party. A teen pool party can involve pool basketball, Marco Polo or a relay race.

Flashlight tag is a great game for camping out birthday parties, where the person who is “it” holds a flashlight and must find kids who are hiding and running by shining it on them. As each person gets “caught,” they get a flashlight to help capture people. Water balloon toss games are also good for birthday parties, as balloons are easy to transport and can be filled wherever you camp.

Teens who live in urban areas may have a great time doing a scavenger hunt of local hangouts, restaurants and stores. The final place can be a pizza joint, bowling alley or movie theater—whatever the birthday person wants to do! If you cannot afford to treat everyone, make the final spot your home, where they all come back for food and drinks.

Teenage Birthday Party Games Tips

Planning games with your teenager is best. After all, if the person of honor is not enthusiastic about your birthday party ideas, his or her friends won’t be, either. If your games involve driving, be sure to get parental permission from all of the guests’ parents. Discuss with your teen what kind of behavior is appropriate during games and any house rules you have. Save the birthday cake for after the games have finished.

Teen parties do need supervision, so plan on popping in and out of the birthday party to occasionally check on how things are going. You may also need to be an emcee, referee or other moderator for various games.