Finding suitable party games for your teen’s birthday is never simple. At an age when they still want to have fun with their friends but also don’t want to engage in anything too childish (cue the eye rolls) either, the key is to find something that suits their interests and energy levels. Regardless if they want something physical, silly, challenging, simple, or even crazy – your teen is bound to have a good time with their friends when playing these hilarious party games!
Clean Your Room
Teenagers are the worst when it comes to keeping their rooms tidy and picking things up off the floor, and this game plays hilariously on that fact. Divide your yard or room into two halves and then split your teens into two groups, putting one group in each half, so each group is in their own “room”. Then, spread out evenly around both sides a large amount of one object (scrunched up balls, small bean bags, rolled up socks etc.).
On your signal, each team moves as fast as possible to pick up the discarded “rubbish” in their room by throwing it onto the other team’s half. Make a timer for however long you like – 2 minutes etc. – and then when it goes off, the winning team is the one with the cleanest room.
Knees and Elbows
Knees and Elbows is a classic party game but one that is always a huge hit. Divide the party into different teams of at least four. Fill a balloon with water and get the first kid to place this between their knees. Then get the group to pass the balloon down the line, using only their knees and elbows. If the balloon is dropped, they must return it to the start. The team that can get the balloon from one end to the other the quickest without dropping it (or popping it) wins!
Pass the Skittle
Similar to Knees and Elbows, but this time with a small plastic spoon and a skittle. Each player receives a small plastic spoon, which they must hold between their teeth. The first player has a skittle placed on their spoon and the object of the game is to see which team can transfer the skittle from one player to the next down the line the quickest. They cannot use their hands and can only do so by transferring the skittle from one spoon to the next.
Medusa
This game sounds very simple (and it is!), but it is also entertaining especially for large groups of teenagers. Start with the kids sitting or standing in a circle with their heads down. When you say “Go”, they all need to look up. When two people make eye contact, they need to scream out loud and play dead. This process of elimination continues until there is only one person left.
Escape Room
Escape Rooms are the ultimate teen activity, with themed rooms and puzzling problems to solve for them to get out. Just Google “escape room for teens near me”.
It is also relatively easy to set up your own escape room at your house by simply picking a theme and setting up the room accordingly. Then, make up and hide clues throughout the room that will lead to the final answer or code that means they can be “released”. Maybe get the kids to dress in the room theme for the party for extra fun? Indoor games like Escape Rooms are perfect for rainy birthdays and can be played in small groups.
If you are interested in escape rooms you might also want to read our huge list of fun activities for teenagers in Brisbane.
Who am I?
‘Who am I’ is similar to many fun party games out there but this one you can tailor to your child’s favourite celebrities and teachers. Put together a list of names of famous celebrities and then mix it up with their teachers and principal at school. Put each of these names onto a pile of post-it notes (enough for each guest at the party) and then stick them on each person’s forehead so everyone can see them except for the person it’s attached to.
Taking turns, each person gets to ask the group a “yes” or “no” question about who they are. The person who guesses right first is the winner.
Truth and Liars
This game involves writing the word “truth” on two cards and “liar” on the other. Get three guests to pick one of the cards each, looking at their own but not showing anyone what is written on it. All three of them receive the same question – something like, “what is the craziest thing you have ever done” or “what is something about you that you have never told anyone?”, “tell us something that happened to you when you were a little kid”, or “What is your earliest childhood memory?” Give them all a minute or so to think of their answer and then they need to respond.
The person who has “liar” on their card must try to tell a believable lie and the ones with “truth” must tell the truth. The rest of the kids need to decide who they think is telling the truth and who might be lying. If the liar is caught, they must perform a dare, but if the liar gets away with it, they get to pick another person to complete a dare.
Singing Bingo
Music is a big part of most teen’s daily life. They have their favourite artists and songs and can usually sing them on cue. Well, in this teen party game, music knowledge is an advantage! Before the party starts, make up a deck of cards with one word on each that is a heavily overused word in songs (like “Baby”, “Smile”, “Oh”, etc.). Players then take turns turning over a card and then trying to think of and sing part of a song that contains the word on the card. Giving them a time limit makes it all the more crazy and fun.
Stacked
Stacked is another fun and fast-paced yet straightforward party game for teenagers that is a stack of fun (mind the pun!). In Stacked, players create two pyramids by stacking plastic drinking cups on top of each other. Divide the teens into two groups and give them a softball each. Then, blindfold the first player in each group. Teams then move as fast as they can, with the blindfolded first player throwing their ball at the pyramid until they have knocked them all over.
When the first player on each team has knocked their stack over, they remove their blindfold and pass it to the next person on the team while they restack their cups. The next player then has their turn until each team member has knocked over a pyramid stack. The winning team is the first one to do so.
Balloon War
Balloon War has to be one of the best party games for teens as it is so simple yet requires some serious moves and cunning to win. As each party guest arrives, give them three helium balloons with their name on them, which they can tie to themselves from any point if they like, and a crayon. The goal of this game is then to go about the party as you usually would, but the whole time guests need to try to avoid getting their balloon popped by someone. The catch? You can’t use anything sharper than the crayon to pop them. Guests can’t hide their balloons, either.
Gummy Bear Picnic
This great game is a little messy but lots of fun. Buy a pack of tin pie pans and place ten gummy bear lollies spaced out in each one. Then, fill the pan with whipped cream until the gummy bears are hidden. To start the game, have each player sit at a table with the gummy bear and whipped cream-filled pan in front of them. On the word “Go!”, each player needs to dive in and find the gummies – but only by using their mouth! No hands allowed. The first person to remove all of their gummies is the winner!
Scavenger Hunt
A Scavenger Hunt is a great group game that teenagers love. You can play it at a shopping centre, a local park or around the house. There are so many different venue options – pick the one that your teen likes the idea of the most!
Give your teens a small list of things they need to find. They can then either work together to locate them all or as individuals. The goal of the game is to complete the list. For a small party, you may choose to do this at a specific shop – like Kmart – where each teen is given a small amount of money and a list of things like “something sparkly”, “something you can wear”, “a beauty item” etc. that they need to find. Alternatively, if you are at home, you can ask them to find something within the house and yard that starts with each letter of the alphabet. The options are endless, and the teens love this!
What about the Selfie Scavenger Hunt for older teens who can’t be without a phone in their hands? Give them a list, but they need to get a selfie with each item. Even funnier when they may be a living animal or person!
Know the Lyrics
Know the Lyrics is another fun teen party game perfect for teenagers who love music! Before the party, research the lyrics of their favourite songs and have a section of each song printed out on a card, minus a few words. Then, separate the group into teams; one by one, they need to draw a card. As a team,, they need to fill in the missing words correctly, and, for bonus points, they can put the name of the song and artist at the top. Further points for anyone willing to sing the song at the end too!
Capture the Flag
Capture the Flag is a classic game that is best played outdoors and with a little bit of space available. To play, you need to separate the guests into two teams and section out an area that is theirs. Each team receives a ‘flag’. The “flag” can be anything (a frisbee, a ball, an umbrella, even a small piece of towel. You can even start the game by getting each team to design their logo/team name and make up a flag to represent them.
Each team has time to hide their “flag” on their side of the playing space. It does not matter where but some small part of it must be visible to the other players. The idea of the game is then for players from each side to try to steal the other team’s flag without being caught. If they get tagged while in the other team’s space, they must go to their ‘jail’. You can only get out if another player from your team tags you (without being caught themselves).
The winner is the first team to capture the other team’s flag and get it safely back to their side without being caught. This game is so much fun and will keep the teens on the tip of their toes and entertained for ages!
Teen Choice Awards
Like all awards ceremonies that litter their social media feeds, Teen Choice Awards is one of those teenage party games that has friends vote and win prizes based on which category gets the most votes. Before the party starts, do up printed sheets with pre-planned award names and a line next to each one on them.
You can have a lot of fun with what the awards are based on the people who your teen has invited. Some suggestions might be things like the best dancer, best secret-keeper, best dresser, best hair, best jokes or maybe something like most likely to be famous when they are older, most likely to go to jail, most likely to go to bed first tonight etc.
When guests arrive, have them fill out their form and place a guest’s name next to each award. It is a great idea to have a parent tally up the votes during the party. At the end, you can host the awards ceremony – with winners getting a fun little prize!
Taste the Rainbow
Put a large bowl filled with skittles in the centre of the room. Make sure beforehand that there are the same amount of each colour of skittle in the bowl. Allocate one colour skittle to each player and hand them each a straw and a small bowl. On the word “Go”, all players must try to suck their colour skittle onto the end of their straw and transfer it to their bowl. No hands allowed! The winner is the first person who is able to empty all of their coloured skittles from the main bowl to their smaller one.
If you have more people playing than different colours of skittles, say it is the first person to collect one of each colour of skittle into their bowl that is the winner.
Blind Makeup Artist
Teenage girls and teenagers in general, nowadays are pretty amazing when it comes to applying their makeup, but how would they go when they can’t see what they are doing? In this game, two teams of players work together to put the perfect makeup on one of their teammates. While one person is getting the makeup put on them, another is the blindfolded artist. Each of the other members of the team must help direct the blindfolded artist as she does the application. The winning team is the one that can produce the best makeup!
Favourite Word Silence
This game is hilarious for a group of kids who know each other well. As each guest arrives, allocate them a word they are not allowed to say throughout the party. Ideally, it should be a word they are known to use all the time – it could be a phrase they use, a person they always talk about, etc. Write the word on a label and stick it on their clothes. Each person gets a lolly bag filled with the same amount of treats.
Whenever a guest says their word throughout the party and another person notices, they have to give one of their sweets to that person. The person with the most sweets in their bag is the winner – in more ways than one!
Spin and Dare
Spin and Dare is much like Spin the Bottle but much less touchy-feely. In this version, you need to fill a bowl with different dares. All silly, innocent and fun (depending on the age), the kids sit in a circle with a plastic bottle in the centre. One by one, they take turns spinning the bottle. Whoever it points to must select a dare from the bowl to perform. If they complete the dare, they can stay in the game and spin the bottle for the next turn. If they choose not to do the dare, then they are out.
Truth or Dare Balloons
The next game is another truth or dare option but involves balloons, music and dancing. Before the party starts, write a bunch of dares or truth questions on separate pieces of paper and place each in a balloon that is then blown up. Then, put on some tunes and get the kids to dance or move while feeding a balloon into the group.
The idea is they need to keep it up in the air by pushing it up when it comes to them and making sure it doesn’t touch the ground. If the balloon comes near someone who moves and it touches the ground, they need to pop it and answer the question or do the dare inside. Alternatively, when the music stops, whoever was the last person to push it up must do the same. After every round, throw in a new truth or dare balloon. Teens LOVE this game!
Foot Volleyball
An indoor or outdoor game, Foot Volleyball is a little bit silly but a great way to get a group shouting and laughing pretty quickly. Divide your party guests into two teams and have them lay generously on the floor on either side of a central net. This could be a piece of string tied between two chair legs. The rope shouldn’t be too high off the ground.
Get the kids to take their shoes off and use a balloon instead of an actual volleyball; teams must try to score points by kicking their balloon over the net and onto the ground of the opposing side. No hands are allowed (except when serving, as you will need to push it in the air before your first kick). It scores like a regular volleyball game – the winning team has the most points at the end!
Water Wars
This game is like paintball – but without the paint or pain from the hard shooting pellets. It is a good idea to play this outside and in a place with many objects and obstacles to hide behind and move around. Put the players into two teams (or three) and give each of them a plain white shirt, a head bandana of their team’s colour and a water gun. Each team should have several buckets of water that are coloured (using food or fabric colouring dye), each having its own colour. Then, it is all systems GO!
Players can run and hide to avoid being hit by the opposing team as each player takes aim and tries to spray their colour on the opposing team’s shirts. The winning team is the one that has the last player standing, uncoloured by the opposite team. This game can also be played with water balloons but it’s a lot less gentle.
Wink Assassin
Wink Assassin is one of those simple games that has been around for ages and is still a massive hit at teen parties. For this game, you need to scrunch up the number of pieces of paper that matches the number of people playing the game. They are all blank, except for one that should say “assassin” on it. All the kids should sit in a big, wide circle and then each take turns drawing a piece of paper out of a hat, making sure not to let on to the rest of the group if they have drawn the assassin sheet. Then, when the game starts, everyone must look at each other and make eye contact.
The killer will wink at one person (or two), and then that person must wait five seconds before they announce their death. The person who has drawn the assassin card must try to kill off the people in the game without them finding out it is them. After each death, the remaining members must discuss who they think the killer could have been. They can then accuse the person they think it is.
Only one accusation can be made each round. The game ends when either the killer is correctly accused or if they manage to be one of only three left.
MnM Mouth
MnM Mouth is one of those fun teen party games that is a little bit silly but pretty funny when it is being played. Place a large bowl of coloured skittles or MnMs on the floor and then get the group of teens to sit around it. Taking turns, players must close their eyes and draw two different sweets out of the bowl. If they are the same colour, they can eat them. If they are not, then they must put them in their mouth but not eat them. This process continues around the circle.
If you have a mouthful of lollies and then draw out a matching pair, you can eat all of the sweets in your mouth before your next go. If you spit any of the lollies out (easy to do when you have a mouth full and are trying desperately not to laugh), then you are out. The game continues until the last person is standing!
Spoons
This card game is fast and furious! To set up, sit in a circle and in the centre put enough spoons for every player minus one. Select a set of four matching cards (e.g. four kings) for each player, then shuffle the cards and deal them all out. Everyone passes a card to their left at the same time, and picks up the card from their right. The goal is to collect four matching cards then subtly pick up a spoon while still passing your given cards on so that no one notices.
If you see another player pick up a spoon, you can secretly take one too. The last player without a spoon is out of the game. Then simply remove a spoon and keep playing till you have a winner!
Karaoke
Teens love a good sing-along, and with karaoke versions of nearly all the latest hits available on YouTube, it’s easy to set up a fun karaoke lounge at home. You can score singers or groups as they do in your favourite TV singing talent show in order to reach a winner. Or play a game where each singer picks a word from a hat (you can each add a word before you begin) and has to sing part of a song with that word in. If they can’t think of a song, they’re out for that round, and the person left in at the end is the winner.
Messy Twister
This messy game is best played outside! Simply cover each coloured circle with something gooey of the same colour. We recommend washable paints or fun foods (think tomato sauce, blueberry jelly, custard and pesto!). It’s a slippery, slimy take on a classic party game! If you do the paint version, you could even provide plain white T-shirts for each party guest to wear and then take home as a party favour!
There are so many fun ideas you can play with when it comes to teen party game ideas that don’t involve video games. Just because they are a little older doesn’t mean they don’t still want to be silly and have fun with their friends, and these party games will make sure they have a great time.
What teen party games has your teen played and loved?
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