Well, you’re not the first person who spent all your extra money on a birthday cake, gifts and decorations for your son or daughter’s party. Forgot about the games? Go grab some water bottles. With them, you can play any number of games that are fun for kids of all ages.
Set full water bottles up across the lawn, spacing them about two feet apart, and aligning as many as you want. Give kids a plastic bat or play golf club and have them go from one end to the other, batting the golf ball, and weaving it in and out of the bottles. Don’t have a golf ball and clubs? Space the bottles further apart and let kids kick the ball in and out of the water bottle arrangement. Time the kids to see who the winner is.
If you have no ball at all, but you do have water bottles, have kids hop on one leg, in and out of the bottles. Or, have them do the crab walk, baby crawl or other silly maneuver.
Set up 10 water bottles, which are half full, in a bowling pin arrangement. Fill a separate bottle all the way full and use it as the bowling ball. Give kids two chances to see how many bottles they can knock down by standing behind a designated line and rolling the bottle like a bowling ball.
A fun game for all kids to play at the party is done by giving each child a full water bottle. Have the kids put a bottle between their two feet, and at the call of “go”, have kids hop to a designated finish line, keeping the bottle between their feet as they hop.
Make a different game with water bottles when you get five or so and have kids toss them into a bucket, bin or other container. Have them stand behind a certain line and throw the empty bottles to see which child gets the most bottles in.
Raining outside? You can still use a water bottle to play an indoor game. Empty out the water and fill the bottle with things from around the house, like a ribbon, paper clip, marble, pencil, bead and other things. Put about 20 objects inside the bottle and hand the bottle to one child. Have the kids take a look in the bottle then pass it to another child. Remove the bottle from the room then have kids write down as many of the 20 items that they can remember. Be sure you make your own list, as you add the things to the bottle, so you can quickly check it to see if the kids’ written items match up with what’s in the bottle. In case of a tie, ask the kids questions like “Did the ribbon have a knot in it?”, “Was the pencil sharpened?” and similar ones until you establish a winner.
No, you’re not the first person to forget about birthday party games while getting a cake, food, gifts and decorations. But, no worries. Kids will have a lot of fun this year and they’ll never know you forgot the games – they’ll just think your family knows how to throw a party!
