• A balloon relay gets kids moving.balloons 1 image by Pix by Marti from <a href='http://www.fotolia.com'>Fotolia.com</a>
  
  During a birthday party, games can serve as icebreakers and an energy release for cake-filled guests. As you plan games for your child's next party, keep in mind the ages and personalities of guests, and choose activities that can be tailored to fit the theme of the event. Select games that will encourage your guests to act silly.
  
  

Treasure Hunt

• To get guests moving around and working together, plan a treasure hunt. Before the party, hide a prize in your neighborhood and plot four different ways to get to it. Along each route, place several different clues that contain a cryptic message, riddle, or puzzle that leads to the next clue. At the beginning of the game, split the guests into four teams and hand out the first clue; teams must figure out their clue and head to the next spot. The first team that returns with the treasure wins.
  
  

Balloon Relay

• When you are throwing a birthday party for a younger child, hold a balloon relay to get guests giggling and running. Divide guests into teams of equal numbers and line them up on one side of a room or yard. On the other side, put down one balloon for each child that contains a small prize. When you blow a whistle, the first member of each team must run to the other side of the room, pop a balloon, claim their prize, and run back to tag the next person. The first team to finish first, wins. To make the game harder, inflate the balloons so they have plenty of elasticity left; this will make the balloons more difficult to pop.
  
  

Guess Who?

• For a theme party or a gathering where guests do not know each other well, you can encourage mingling by playing a version of Guess Who? As each guest arrives, use safety pins or tape to attach a paper cutout to their back. Use cutouts that go with the party theme or the interests of the guests: farm animals, famous celebrities, Star Wars characters, fairy tale princesses, or cartoon characters. Each person must ask the other guests yes and no questions to learn more about the character on their back. The first person to guess correctly wins.