Birthday Party Games For Teenagers

*This post contains affiliate links. Please see my policy tab for more information.


Since Mariah's birthday falls in the summer, we usually have an easy time planning out party activities to do. This year, after getting everything planned out, we were hit with rain. So, this meant that I had to start brainstorming on fun party games that teenagers would actually like to play. I'll admit, I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to pull it off, but under pressure, I got it done!

Here are some of the games that we ended up playing, and the next day all the kids were raving on their Facebook pages about how this was the best party ever! So, I guess these aren't too lame for the teenager set :)

Balloon Pop- Cut up small strips of paper. Write "winner" or "loser" on each piece. Roll each strip up, place 1 piece each in a balloon. Blow balloon up, tie it closed. Have each guest take turns popping the balloons. If they pop a “winner” they get a small prize (I used candy bars). If they lose, nothing.

Yankee Swap- Have a wrapped gift for each child. The first person gets to pick a gift off the prize table and unwrap it. The second person then gets to pick and open a gift. They then decide if they want to keep their gift or exchange it for the gift the first person opened. If they want the other gift, that person must trade. 
Keep going down the line until all the kids have picked a gift and kept or traded them. The game ends when the person who opened the first gift gets to decide if they want to keep the gift they have or change it out for any of the other players. *I used dollar store items. I had a mixture of good and bad gifts to keep it entertaining. It was quite funny when a boy would end up with hair ties or princess stuff. I also told them before anything was opened, there were good prizes and not so good prizes, so they wouldn't expect all great things.

Here is a picture of the prizes that we used:

Who Am I?- Write a name of a famous person or character and attach it to each persons back, without letting them see it. They then have to ask each other player 1 question trying to get clues as to who their character is. Then they all have to say who they think they are. We used names like President Obama, Spongebob, ect. The sillier, the better.

Silly String Fight- This one is quite messy, but the kids have a blast with it. You can pick up cans of silly string at the dollar store for a buck a can.

How Well Do You Know Your Friends?- Make up printed sheets and write down categories like favorite toothpaste, shoe size, favorite color, etc. Have the same categories for each person playing. Then everyone must guess each answer about each player. See who knows their friends best.

Good Old Fashioned Board Games like Taboo, Apples to Apples, Scattergories and Mad Gab will keep your guests cracking up!

Balloon Pop 2

Each player ties a balloon to their ankle. They have to try to pop everyone else's balloons by stomping on them. The one with the last balloon still in tact wins. (Kids will try to be smart and blow their balloons the size of a fist so it doesn't pop easily. We made rules that if there are 2 people at the end of the game and it is taking more than 5 minutes for a winner, the one with the smaller balloon loses- Or, you could just have them all blow up the balloons the size of a head for the rules.)

Candy Bar Game

This is a matching game, like Memory and a guessing game too. Buy some candy bars. Make sets of cards for each candy bar. Write out a word or phrase on 2 cards that describe that candy bar. For example- Snickers we wrote out "A little giggle". When a player matches 2 cards with that description, they then guess which candy bar it is referring to. I found this idea on Family Reunion Helper. They have a ton of ideas for phrases to use with many different bards. You can find their list HERE. (I also threw in some non matching cards and wrote funny teen pop culture on there like "Team Edward or Team Jacob?" Different book and movie quotes that had them laughing made the game more fun too.) When they make a match and guess correctly, they get to keep that candy bar.

Scavenger Hunt 

If they are old enough and responsible, a neighborhood scavenger hunt is fun. I split the kids into 2 teams and gave them each a list and 30 minutes to find things on the list from around the neighborhood. Instead of treasures for them to collect, I had them take a picture of their finds, then I verified they found those items when they got back. We had things like "a mailbox with a photo on it, a white house with black shutters, a grill, etc. The team with the most items found wins.

Make sure you give them time to just hang out with their friends too!