26 of the Best Party Games for All Ages and Occasions

Scavenger hunt

A classic scavenger hunt can be a great way to keep the family entertained. Whether it be around the house or throughout the neighborhood (make sure to have adult supervision with the littles!), this game will be sure to bring out your competitive edge. Put a more modern twist on it by requiring teams to take photos of the scavenger items with their smartphones.

Bingo

Not just a game for seniors night at the local rec center, Bingo can be a great party game for a family reunion! A fun twist on classic bingo is to use photos of family members as the Bingo squares.

This is a great way to get everyone involved in different parts of a game. Team up and assign everyone different parts of the race that will be their strong suit.

Charades

Careful not to speak when you play this one! This game is an easy one to adapt to a party’s theme. Planning an “under the sea” birthday bash? Make all the charade actions ocean-themed. Doing a winter ball? Come up with the most festive holiday charades.

Pictionary

Similar to charades, you can narrow this game down with a theme. All you need is a drawing board and two teams!

Obstacle course

Little kids will love this one, plus it will help them be active. Use your home and items around it to create a challenging and silly obstacle course for a party.

Backyard games

If you live in a place with fair weather or if you’re planning a summer party, the outdoor game possibilities are endless! Pickleball, corn hole, croquet, frisbee or any lawn games are always a crowd favorite.

Hide-and-seek

Who didn’t love a good game of hide-and-seek growing up? There are a few twists you can make on this game such as “sardines” (where one person hides and everyone tries to secretly find them) or “fugitive” (an outdoor hide-and-seek where the players are dropped off and have to make it back to their destination before they get caught). 

Elephant march

Elephant march will be sure to make partygoers laugh. Find some old nylons and put an orange (or ball) in the foot of the nylons. Then, the contestants have to tie these DIY elephant trunks around their heads and try to knock over a set of obstacles before the other team does.

Scattergories

This game makes you think, and it is always a fun way to bring some competition for those who claim they are the smarty pants of the group.

Hide the thimble

An age-old game that can be played with any small object (not just a thimble). One person hides the object while everyone else averts their eyes. Then, they go hunt for the item while the leader shouts “hotter” or “colder.”

Cup stacking

A cheap and easy way to entertain guests is through a cup stacking contest. You can have players race to build the tallest cup tower without it falling, or you can do a series of cup stacking challenges that each team has to accomplish.

Minute-to-win-it

The possibilities are endless when it comes to minute-to-win-it games. Check out this list of games that you can try to get your friends to do under a minute.

Knock off

This game can be done with a couple of frisbees and some water bottles. Get two teams and set your water bottles on top of a tall table or the like. The object of the game is to knock the other team’s bottle off their tower (no goal-tending allowed!).

Kitchen bowling

Before you recycle those old soda bottles or milk jugs, perhaps you can find another use for them. Set up a game of kitchen bowling using a soft ball you have around your home and some old empty bottles.

Water balloon volleyball

One of the greatest ways to spend the summer is with party games, and water balloon volleyball is one of the classics. Everyone finds a partner and they hold a towel between them while they launch water balloons to the other teams and try to catch rebounding ballons without letting them break.

Treasure hunt

Cheap dollar store items can count as treasure if you have to go on a hunt to find them! Little ones love reading clues to figure out where they can find their buried treasure.

Paper airplane toss

This game can entertain partiers for days and can be a great activity for all ages.

Spray ‘em

This game can be a silly game perfect for a summer night. Get a squirt bottle filled with water and then choose a category. The person with the bottle thinks of a word associated with that category and the person who guesses it gets sprayed!

Night games

A nostalgic round of night games is a great party game for your celebration. Make sure to go to a safe location like a cul-de-sac and have some parental guardians supervising.

Psych

More of a mind game, psych is a game that will challenge your friends to guess all night. Someone leaves the room and then you decide the “diagnosis” (for example, every time you start your sentence, you have to start with a certain letter of the alphabet). See how fast your friends can guess the diagnosis!

Name game

This game is also known as empire. Everyone writes down a household name on a piece of paper and then puts it in a bowl. Read through the names one time and then guess who wrote what. If you guess someone’s name correctly, they are part of your team. Last one standing wins!

Guess the song

Grab your phone and a fun playlist and hit shuffle. Pause it within the first few seconds and see who can guess the song before too many notes have been played. If you have a musician at the party, ask them to bring their instrument and do the same game.

Mummy wrap

A fun game for kids is a mummy wrap race. Save the toilet paper for good measure.

Most likely

If you’re celebrating with some close friends or family members, ask questions like: Who is most likely to become a movie star? Then, on the count of three, everyone points to someone. Whoever has the most fingers pointed at them is out until there are only two left.

Signs

This game is one of the best ways to make your party a hit. Everyone chooses a silent sign and they have to pass the sign to another person by doing that person’s sign. The person in the middle is trying to “catch” the sign before it gets passed on to another player.