Ideas for Birthday Party Ice Breakers

Birthday parties can be a stressful experience for the organiser, especially if you’re bringing people together who don’t know each other and people of different expectations. You want to avoid the kind of party where everyone stands around in little groups, looking bored and complaining about the music.

People organising a birthday party often fear their guests won’t have a good time and therefore the party can become a disaster. A quick and effective way to make sure this doesn’t happen is to start the party off with a few fun birthday party ice breaker games. A few quick and easy party games will get everyone interacting and having fun.

Ice breakers are great for getting people in the mood for a party and can start conversations between people who have never met. Here are a few ice breaker game ideas you can use to start your party off and get everyone in the party spirit:

Remember the Items

This game is so simple and can be set up using a selection of house hold items. Once everybody arrives set out a tray with a selection of items e.g. Watch, spoon, carrot, etc. Then instruct everyone to form a circle. Place the tray in the middle of the circle. Explain to the group that they have 10 seconds to memorise the items. After 10 seconds, cover the tray with a cloth. Then, in turn, each guest must name one of the items. Keep going around the circle until someone fails to recall an item, reiterates an item or calls out an item that is not on the tray. This person is then out of the game. The tray is taken away and the existing items are replaced and the game starts again. This is a fun game that generates a lot of laughter.

Pick Up a Peanut

This is a fun game that adds a little competition to your party for that extra bit of excitement. Empty a bag of peanuts on to a plate and put some plastic cups in a line a few feet from the plate (1 cup for each guest). Then, when everybody arrives hand out a straw to each guest. Explain that everyone has 2 minutes to get as many peanuts into their plastic cup using just the straw. The guests suck a peanut from the plate using the straw and place the peanut into the cup. The guest with the most peanuts at the end of the 2 minutes wins.

Don’t Say Yes, No or Maybe

Place a chair in facing everybody; this is the ‘quiz chair’. Once everybody arrives explain that one at a time someone takes to the ‘quiz chair’. The group then ask the ‘contestant’ questions. The ‘contestants’ are not allowed to say yes, no or maybe. If they do say yes, no or maybe then they are out and the next person takes up the ‘quiz chair’. The person who stays on the ‘quiz chair’ the longest wins the game. This is a lot of fun and guests will dive straight into the competition.

These ideas can be altered to suit your guests and are just a few examples of fun ice breaker games that you can apply to a birthday party.