Games for a Tea Party Birthday

I'm afraid, I'm one of those moms who gets so caught up in all the little details of birthday party planning, that I have a tendency to forget the big ones - like games. Luckily, there are quite a few games, that adapt easily, and quickly, to almost any party theme.

So for our tea party birthday today, we will be playing:

1. Sugar, Sugar, Cream (duck, duck, goose)


2. Pass the tea cup (hot potato)



3. Catch the Tea (pin the tail on the donkey) - If this were a friend birthday, I would have probably drawn the teapot on a piece of poster board, but since it's just us today, a cut open paper bag, and construction paper tea cups will suffice.
   


4. Gather the Strawberries, to go with our strawberry tea theme, I'll toss red, play place balls across the floor, give each child a bag, and let them loose to gather them. The one with the most "berries" in their bag at the end wins. Though I may have the little ones play alone, and then play it again with the older children, to prevent any roller derby type injuries. Three years ago, I bought two bags, each with a hundred balls, mixed in red, blue, green, and yellow, and they have come in handy more times than I can count.

1. Stack the Sugar Cubes - We have a box of sugar cubes on hand for the tea part of the party, so we'll use the left overs for a game. The children will be divided into pairs, given an equal number of sugar cubes, and 30 seconds to see which team can build the tallest tower of sugar.

There are other games we use often too: bowling, usually knocking down some theme related item attached to empty pop bottles, red light green light, Simon says, or Mother May I, tag, musical chairs, and freeze dancing ,where everyone dances until the music is stopped, and then must freeze in place until it starts again. They are always big hits, and can be easily matched to a theme by changing the title (e.g. The Tea Lady says, instead of Simon), or the music played with them (think I'm a little teapot, or a classical piece for musical chairs, and freeze dance). But, for today, I think five games, along with a pinata, will be plenty.

And, hopefully, the children will never know it was all planned this morning.

It's great to be a homeschooler.