Toddler Birthday Party Games With a Balloon (Nobody Is Ever Out)

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A toddler birthday party is about ninety minutes long, and the cake takes ten of them. Here are eight party games for little ones that need a balloon, a few paper plates and a laundry basket, work with two kids or twelve, and keep going when the plan falls apart (it will, and that is fine).

Before the party: two minutes of setup

1. Blow up one balloon per child, plus a few spares. Balloons float slowly enough for a toddler to actually hit, and they cannot break anything.
2. Make a paper plate paddle for each guest: a paint stick taped between two plates. The two-minute how-to is here. Let the kids decorate them as the first activity while everyone arrives.
3. Put a laundry basket in the middle of the room and a line of painter’s tape on the floor. That is your whole setup.

1. Balloon Bop Parade

Everyone taps their balloon up and walks around the room in a line. When the balloon touches the floor, pick it up and keep going. No one is out, ever. Put on a song and it runs itself.

2. Fill the Basket

Scatter the balloons. On “go,” everyone races to put them all in the basket while you count to ten out loud. Dump it and go again. Toddlers will ask for this one five times.

3. Alligator Catch

Each grown-up holds two paper plates like an alligator’s mouth. Kids toss their balloon and the alligator chomps it. The chomp noise is required. Then switch, and the kids are the alligators.

4. Over the Mountain

Pile the pillows and couch cushions into a mountain. Kids tap their balloon over the mountain to a grown-up on the other side, who taps it back. Two or three kids per mountain is plenty.

5. Freeze Paddle

Music on, everyone dances with their paddle. Music off, freeze with the paddle up high, down low or out to the side. The grown-up calls the pose. Good for the wild part of the party.

6. Pancake Walk Relay

Balance a balloon on the paddle and walk it to the tape line and back. If it falls off, pick it up and keep going. With a big group, two kids walk at a time while the rest cheer.

7. Hula Toss

Lay a hula hoop (or a circle of tape) on the floor. Kids stand on the line and toss rolled-up socks into the circle. Move the line closer for the little ones and farther for the big cousins.

8. Balloon Rally to finish

Sit in a circle with grown-ups between the kids and tap one balloon around the circle. Count every hit out loud. When it hits the floor, cheer anyway and start again. End the games here, while everyone is still smiling, and bring out the cake.

Three things that make it work

1. Nobody is ever out. Little ones want to keep playing, so every game above keeps everyone in it the whole time.
2. Three minutes a game. Stop each one while they still want more. That is what makes them ask for it again.
3. The paddle goes home. The paper plate paddle is the party favor. It cost ten cents and they made it themselves.

Every game here is built on the same five skills we work on in Ready Set Rackets classes: catching, carrying, sending, aiming and rallying. If you want all the cards printed and in a folder before the party, Racky’s Play Pack has ten games, a star chart and six coloring pages (a good quiet-table activity) for $9.99. And if the birthday child loved it, our classes are the same games, every week, with a coach and a group of little friends.