Kids' Party Games Using Household Items

Here is a list of games you can play using 5 common household items that don’t require any crafting or prep!

Some of these games require music. If you don’t have a streaming service, or want to avoid ads, I have a music game timer here.

Pegs

For those who have a decent stash of pegs, there are two peg games you can play, both of them can be used as a great way to get kids started when they arrive, gives them something to do and gets them talking. You will need at least three per person.

Peg Ninja

Divide pegs evenly between kids and peg to their clothes. The aim is for the kids to steal as many pegs throughout the party as possible. Stolen pegs must be pegged back onto their own clothes for others to steal. Avoid this game if you have a lot of guests wearing fragile clothes (like tutus), some kids can be a bit rough when removing pegs. Alternatively, you can use stickers instead of pegs.

Peg Ban

Decide on a banned word, often the best is the birthday child’s. Other popular words are “cake”, “game” and “party”. The host is exempt.

Divide pegs evenly between kids and peg to their clothes. If a child is caught saying the banned word, they have to hand their peg over to the person who caught them. The aim is to collect as many pegs as possible. If you happen to have a big stash of hair ties (that aren’t too tight around the wrist) or scrunchies, you can also use these instead.

Kitchen Scales

Water Weight

For this game, ask the kids to BYO their water bottle (add a note to the invite). Have a couple of spares ready to go in case anyone forgets. Place a set of kitchen scales set up near the entrance, (regular scales don’t usually work as they need to be able to weigh in increments of 1-2 grams).

On arrival, ask the kids to weigh their water bottle and note down their name and weight in a note on your phone. You can use a pen and paper instead, just make sure guests can’t see the results.

Once all the water bottles have been weighed you can announce the winner (or you could also save this to reveal at the end of the party). The winner could be the lightest, heaviest, the one closest in weight to the birthday child’s water bottle, up to you.

If you’re revealing at the end of the party, you have an opportunity to rig this game if you need to, if there’s a sensitive kid who needs a boost or someone who “needs” to win something, you can create a “Mystery weight” after the fact, write it on a piece of paper and discreetly hide it somewhere in the house. When revealing the weights, ask the birthday child to find and read out the mystery weight and reveal who the winner is!

Cushions & Pillows

Musical Cushion Seat

For when your child wants to play musical chairs but you don’t have enough. Simply use cushions and pillows in lieu of chairs (put old pillowcases on them for the game or just be prepared to have to wash the pillowcases afterwards).

If you’re not familiar with musical chairs (or cushions), start with 1 less cushion than the number of children playing (9 kids? Use 8 cushions). Arrange the cushions in a circle, square, or two lines and start the music. While the music is playing, kids walk, dance, run, or skip in a single file around the cushions. When the music stops, everyone must race to sit on a cushion. There will not be enough cushions for everyone, so whoever is not sitting, is out. Then, remove one more cushion, and start the music again. This repeats until you have only one child (the winner) remaining.

Musical Pillow Pass

Everyone stands in a circle and the birthday child is given a pillow (or cushion) to place between their legs. Start the music. The goal is for the kids to pass the pillow to the next person without using their hands. Legs only!

When the music stops, whoever is holding the cushion, is out. For older kids, if you drop the cushion, you’re also out. This can also be played with a balloon.

Bath Towels

Towel Waddle (Race or Relay)

This one is inspired by the sack race and can be done as either a race (if you have enough towels, one per child) or a relay where they are in teams and you only need one towel per team.

Basically, you wrap the towel around the child’s waist and tuck it in. They have to race (waddle very carefully) to the other side of the room with their hands on their head, and back again.

If it’s a relay, then once they are back, they pass the towel to the next child in their team and repeat until all the kids have raced.

First child (for a race) or team (relay version) back is the winner.

You can also opt to have multiple “heats” and then a final to determine the winner (especially if you need to pad out the games).

If the towel falls off at any stage, you can choose (based on age/maturity), if they are allowed to stop, fix and continue on, or, if they have to go back to the start.

To make this harder, place obstacles on the floor that they have to walk around (anything you have, chair, Tupperware container, cushion, plate), or for an added challenge for older kids, make them walk backwards.

Laundry Basket (or Bucket or Cardboard Box) & Socks

Sock Toss

Ok, I think it’s safe to say we’ve all done this one before and if you have little kids, it’s still a great option. Give everyone 3-5 turns to stand on a “line” and try to throw the balled up pair of socks into the washing basket. Each round, eliminate everyone who didn’t get a top score until you have one winner. Or, just reward every child who manages to get it in.

For very little kids, just put out a laundry basket and a big pile of socks and leave them to it! It doesn’t even need to be a competition.

For school aged kids, get them to use their non-dominant hand* and throw into a smaller box or bucket.

For an additional challenge, spin them around 3 times and then they have 1 second to throw the socks in.

*To ensure they are actually using their non-dominant hand, put a pile of socks on the ground (enough for everyone) and ask the kids to pick up a pair of socks and hold it in the air. Almost 100% of the time they will use their dominant hand to do this (exception is if they are eating!). Then, ask them to move the socks to their other hand.