The Ultimate Challenge (Minute to Win It) Party Games –
Kate’s Escapades

My son is now the ripe old age of 11. When it came time to plan his birthday party, we realized he’s at that age where little kid parties just won’t cut it any more. We figured there would be about 25 kids (boys and girls) to keep occupied for 2 hours. After a not so quick perusal of the internet for kid party ideas, I decided to plan an Ultimate Challenge party by modifying some popular Minute to Win It challenges.

After randomly splitting the kids into 4 teams, the Ultimate Challenge Party began. I planned for 9 games, but only got to 7 of them. (We probably could have used another half hour to have enough time to play the games, open the presents and eat the cake.)

The kiddies seemed to have a blast and everyone participated in every game, which is really important when trying to corral a large group.

The Ultimate Challenge (Minute to Win It) Party

Face the Cookie

The Goal

The first team with three different players to successfully move a cookie  from the forehead to the mouth using  only facial muscles, wins this challenge. NO HANDS ALLOWED!

Equipment Needed:

Oreos

This Blows

The Goal

The players have to blow up 1 balloon each and use the air in the balloon to blow 15 cups off of a table. The balloon can be blown up as many times as necessary to accomplish this task. The first team to blow all 15 cups off the table, wins.

Equipment Needed

1 balloon per child, 15 cups per team, and 1 table per team

Spare Me

The Goal

Contestants roll marbles through the hole in the middle of  a pool noodle to knock down five pieces of sidewalk chalk. First team to knock all 5ive pieces of chalk down, wins.

Equipment Needed

1 pool noodle per team, 5 pieces of sidewalk chalk per team, marbles

ABC Birthday Balloon Relay

The Goal

Players must pop balloons (which have rolled up little papers with letters of the alphabet inside – one letter per balloon) one at time until the correct letters have been found to spell the word ‘BIRTHDAY’. This is done in a relay. First team to spell  ‘birthday’, wins.

Equipment Needed

26 balloons per team, 26 papers with the letters of the alphabet

Marshmallow Head

The Goal

Team members try to toss the most mini marshmallows into a bucket being held on the top of a team member’s head. Make a line the players cannot cross and time the event. At the end of time, the team with the most marshmallows in the bucket, wins.

Equipment Needed

1 bag of mini marshmallows per team, 1 bucket per team

Balloon Pop

The Goal

Each contestant has a balloon tied to his/her ankle. Each team has a different color balloon. The goal is to pop the other team’s balloons. The last player left with an unpopped balloon, wins.

Equipment Needed

1 balloon per player (1 color per team), string

Tissue Relay

The Goal

Players must run one at a time to their team’s tissue box, pull out ONLY two tissues, run to a can and deposit the tissues, and then run back and tag the next team member. The team to empty their tissue box first, wins.

Equipment Needed

1 box of tissues per team

End Results

Even as the party ended, the kids didn’t want to leave, so I’m marking this birthday party as a HUGE success! Give it a try for your next ‘tween-age party. With a little planning, preparing and organization, you’ll be the Queen (or King) of the Ultimate Challenge in all things ‘party’!

-Kate