Do you have prizes for birthday party games?

hmd · March 2012

We haven't played many games at our parties before, but I have 2-3 planned for DS's 5th birthday--Dinosaur Bingo, Pin the Horn on the Triceratops and possibly making a game out of the Dinosaur Dig.

Do you give prizes to the winner or just say "Congratulations"?

Also, I have been considering favors. Right now, I am thinking Dinosaur Masks instead of party hats and giving the kids all 6" dinosaurs to take home, but I feel like that is not much. What do you think? I don't want to buy junk that will just get thrown away.

jlw2505 · March 2012

I would not do prizes for the games - I would concentrate on making them fun for everyone and not stress who wins - its a party not a competition and the kids just want to have fun. I think the party favors sound great - I hate all the junky little stuff the kids bring home and I end up tossing it all a few days later when they forget about it. For my girls last birthdays, we did cute drinking glasses with a ball for one and a slinky for the other. The kids love it and the cups are great - BPA free and cute and a $1 each at Target.

august06mom · March 2012

I don't think prizes for games are necessary.

For goody bags, you can't please everyone. Some people hand out little trinket toys, some hand out cookies, some hand out $5 gift cards, and you'll always find someone who think it's junk or silly. We don't need any more sidewalk chalk, bubbles, or sand toys, so it's no more useful to us than the little junky toys at the Dollar Store. FWIW, DS always seems to LOVE the junky toys -- he'll hang on to them forever. We already have 100 plastic dinosaurs, but there's no saying DS wouldn't think Number 101 is awesome.

Anyway, my point (it's in here somewhere): I let my DS pick out what he wants in the goody bags (within reason). You'll never make everyone else happy and kids really don't care either way.

lollitots · March 2012

Either everyone gets a prize for completing the game, or no prizes. If you give prizes at this age to just the winner you end up with hurt feelings. They don't get it yet.

As for favors, you are good. Don't worry about what the parents think, just whether the kids like it. I always like bubbles because we use them up so fast so they don't take room, so you could add that if you just want to add a little thing. Or you could add a helium ballon tied to each dinosaur and that would totally make the kids happy. Have fun!

and now for something completely different · March 2012

I've always done prizes for party games. It's cute to think they are just playing for the fun of it, but let's face it, they want to win.

No prizes b/c someone might get upset. Bah. And that's why we have young children's sports teams where everyone gets a trophy.

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