Years ago, before the advent of video games and 24 hours of cartoons, kids had to use their imaginations for entertainment. You know what? Kids, years ago, seemed to have a lot more fun than kids today too! If you are throwing a birthday part for a child in your life, this would be a perfect time to bring back the use of the imagination into your party games!!
There are numerous things around the house that you can use for old-time party and entertainment fun. In this article you will find a few ideas, for party games, utilizing socks and plastic gloves.
One of the things you can do with a bunch of clean socks is to create sock puppets. Gather the kids around the table or on the floor and give them each a clean sock, preferably in different colors and ones you don't plan on throwing back in the wash. Gather, in the center of the table, some small bottles of glue, buttons, beans, old scraps of cloth, and markers and have each child make their own puppet. If you do this at the beginning of the party, there will be time to let them dry. Later on, when it is time to start calming the party down, have the kids sit on the floor and have two at a time go behind the couch and give their very own, impromptu, puppet shows. They will have a blast doing it and it will give you a reason to buy new socks. Not only that, let each child take their puppet home after the party. It will be a great reminder of the fun they had at the party!
A second idea, using socks, is to plan a 'sock hunt'. Before the party start, take numerous pairs of socks, unmatch them and hide them in the yard and main party area. You can also take one sock, of a totally different color and hide it also. Have the children go on the sock hunt. The child who brings back and matches the most pairs of socks wins a prize. You should also have a special party prize for the child who finds the lone, colored sock. Not only are they having fun, you can use this as a way to start teaching them the importance of doing laundry!!
One final idea for using socks as a party game is to take a few socks, say one for each set of two children, fill them with beans or rice and have a 'sock toss'. What will make this more fun than a beanbag toss is that, if the socks are filled almost to the top and tied off, it will actually look as if they are tossing peoples feet back and forth!!
Another cheap party game item is the plastic glove. You can get a box of these relatively cheap at your local drug store and use them for balloons. I'm sure you came up with the easiest game, especially for warm months. Fill the gloves with water and the kids can have either a 'water glove toss' or a 'water glove fight'. What fun to throw hand shaped water balloons around the yard. Plastic gloves can also be blown up, with air, like balloons. Give the party goers a couple of markers and they can make 'hand balloon' people. I'll tell you, I am a nurse, and over the years I have seen that there is nothing that children, young and old alike, enjoy playing with more, when they are in a hospital or clinic, than the exam gloves. I get asked if they can take one or two home all the time! You can't go wrong with a box of gloves. it is definitely a step up from the standard, round balloon!
There are a multitude of things you can do with socks and gloves to create a unique and entertaining childrens party. Just grab some old socks and a box of gloves and see what you come up with!