Planning a party for teens and finding games that they all will enjoy and not deem "childish" takes some effort. Long gone are the days of "pin the tail on the donkey" and "musical chairs." Teens don't want to play kid games, but playing board games can be just as boring and won't work for large parties.
Function
Teen party games should be fun and include the whole group in attendance. There are times when all in attendance may not necessarily know each other, so playing an ice breaker game is a good way to help teens become comfortable. Most teen games are simple to play and will keep the partygoers engaged so they don't get bored.
Significance
If teens don't have activities to keep them busy, they will most likely make up their own games. You can keep the fun clean by having an agenda and list of games that the partygoers can engage in. Most of them do not require expensive materials and can be played by anyone.
Inside games
One idea for a teen party game involves a chair and a few balloons. One teen will volunteer to sit on the chair and put the blown up balloon in his lap. The other participants will then jump onto the sitting teen's lap and try to pop the balloon. This is not as simple as it sounds. If the jumper fails to pop the balloon, the next participant gives it a try. Whoever pops the balloon wins a prize.
Another idea is a game called "cross the river." This game requires two or more players, a couple of sheets of paper for each player and an area designated for "crossing." The idea of this game is for each participant to race over the "river" by stepping on only a single sheet of paper. The paper pieces signify the crosser's stepping-stones. The player that makes it across the river first wins a prize. If a player happens to step off his sheet of paper while in the middle of the "river," he must go all the way back to the beginning and start over until he can successfully cross.
"Truth or dare" is another teen favorite. You'll need about a dozen index cards, 22 large balloons, a pen and four or more players. Write out 12 truths and 12 dares, carefully fold and place each card in a balloon. Inflate the balloon and tie it off. Each player will then choose a balloon and pop it. They must then do whatever the card in the balloon says.
Outside games
If you are certain that the teens and their parents won't mind and the weather permits, you can always have a good old-fashioned water balloon fight set up for the partygoers. Regardless of age, children typically enjoy throwing water at each other!
Another, less messy game is "spin the broom." This is not at all like "spin the bottle," though it may at first sound like it. In this game, participants take turns holding a broom above their head and spinning in circles for a few seconds. Once they are through spinning, they put the broom on the ground and attempt to stand on the head of the broom.
Communication games
There are also some games that can teach teens a lesson while they're having fun. "Grapevine" is a way for teens to learn about clear communication, and they won't even know they're being taught! First, the teens sit in a circle and choose someone to start the game. That person will think of something to say: a simple statement and only one sentence. She can say anything, basically. The person who starts will lean over to the person sitting on her right and whisper the sentence into his ear. Then that person will lean over and whisper into the next person's ear and so on. When the last person has received the message, she will then announce out loud what she has just heard. Then the first person will either confirm or deny that it was the original message. The majority of the time, the end result will differ greatly from what was originally said and can be quite humorous.
Tags: games that, person will, will then, card balloon, each other