Birthday party like we had as kids in the 1990s

[ohwhattododo]

I was talking to my daughter the other day about what birthday parties were like when I was her age.

I was born in 1984, and in my day a Primary school birthday party was a few children at someone's house, party games like pass-the-parcel, sandwiches and sausage rolls, and a cake... That was it, and it was great!

It's my daughter's last year of Primary school this year, and she loves the idea of an old-school birthday party before she moves to Secondary. There are only 6 girls in her class, so we could have them all at home.

So I'm after ideas for a circa-1995 style party.

So far we have:

Musical bumps/chairs/opposites/statues
Pass-the-parcel (ideas welcome for suitable prizes for 10-11 year olds)
An ice-cream station with sprinkles, sauces etc

Any other ideas very welcome, thanks.

Oh lord, we has this book! I pored over it all the time. There was a Jane Asher one with a "fried egg" cake that I loved...and a baked alaska!!!

Hah - I see its actually called Kim's Game by everyone..my Aunt is called Kim, so I thought that might be why..

What a happy thread. Trip down memory lane for me.

Perhaps this has already been suggested.
The Chocolate Game
Everyone sits in a circle and each person throws a dice.
When a six is thrown, the person who threw it has to put in coat, hat and gloves and then gets to eat as much chocolate as they can, but with a knife and fork.
As soon as someone else throws a six, it's their turn.
Hint: use a plastic plate and plastic knife and fork.

Haha same, sadly I was one of the jealous guests rather than the lucky birthday girl (Lisa, IIRC).

Oh god I could cry with nostalgia reading that.

I had to attend a adults birthday party at a pub last weekend and it mainly consisted of wishing fervently that someone would be the first one brave enough to hit the buffet so the rest of us could follow like lemmings, trying to shout a conversation over the DJ and wondering how long before I could go home, put my pyjamas on and watch The Masked Singer with a glass of wine.

What I wouldn't have given for a floor picnic and game of pass the parcel.

Yes! That's the one I was trying to (badly) explain!

Treasure hunt? Write clues and hide them around the house

Maybe they are a bit old for that actually

We usually just entertained ourselves in the 80s

We didn't have so much arranged entertainment as such

I remember my parents renting a video for a party 😆

Charades
Personality quizzes
Mad Libs
Freeze dance
Karaoke (works if guests are all outgoing types)

Maybe have a movie and popcorn up your sleeve if the planned games fall flat.

Sandwiches, lemonade, fairy cakes, cocktail sausages, bowls of sweets...

YYY to Twister!

Is the flour game where there was a 10p or 50p on top of a 'cake' made from flour pressed into a bowl then turned out? You had to take turns to cut a slice of 'cake' and the one who made the coin fall had to pick it out with their teeth?

I never knew the chocolate bar game was called Grandmothers Teaparty! We used to have to put on hat and scarf and gloves (if you rolled a 6) and get the outer wrapper and foil off the bar of Dairy Milk with a butter knife and fork before attempting to cut it all before someone else rolled a 6 and they had to get everything off you and on them to start cutting before another 6 was rolled! And Dairy Milk was proper chocolate (and a treat!) in those days so cutting it was NOT easy!

Cutting up the chocolate game is brilliant (if you have ski gloves even better), if you have a games console and mics karaoke is always popular

We always did a treasure hunt and eating smarties off a slippery tray with a fork, and wearing mittens.

Has anyone mentioned those jelly boats made in an orange/grapefruit skin yet? With a cocktail stick and a little paper sail!

I was born in the 70s but I remember the best party game ever. Pack a bag of flour in a bowl so it's really compressed and then tip it out, like a sandcastle, onto a tray. Then there was something like a jelly tot sweet put on the top.

Everyone had to take turns cutting a small slice off the flour sandcastle without it collapsing. The one who made it collapse had to rescue the sweet just using their mouth.

Christ, it was messy! And so much fun!

Kim's game is get a point for each item remembered. So 20 items on a tray, look at it for one minute, it gets taken away and you write down as many as you can. When I was 11 my mum gave me a reading and writing games party, so Kim's game, Consequences and one where you write down a thing for each letter of the alphabet. It's called Stadt, Land, Fluss in German.