Firstly, party games should be easy to understand; no-one wants to spend ages trying work out how to play the game and this is probably the reason that the traditional party games are still enjoyed by all ages today. Equally important is that party games should be FUN and should involve and entertain the maximum number of people for the maximum amount of time.

As a final consideration when choosing the games to play at your party, they should match the personality of both the 'Party Guest of Honor' if there is one, and the guests that have been invited. Remember the games should be fun and full of humor to play but equally they should be enjoyable to watch.

There are a couple of words on safety and caution: If you are holding a costume party, pick party games that are playable when some of your guests may have slightly restricted vision from wearing masks or restricted movement from wearing bulky or tight costumes.

Here are some classic Birthday Party games; you can dress them up by renaming them in keeping with favourite characters from films or cartoons this can add to the enjoyment and works especially well when this also ties with the overall theme of the party and is continued through to the prizes given to the winners of the games.

Pass the Parcel: Great party game but requires a good degree of preparation time. Bonus is that the time taken to play the game can be determined beforehand and the game can be speeded up or slowed down as required. A small gift item is wrapped in several layers of paper is passed from one guest to another whilst the music plays. When the music stops, a layer of paper is removed by the person who was holding it when the music stopped. The game finishes when the gift item is finally unwrapped. This is normally kept by that person. Recent variation is to include a small gift/wrapped sweet in every layer.

Wrap the Mummy: Great party game for slightly older kids - that's up to 90 then….and themes well with Egyptian parties or Halloween. Setting up time is minimal and can be used as a great last minute game. Two or more teams, each given toilet roll. Each team nominates a 'Mummy' and winners are the team that wraps the Mummy fully in the quickest time.

Pin the Tail on the Donkey: Another classic. Either, you can buy a kit which includes a large picture of a donkey and several self-adhesive numbered tails or you can be traditional and have lots of pin holes in your walls and smaller guests. Whichever way you go you can expect a real riot of laughter. Recently this has been updated to Stick the Nose on the Clown, frankly sounds equally as cruel…..

Musical Chairs: Needs one chair less than the number of players so you may need to break the party into two groups to manage this better. Music plays and party goers walk round the chairs, music stops they all try to sit down, one per chair. If you have your maths right, one will be eliminated. Continue to one chair and finally you have your winner.

Hot potato: is a version of musical chairs for people who either don't have chairs or don't have sufficient space to play it fully. Here the guest sit in a circle and a potato is handed quickly from guest to guest. One person is nominated to shout 'Hot Potato' whenever they feel like it and the person holding the potato at that time leaves the game. Works best when the 'shouter' cannot see who is holding the potato otherwise a degree of cheating may take place!

These are just some examples; party games should be lively, fun and amusing. Select the right games for your guests and the memory of the games will last longer than any prize or present.