The Top Boy Birthday Party Activities by Age

 Happy Happy birthday! Birthdays are so fun. It is fun to celebrate those we love as they grow. Boy birthday party activities are fun to plan at any age.

It’s not always feasible to host a birthday party at an event center like the trampoline park, local arcade, or nearest theme park. Simple at-home birthday parties can be just as memorable as the ones at event centers.

 I love the memories made and the relationships strengthened as we gather and celebrate.

Here are the best boy birthday party activities you can do at home.  I have broken them up into ages but most of these ideas can be tailored to any age.

The Top Boy Birthday Party Activities by Age

Boy Birthday Party Activities Age 1

First birthdays are so special. So much learning and growth have happened in the first year of life. A first birthday is a milestone for parents too. 1-year-olds are starting to become mobile but activities will be done with parents’ help. 

 Bubble Blast

 A great 1-year-old boy’s birthday party activity is bubbles. Bubbles are one of our favorite activities. Babies and toddlers squeal with joy as the bubbles float past them and around them.

You can go traditional and blow the bubbles yourself or there are inexpensive bubble-blowing machines. These machines keep the bubbles going so you can help your little one catch pop and enjoy the moment.

Tunnel Time

 Tunnels are great for fast little 1-year-old crawlers. You can purchase one, or create your own tunnel with chairs and a bed sheet. A little fort to crawl under.

Check Prices for Toddler Tunnel Here!

To up the tunnel excitement try to get the children to get a stuffed animal or ball from one end of the tunnel and back to you.

Activities Age 2

I love two-year-olds. They are just discovering their independence and their personalities really start to shine. Here are a few fun games for younger children.

 Playdough Sensory Activity

A great 2-year-old boy’s birthday activity at home is edible playdough. Playdough is a great sensory activity. There are lots of different edible options. Ice cream play dough is quick and yummy with only 3 ingredients, icing, confection sugar, and food coloring.

Mix together until you have your desired consistency. Check out more ice cream party ideas here.

Playdough can easily go with whatever birthday party theme you have chosen for your birthday boy’s party. If you have a dinosaur-themed party you can get dinosaur cookie cutters so they can shape the playdough into dinosaurs.

Discovery Dig

A fun 2-year-old boy’s birthday activity is a discovery dig. Bury things in your sandbox for your birthday boy and guests to dig for. You can use whatever shovels you have on hand or these would work great.

Finding something under the sand is so exciting. Everyone is going to enjoy the surprise. These fossils would be fun things to bury. The fossils they dig up can be placed in a bag as part of the party favors.

Check Pricing for Fossils Here!

Fishing Pond

 This is one of the classic party games for a reason, everyone enjoys it. Set up a sheet, use a fishing pole or stick with a string and a clothespin tied to the end.

Have the child “cast” it over the sheet and an adult clip a “fish” prize to the end. They will love having caught something!

Boy Birthday Party Activities Age 3

3- year- old’s love to move. Keeping them active and engaged can be tricky but a lot of fun. They can’t yet grasp a lot of instructions so make each activity easy enough for them to understand.

Obstacle Course

 An exciting 3-year-old boy’s birthday party activity is an obstacle course. Young children love to climb and jump. It’s a good idea to create several obstacles and a clear finish line. Have the first person in line go first.

You can use things you have on hand to create the obstacle course such as hula hoops to jump in and out of. Other obstacle course fun ideas are to climb under a table, over a pile of pillows, run around a tree, and jump over a pool noodle, or rolled-up towel.

So many different options for simple obstacles, with items you already have at home.

Bean Bag Toss

 A bean bag toss is a great game to play with party guests, it’s sure to be a good time. I love that you can make a bean bag toss game out of a cardboard box.

You can customize it to whatever your party theme is. Put points on each hole and see who can get the most points.

Face Painting

 3-year-old boys are just getting old enough to sit still for a few seconds and get a quick football drawn on their faces. This makes face painting an easy and fun activity.

You don’t have to be super artistic, it’s a good idea to have a few face painting options you know you can do and then give them those 3-5 options to choose from.

Water Fun

Summer birthdays are always fun. Having some water activities can help beat the heat at your outdoor party. Kiddie pools are a fun option. Little kids don’t need much room to splash around and have fun together.

Another fun option is these fun splash pads. The kids will love to splash around. Young kids love to play in the water.

Check Pricing for Splash Pad Here!

You don’t have to always have a structured activity, but one of the games to play could be what we call “fill the cup.”  

Give each young child a cup and sponge. Try having them fill up the cup by squeezing the water out of the sponge. Whoever gets their cup filled first wins!

Activities Age 4

4-year-olds are prepping for school and are getting better at listening and following directions. They can stick to a task and focus for almost 8 minutes.

Painting

There are so many fun creative painting ideas for a 4-year-old child’s birthday party. One of our favorites is painting with pudding. Pudding painting is a great outdoor party activity.

Make pudding per package directions and add a few drops of food coloring to get colors to paint with. Get a white plastic shower curtain liner or tablecloth. Collect brushes, you can use regular paint brushes but plastic spoons or mixing spoons work great too.

Parade

 “Watch this mom!” I love how much toddlers love to be watched and noticed. A birthday parade is simple and fun.

Give each guest a party hat and small noise makers. Point them in the direction of where to march and they are off parading through the adults. Parades are versatile and an easy little boy party activity.

 Our toddlers have really enjoyed musical parades. They love to stomp to the beat of their shaky eggs or tambourines. Anything that makes a little noise, is fun to use on a parade.

 Grab your dress-up box and let everyone choose a few items to wear for a dress-up parade idea.

 Musical Chairs

One of the fun birthday party games out there is musical chairs. It is simple and you have all the supplies on hand. Put chairs in a tight circle with the backs together, and one less chair than people playing.

Play music as the children walk around the chairs. Once the music stops, they must sit down in the closest chair. Whoever doesn’t have a chair is out. You remove a chair each time someone gets out.

The game ends when there is one chair and only two people are left playing. When the music stops, whoever sits in the chair wins. You can play several rounds, of musical chairs at a birthday party.

Giving the winner a small prize keeps everyone engaged and wanting to play.

Boy Birthday Party Activities Age 5

5-year-old boys are full of energy. It’s fun to have a few simple but active activities to do to liven up a 5-year-old birthday party.

Egg and Spoon Race

 This game has been around forever but it never gets old. Give each child a spoon and have them hold it in their mouth. Then hand them an egg to balance on it. Have them walk carefully to a designated area. 

It’s the most fun, done in teams, as a relay race.

Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts are a great way to get little kids excited and having fun. There are many things that you can look for. Things found in nature make for a great hunt.

You can look for pinecones, leaves, bugs, litter, wood, butterflies, flowers, etc. You can do a nature scavenger hunt around the yard collecting as many things as you can on your list. 5-year- olds don’t read well yet so a picture list is helpful.

Activities Age 6

 6-year-olds love to learn new things and ask so many good questions. It’s fun to have some homemade activities to wow their imagination.

Rocket Ship

Space is such a cool thing to learn about and a favorite 6-year-old topic. Why not make your own rocket? They are simple and budget-friendly.

Here are a few fun DIY rockets. The boys will love seeing whose rocket will fly the farthest.

Egg Drop

My boys love doing egg drops. This is another very affordable and fun 6-year-old birthday party activity. Give each child an egg, or split into teams.

 The team must design the best way to cushion the egg using the materials you have set out. We usually use things we have around the house such as paper towels, grocery sacks, cardboard, string, empty egg cartons, etc.

Once they have a cushion around their egg, it’s time for the drop. Drop the egg off a ladder or high area. Whichever egg doesn’t crack wins!

Dance Party

Music is always fun. Six-year-olds love to be silly and don’t care what others think about their dance moves. This is a fun age to have a dance party. Choose music from a recent Disney movie, or some classics that they can bop their heads to and bust out their air guitars.

Boy Birthday Party Activities Age 7

 Seven-year-old boy’s birthday party activities are so fun. I love the friendships that are being built at this age. They still enjoy hanging out with their parents but also crave friends. This is such a sweet spot of childhood.

Bingo

I know this seems like an old-person game but Bingo is a blast especially when prizes are on the line. Use candy to fill in the bingo board. You can find so many fun-themed Bingo online printables to match your party theme.

Give out prices for each person who gets a bingo. It’s competitive, simple, fun, and sure to be a hit at your boy’s birthday party.

Tin Foil Boat Challenge

My boys are always using up my tin foil to make boats with their friends. They love to engineer the boat and then float it and see how much weight it can hold.

Simply give a large square of tinfoil to each child. Let them fold and create a boat. They can receive extra squares of tin foil if needed.

Place the boat in the water and add weight to the boat, small blocks or legos work well for weight. The boat that can hold the most weight is the winning boat.

This is a fun challenge to do in small groups or individually. You can do it outside in a kiddy pool or inside in a sink or bathtub.

Lego Creation Party

Legos are expensive but if you already have a big bin of them at home this is a great 7- year-old-party activity.  Give a handful or pile of Legos to each guest and see what creative creation they can make.

Set a time limit and once the time is up have them each show and tell what they came up with. You will be surprised by all the creativity.

Birthday Party Activities Age 8

 Eight-year-old boys are great. This is an age where you can have a number of children over and still be able to manage.

They follow directions well, especially if they take part in making the rules. Eight-year-olds love to try new things.

Nerf Party

This has been one of our favorite birthday party activities. Invite each guest to bring their favorite nerf gun. It’s best to have a few extras in case someone doesn’t have one.

Make sure to purchase plenty of bullets. You might also want to buy these bulk eye protection for your guests.

 This is a great backyard activity. If it’s cold, you can do it in your garage, a church gym, or a community gym. Put up a few obstacles or barriers to hide behind and the boys will have fun for hours.

You can use cardboard boxes for barriers or other household items. Get creative.

Check Pricing for Nerf Bullets Here!

Mad Scientist

 Eight-year-olds love science experiments. I love when you can learn a little and have so much fun. One of our favorite experiments is elephant toothpaste.

Another one of our favorite home science experiments is a volcano eruption.

Each of these can be done safely with grocery store ingredients. Have directions printed in easy-to-understand steps. Have the ingredients all set out and let the boys enjoy experimenting.

This can be done in pairs or individually. The key is to make sure you have enough ingredients for each pair or person to perform the experiment.

Boy Birthday Party Activities Age 9

Yay for 9-year-olds. They are great. They are developing longer attention spans, and are getting stronger and more coordinated. Here are some fun 9-year-old boy birthday party ideas.

 

Minute to Win It

There is so many fun Minute to Win It games. These are sure to keep your guest laughing and having fun. We love the Oreo race. You put an Oreo on your forehead and try to get it into your mouth without using your hands.

Another great one is to try to keep 2 balloons in the air for the whole minute. If they are up for the challenge try 3 balloons. Look here for a lot of other Minute to Win It games.

Carve Soap

9-year-old boys will surely enjoy this birthday party activity.  Buy enough ivory soap for each of your guests. Give them a small knife, it doesn’t have to be very sharp, and soap is easy to carve.

You may want to start with knife safety instructions before you pass out the knives. Having a few ideas of things to carve is a great idea to help get the creative juices flowing.

Water Balloons

Water balloons are a summer favorite and there are so many fun games for older kids and younger kids alike. One of our favorite water balloon activities is a team toss. Partner up each child from the guest list.

Have each child hold two corners of a towel. Place a water balloon on one of the towels and have the team throw the water balloon using their towel to another set of partners.

Count how many tosses each gets. Whoever has the most catches and throws without their water balloon popping is the winner.

Activities for Age 10

This is a big milestone birthday, finally, into the double digits. Ten-year-olds are fantastic. They are on the edge of adolescence.

Glow Party

There are few things as cool as glow sticks. They are inexpensive and make everything fun. You can put glowsticks in balloons to play different games, like hot potato or 9 square. You can make them into rings and do a ring toss.

 Hide them in your yard and go on an epic treasure hunt to find each of the glowsticks. Hide a treasure box with clues tied to glow sticks for a fun glow-in-the-dark treasure hunt.

Flour Bombs

Flour bombs are so fun.  They are simple. Fill women’s nylons with flour, cut and tie the nylon, and then get ready for a war! Choose teams and play like dodgeball.

Put the flour bombs in the center of the game. Yell go! Everyone goes to get a flour bomb and if they get hit they are out. Whose team will be the last one standing?

Boy Birthday Party Activities Age 11

Eleven-year-olds are independent and love to do things themselves. You don’t have to do too much to entertain at an 11-year-old boy’s birthday party. Have a few activities set up, explain the few directions, and they will have fun being together.

Balloon Darts

Balloon Darts is a fun game that is so versatile and always a blast, it’s a great addition to any 11-year-old birthday party at home. You can make a balloon dart board by pining the balloons to a foam board, or you can use a peg board and pull the balloon through the peg hole before tying it to the other side.

A fun option is to put candy in your balloons. For balloon dart painting fill your balloons with a little paint and pin them to create a masterpiece. You can have colored balloons that stand for certain points for a competitive twist.

Check Pricing for Balloon Darts Here!

Picture Scavenger Hunt

 This is an excellent 11-year-old at-home birthday party idea. It’s simple and affordable and with a little planning can be a lot of fun.  You can do a picture scavenger hunt around your neighborhood, in your backyard at home, or at a local park.

This is a great activity for a large group. You can split into teams and give each team a list of things that they must do. They must take a picture of themselves or a group member doing the activity.

We love to include service with our picture scavenger hunt such as picking up litter. Include some funny things as well like leapfrogging across the grass or challenges like doing a handstand for 5 seconds.

Age 12 Activities

Twelve-year-olds get to enjoy their last year before becoming a teen. I love the confidence and connections that can be made as a 12-year-old that will keep your relationship strong through the ups and downs of the teenage years.  Here are a few fun 12-year-old birthday party activities.

Campfire Night

There is something magical about hanging around a fire pit for your birthday. It’s fun to be outside and chat with your friends. We love to roast marshmallows and make s’mores. A s’more bar is always lots of fun.

You can set up a cornhole tournament and while some teams are waiting for their turn, they can make their smores.

Using a folding table to play a favorite board game such as Ticket to Ride or Qwirkle is another good idea for a campfire night. Being outside by fire gives a new dimension to your average game night.

It will help make your birthday party unique and memorable.

Food Fight

This is such a fun boy’s birthday idea. A food fight is an unforgettable birthday party activity. This birthday must be done outside and guests should be told to wear clothing that they don’t mind getting dirty.

Set out a tarp on the location where the food fight will occur. The best food-fight foods are soft and cheap. Think mashed potatoes, baked beans, condiments, and whipped cream. This activity is sure to make your backyard birthday party fun.

Decorations

Decorations for a boy’s birthday can be tricky but don’t stress. If you want some easy balloon decoration ideas for a boy at home’s birthday party check out this post. Choosing a theme helps with decorating.

For older boys, who might not want or need a themed birthday choose a color.

This will help you narrow down your decoration options and keep them simple. Boys often care less about the decorations and more about the food!

Food

Planning the menu for a boy’s birthday party depends on the time you choose to have the birthday party. If you hold your party in-between meal times you can save money, and not have to feed a whole meal to the quests. 

One of my boy’s favorite party food options is sweet and savory appetizer dishes. They love little smokies, apples and caramel dip, salsa, and chips, bacon-wrapped chicken, breadsticks, and marinara. Finger foods and appetizers are great birthday party foods.

Traditions

Something we decided to do for each child is to decide on a birthday tradition, something small that we would do each year on the child’s birthday. Traditions have proven to help create and strengthen family identity, security, and connections.

Deciding on a tradition for you or your child’s birthday can keep birthdays feeling consistent and comfortable. Some of our children’s birthday traditions started on their 1^st birthday and others later on. It’s never too late or too early to start a birthday tradition.

Your tradition can be something silly and small. The birthday tradition that I have chosen for my birthday is a birthday hike. My birthday is in November and we usually aren’t outside much with cold winter setting in, but I love to be outside.

We bundle up and go on a hike no matter the weather. Sometimes the hike is short and sometimes it is long, but it always happens.

Birthdays can feel less exciting as we age but with a birthday tradition, the consistency keeps the expectations and reality similar which reduces unneeded stress. Last year our hike was short just down to the river where we soaked in a beautiful hot spring.

Tradition Ideas

Other family birthday traditions we have in our family are eating sushi, hiding the birthday cake and hunting for it, flying a kite, swimming, eating dinner by a fire, and target shooting.

There is something powerful about being purposeful in connection with those we love. Birthday traditions have been something that has been an easy way for us to create traditions that hold us together. Try it and you won’t be disappointed!

I love all of these fun boy birthday party activities for every age. You are going to have a great time. Get planning and enjoy being together, creating memories, and traditions with your birthday boy.

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