Birthday Party Games - Fort Davis,TX

Are you in a neighborhood or are the homes spread out? If you're in a neighborhood, maybe a scavenger hunt? I'd give a list of 13 items and send two teams off in different directions and first team to collect those 13 items from neighbors wins. List can have things like "A quarter with a state on it," "a green rubber band," etc. Items that aren't necessarily easy but that someone is likely to have.

Also, maybe do some games like they do on Minute to Win It?

create an obstacle course

LOVE the Minute to Win it idea!

Hi,
How fun!

My daughter and her friends at that age liked to play charades and games like Outburst, Catchphrase, and Taboo. She is grown up now and I miss those days!

Have a great party!
Blessings,
K.

I love the Minute to Win It idea, just don't make it as hard as they do on the TV, but not too easy either. Boys love competition. Let the prizes be their favorite candy and snacks that they can pick out of a big bowl and take home in a bag. They love picking their prizes. Just use the small size if you do lots of games. Also, 13-year-old boys love pie eating contests (simple pies like spreading pudding in a graham cracker crust, topped with Cool Whip), or seeing who can put the most large marshmallows in their mouth at one time, etc. It just sounds like fun! Way to go in not feeling like you have to spend a ton of money on some outing to an establishment. The boys are going to be talking about this party for a while!

In addition to a scavenger hunt (which can be lots of fun, but tough if you don't live nearby places), you could try a "treasure hunt." We did that for my son one year and it was a blast! My husband made a basic "map" which led to the first clue. Each clue gave a hint to find the next clue, and so on, to the treasure. We divided the party-goers into 2 teams, and the first team to find the treasure got the items in the "treasure chest" - the other team all got "consolation prizes." You could make up 7-10 clues, based on the party size and the basic age of the kids.

Spin Relay is always a blast. And funny to watch too!!! Just google it. ;)

Nerf makes Laser Tag guns. They come in packs of 2. They need batteries. My son just went to a party (same situation) and all the kids were playing laser tag in the field. He had a blast. If the cost weren't to high, this would be so much fun. I am thinking of getting a set for our family. If that is no good, I would do a "Minute to Win It" type of party. Look up some of the stunts and give out small fun prizes to the winners.

can you do a scavanger hunt? we did that for my sons birthday one year. we talked to all the neighbors and told them that we were thinking of doing it. gave the neighbors the lists we had come up with. each neighbor that agreed to do it we gave the rules to. the rules were

only one item per kid (so one neighbor didn't give 10 things to the first kid lol)
kids could not come inside they had to wait outside
kids list each had like 20 things on it
kids came in pairs don't let anyone go alone
things on our list were some of the following

spool of thread
dime
holey sock
sheet of spiral paper
yoyo
8 track tape (we put some weird stuff on that the kids had never heard of but we had some old neighbors lol)
cassett tape
record (not cd)
old receipt
lego
pc of candy
pc of gum
safety pin
picture of a super hero
anything connected with a pirate
playing card
a pc of monopoly money
you need to have at least as many houses as you have kids playing. good luck

thats all i remember lol but you get the picture. it was loads of fun

some things that I've seen done at school carnivals - not sure how well these would work for 13YOs but they just *might* be goofy enough ;-):

-dangling donuts - each contestant tries to eat a donut dangling from a string without using hands - could make it a timed event or if you can suspend the donuts from a stick or tree branch, the contestants could race each other

-ping pong ball bounce - set a few containers on a table (flower pots, fish bowls, whatever) and contestants try to bounce a ping pong ball so that it lands in one of the bowls

- rubber ducky relay - two narrow trays with water, each with one rubber ducky. Contestants try to propel the rubber ducky across the tray by squirting it with a squirt gun.

Have one or two of these suggested games ready to go but remember to take cues from your son and the other boys when they want to just "hang out" and don't want mom around too much.
Many times, parents over plan and don't let the kids use their own imagination.
If you have lots of craft/misc items around, you could put it all in a box and break them into two teams and tell them to come up with something like a robot, missile, etc. Or also let them build something that will launch an egg w/o breaking or since you have wide open spaces, how about paper airplanes and see which goes the farthest.
A few years ago, I had a VINTAGE party for my daughter and played jacks, jumprope, bubbles, etc and the girls loved it.
BTW, hope all is recovering for you after the fires in your area.