21 Best Teen Party Games for 10-16 Year Olds

Get ready for your child’s next birthday party with this collection of 21 of the best party games for 10-16 year olds – perfect as tween and teen party games!

I am sure you will agree that there is no better time to get tweens and teens off their screens and having fun together with their friends than at a birthday party! This collection of teen party games includes games that are pure classics, that are budget friendly, super simple to play and sure to generate lots of laughs for both tweens and teens!

Best Teen Party Games for 10-16 Year Olds

As well as being cool birthday party games, these games are also great for youth groups, as games for summer camps, or really any other setting where groups of 10 through to 16 years olds hang out together.

Party Games for 10 Year Olds & Up

Starting off with party activities for younger tweens, these great party games for 10 year olds are just as fun for those kids are a little older too!

1. Hanging Donuts Game
I had forgotten all about this game until I went to a Halloween party at a friend’s house. It was so much fun that even the adults insisted on having a turn!

To play, tie a length of rope above head height between two pillars, trees or poles. Thread a piece of ribbon through the hole in each donut and tie the ribbon to the rope so that the donut is hanging just above mouth level.

On ‘Go,’ each player tries to eat their donut – no hands allowed! First player finished is the winner.

2. Egg Toss
It’s much funnier if your eggs aren’t boiled – especially for tweens and teens! Just be sure to take it outdoors! You’ll need one egg per pair.

Pair players up and have them toss an egg back and forth to each other. Each time a player catches the egg, they must take a step backwards before continuing. The team that can catch their egg with the furthest distance between them wins!

3. Water Balloon Toss
Played just like the Egg Toss Game, this is a fun version of the game that is perfect for a beach, pool or summer themed party. Just be sure to have a tub full of water balloons to play with!

Pair players up and have them toss a water balloon back and forth to each other. Each time the children both catch it, they must take a step backwards before continuing. The team that can catch their water balloon (without it bursting) with the furthest distance between them wins!

4. Limbo
You’ll need a broomstick (or similar) for a limbo pole and your favorite tunes for a classic party game of Limbo!

Have two adults hold the pole horizontally to the floor (with one person either end) at about chest height.

Party guests line up and take turns to dance under the limbo pole without knocking or touching it – if they touch it, they’re out. Players must lean backwards, not forwards, as they pass under the pole.

Once all the players are through, the pole is dropped about an inch and the players again must pass under the pole without touching it.

The last player dancing is the winner.

Tween Birthday Ideas – Party Games for 11 Year Olds

Keep the fun times rolling with these awesome ideas for party games for 11 year olds that are sure to also appeal to all tweens and teens.

5. Roll a Sundae
This is a super sweet party game for 11 year olds as well as older kids, in fact, our eleven year old and her friends had loads of fun with this one at a recent sleepover party!

You’ll need to choose six different sundae toppings – things like whipped cream, chocolate or strawberry topping, mini marshmallows, sour worms, sprinkles, mini M&Ms, etc. Plus you’ll need a bowl of ice cream for each person and a six sided dice.

Before starting, allocate one number of the dice for each topping, for example 1= whipped cream, 2= chocolate topping, 3=mini M&Ms, etc.

Party guests take turns to roll the dice and they then add the topping corresponding with the number rolled to their sundae. You can keep going around, adding toppings, for as many rounds as you like. Then it’s time to eat!

For more games like this, check out our collection of 21 Sleepover Games for Kids.

6. Freeze Tag
One player is chosen to be ‘It.’ It chases the other players around a dedicated play space and whenever he/she tags another player, that person must freeze and remain frozen until another free player tags them to unfreeze them, they then may re-join the game.

The game is played until all players have been frozen and then a new It is chosen for the next round.

To make the game even more fun, when unfreezing a tagged player you must call out the name of a television show. If you call the name of a show that has already been used, both you and the frozen player are now frozen together and must remain frozen until another player is free to rescue you!

7. Blindfolded Obstacle Course
Before the party plan a simple obstacle course across the birthday party room.

Obstacles can be super simple objects – such as a table to crawl under or a series of chairs to weave around, or more involved, such as a blow up pool full of small plastic balls to crawl through and a maze of colored tape stuck to the floor.

Invite party guests to pair up, with one person in each pair wearing a blindfold.

Their partner must instruct their blindfolded teammate to move across the room, navigating the obstacles, using only verbal instructions. Time each team to find which finishes fastest and they are the winners.

8. Charades
My kids love to play charades. It was even a great game when we were all in pandemic lockdown – they just played over Facetime!

I’ve shared heaps of ideas for charades clues previously like these Cartoon Characters Charades Cards or Top Pop Songs Charades Cards – click through to see all of our themed sets of printable Charades cards and here for a complete How to Play Charades set of instructions.

Party Games for 12 Year Olds & Up

Pre-teens will love this combination of classic and new party games, with plenty to keep them active!

9. The Chocolate Game
Guests sit in a circle on the floor and take turns to roll two dice, passing them around the circle in a clockwise direction after each roll.

When a child rolls a double number, they put on a set of two or three dress ups – for example, a hat and scarf or coat and boots, and then use a knife and fork to cut individual squares from a family sized block of chocolate, eating one square at a time. The child keeps cutting and eating until the next player rolls a double.

The key to the game’s success is to keep the dice moving as quickly as possible so that the person eating chocolate changes regularly.

10. Cookie Face
Each player puts a small cookie (e.g. an Oreo) on their forehead and using only their facial expressions must try and move the cookie into their mouth – no hands allowed! If the cookie falls off their face, it must be placed back onto the forehead so they can try again.

First player to successfully move and eat the cookie is the winner.

11. Balloon Stomp
Have guests take off their shoes before playing. Each player will need an inflated balloon tied to a short piece of string, with the other end then tied around their ankle.

On ‘Go’ players attempt to stomp on and pop each of the other player’s balloons, while trying to protect their own – no hands allowed! The last person with an inflated balloon tied to their ankle wins.

For more like this check out our collection of Balloon Games for Kids.

12. Action Jenga
Create your own action jenga set with our simple tutorial (it’s really easy).

Party guests will have lots of laughs performing the funny actions as they try to prevent the block tower from falling. Splitting guests into two teams to compete against each other just adds to the fun!

13. River Bank
Have guests line up in a straight line that is marked on the floor with masking tape or chalk, one behind the other, all facing front. An adult stands at the front of the line.

The adult instructs that one side of the tape line is the river and the other the bank. When the adult calls ‘river,’ players jump to that side, landing with both feet over the tape line. When the adult calls ‘bank,’ everyone jumps back to the over side of the line.

Practice a few rounds like this – with the adult calling ‘river’ or ‘bank.’

Once play commences, the adult continues to call the commands. They can call the same command multiple times to catch players out, and increasing the speed of commands once the players have got the hang of the game will keep it fast paced and engaging.

If anyone makes a mistake and jumps the wrong way, they’re out of the game and they can help to spot players making mistakes. The last person left in the game is the winner.

Alternatively, if a player makes a mistake, he/she can performs ten jumping jacks before rejoining the game. In this version there is no clear winner, play continues for as long as guests are engaged.

Teen Party Games for 13 Years Olds to 16 Year Olds

We love that these party games for teens are perfect for time spent with childhood friends.

14. Wink Murder
All players sit in a circle. One person is chosen to be It and that person moves away from the circle while everyone else decides who the murderer will be. Once decided, ‘It’ is called back to stand in the circle.

To begin, the murderer winks at one person in the circle, trying to do it without ‘It’ seeing. The person who has been winked at pretends to die dramatically! The murderer continues to wink at other players, with each one dying, as ‘It’ tries to deduce who the murderer is.

Once they correctly guess, the murderer becomes the next ‘It’ and the game starts over.

15. Name That Tune!
This is the perfect teen party game for 13 year olds who love music or share the love for a popular artist like Taylor Swift. Before the party line up a playlist of your teen’s favorite songs and some other popular tunes.

Divide players into groups of two or three. Play a tiny snippet of each tune and have the groups attempt to guess the name of the song. They can either write the answer down on a list or call the answer out, or – to make the game a little trickier – correctly sing the next line of the song.

To keep things competitive, include spot prizes for particularly tricky tunes, and a fun prize for the team who guesses the most songs correctly.

For more like this be sure to check out our collection of Music Party Games for Kids.

16. Toilet Paper Dodge Ball
A super fun teen party game for active kids, this one is best played in a large indoor space. Divide players into two teams and line them up so that they are facing each other across the room. Place a number of rolls of toilet paper onto the floor in the middle of the teams. For a total of 20 children use 3-4 rolls, 2-3 rolls for smaller player numbers.

On go both teams run in to the middle of the space in an attempt to grab the TP rolls. Anyone who manages to grab a TP roll throws it in an attempt to hit members of the opposing team (from the shoulders down). If the TP roll hits a member of the opposing team, they are out. If they catch it, then the person who threw it is out. If it hits them on the head, again the person who threw it is out.

Any TP roll that a person takes from the ground (or catches) can be thrown by the person holding it.

The winning team is either the last team with a team member in play, or the team with the most members still in play when a pre-set timer goes off.

17. Neighborhood Scavenger Hunt
Sometimes it can be tricky to find party activities for teenagers that will keep them busy and connected for a good chunk of time and a scavenger hunt offers a perfect solution. Divide your party guests into two teams and send them off on a neighborhood (or shopping mall) scavenger hunt.

This post at Southern Plate has some great ideas for developing clues and challenges for the hunt.

18. The Chair Game
All players except one sit on chairs arranged in a circle. The person not sitting is It and stands in the middle of the circle. That person says aloud, “My name is Sam and I am wearing white shoes.” The italicized words are changed each time, replaced with the name of It and a new identifying feature to sort the players.

In the stated example, all of the seated players who are also wearing white shoes must stand and swap chairs with the other white shoe wearing players whilst the person in the middle also tries to steal a chair.

The person left without a chair becomes the new It in the middle of the circle and the next round begins.

To keep the game active and engaging and conclude with a winner, at the beginning of the first round set a timer for three minutes. At the end of three minutes, whoever is It is out and a new It selected, a chair removed from the circle and the timer re-set.

19. Spoons
Spoons is a fun card game that works best with for parties with a smaller number of party guests – say four to six. To play you will need a well shuffled deck of playing cards (jokers removed), some large soup or dessert spoons – one less than the number of players, a piece of notepaper and a pen.

Players sit around a table with the spoons lined up along the middle of the table, spread so that there is a spoon within reach of all players. The deck of cards is stacked face down in front of one player.

The objective of the game is to collect four of the same number or picture cards – for example, four kings, four jacks or four number three cards.

Play commences with the player with the stack of cards lifting the top card off the deck, looking at it (without showing the other players) and either keeping it in their own hand or passing it face down along the table to the next player along. They then pick up the next card from the deck and repeat the process. The second player along looks at the card and either keeps it or passes it along to the next player, who looks and keeps or passes, etc. The chain of moving cards continues as each player attempt to collect four of a kind.

Once a player has four of a kind they should pick up a spoon from the table top as quietly and discretely as they can, preferably without interrupting the flow of cards. As soon as the first spoon has been taken by a player with four of a kind, each of the remaining spoons is available for any of the remaining players to take – they do not need a four of a kind. Of course, as there is one less spoon than the number of players, one play will miss out and be the loser of that round. Being alert and quick is the key to securing one of the remaining spoons.

The loser is allocated the first letter of the word SPOONS – an S, and it is recorded alongside their name on the notepaper. Each time a player loses they gain another letter. The first player to spell out the complete word S-P-O-O-N-S is the loser of the game.

To make the game tie in to your birthday party celebration or theme, you could replace the word ‘spoons’ with the name of the birthday child or a word related to the theme of the party, for example, WIZARD for a Harry Potter party.

20. Night at the Museum
This is a perfect teen party games for teens who love drama. One player is chosen to be the museum guard. The guard is given a collection of keys on a key ring to hold. He closes his eyes whilst the other players arrange themselves as statues around the play space.

As the guard moves around the room, the statues freeze when the guard is looking at them but may move when he is not looking. Any statue caught moving is out. Any statue that is able to move to touch the guard’s keys (without getting caught) is the instant winner and becomes the next guard (otherwise, the last statue left that hasn’t been caught moving is the winner).

21. Heads or Tails
For this quick and simple party game you will need a coin. Allocate one side of the room to be heads and the other side tails.

Birthday party guests must choose to be heads or tails, moving to stand in the side of the room that represents their choice. Once all guests have chose, an adult flips the coin. If it shows ‘heads,’ then all of the players that chose tails are out. If the coin shows ‘tails,’ then all of the players that chose heads are out.

The players who are still in must now choose again – heads or tails. The coin is flipped again and the players are in or out, dependent upon their choice. Play continues in this manner until only one player remains – they are the winner.