Birthday Gameapalooza – Board Game Birthday Idea!
Put a fun birthday spin on a board game party with this Birthday Gameapalooza Board!
Hello Crafty Friends! Today I’m sharing a fun birthday activity you can make that is perfect for anyone who loves games! My son recently celebrated a birthday and as a huge fan of games, he requested a day of board games and cards games. Since our family plays games a lot, I wanted to make this day a little extra special – so I created the Birthday Gameapalooza Board!
I rounded up 13 of his favorite games that were on the quicker side to play, (this meant saving longer games like Catan and Villianous for another day) and made a clue for each one. He would be in charge of picking the game, based on the clue, and the winner would get the treat attached to the clue. Super simple and a lot of fun!
Below is the quick tutorial for how I put this together! You can customize it in so many different ways – from the number of games on your board, to the type of games and the treats. We did not get through all 13 games but everyone had so much fun we actually kept going the following weekend until we completed all of them. It ended up being a really fun challenge for his birthday month!
How to Make a Birthday Gameapolooza Board
Supplies Needed
- Trifold board or board
- Colorful cardstock
- Adhesive like Self Adhesive Dots, poster putty, tape or Stikki-Clips
- Printer and white paper if printing the pictures of the games
- Scissors and paper trimmer
Making the Game Board
Step One: Choose the games.
Start by deciding what games you want to include. Some of our favorite games are long board games that can take over an hour to play. I didn’t want any of the games to take that long, so I searched our game stash for shorter card games. Most of these can be played in under 30 minutes or less with a few like Azul and Five Crowns taking longer. We have a large game collection so I only purchased one new game, Sushi Party Go!, just to throw something new in the mix.
Choose games that fit well with your specific group or birthday person. The number of games is up to you! If you want to make this even simpler, select games that all use a basic deck of cards – think Speed, Tens, Spoons, Speed Solitaire, Rummy, James Bond, Cribbage (if you have the board) and more!
If this is for a young child, choose simple kids games like CandyLand or Sorry. Some of our favorite little kid games include Hoot Owl Hoot, Silly Street, Sloth in a Hurry, Yetti in My Spaghetti, the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game and Count Your Chickens. Many of these are cooperative games so make sure the prize or treat is something that can be shared and enjoyed by everyone! The birthday person still gets to choose the game, but everyone enjoys the prize.
Step Two: Write a clue for each game.
Looking up the game online can give you a great description to help write the clue. You can make them as easy or as hard as you want. Below are the games I chose and the clues I made for each one.
- Play it safe or press your luck? Flip 7
- Colorful game where each round comes down to two choices? Mantis
- An extra suit gives a twist to this card game! Five Crowns
- Reverse the order or skip this game entirely! Uno
- Uncover the hidden cards as fast as you can! Tens
- Mythical creatures meet destruction! Unstable Unicorns
- Choo Choo! Connect the pips! Dominos
- Decorate the walls of the royal palace of Evora! Azul
- Explosions, laser beams and sometimes goats! Exploding Kittens
- On your feet, for this fun guessing game! (A guessing game my daughter made up!)
- Backstabbing and betrayal – one card at a time! Power Hungry Pets
- Let the good times roll with this new game! Sushi Go Party!
- Clever mix of card strategy and dice! Ringer
Step Three: Make the clue cards.
Print the clues onto colored cardstock and cut them out. You can also print a picture of the game for the back of the card or just write the name of the game on the back of the card.
Step Four: Attach the clue cards and prizes to the board.
Attach the clues onto a tri-fold board, foam board or poster board using something that will allow the cards to easily come off. I used Velco Dots because I had a huge roll of them on hand. You could use a bubble of tape, putty or Stikki Clips. Attach a prize next to each card. This can be candy and sweet treats like I chose to do or you could add in gift cards or money if that would be appropriate for your group.
If your treats are heavy, wait to attach them to the board until the day of the party. I ended up adding using Adhesive Dots for the candy too because it was stronger than my tape.
Step Five: Play!
Ask the birthday person to pick a game, whoever wins the game, wins the prize next to the clue card. This board is a fun way to make a game day or game night extra fun. It puts the birthday person in the driver’s seat as they get to choose the games based on the clues and the treats! It’s fun for everyone playing, since everyone has a chance to win the prize, not just the birthday person.
While this was a great way to celebrate a birthday, we all agreed afterwards this would be fun any time of year. It’s a great way to jazz up any game day and particularly good if you want to try new games or play some games in your stash you haven’t played in a while! Instead of the birthday person choosing the game, your group could take turns. The winner of one game gets to pick the next!
I hope you enjoyed this post! If you also love board games, be sure to check out my Etsy Gift Guide for Board Game Lovers for some fun gift ideas :)
