10 Awesome Minute to Win It Party Games

We recently celebrated my oldest son’s 9th birthday with a Minute to Win It themed birthday party, and it was a TON of silly fun! These 10 Minute to Win It games were perfect for all ages (we had guests from ages 4-55 playing these games, and everyone had a blast!) – challenging enough for the older kids and adults, but still simple enough that the younger children could play as well.

We found some great invitation choices on Etsy (clockwise from top left): Minute to Win It party invitations by Candles and Favors, Minute to Win It printable invitations by CTR Design, Minute to Win It Invitations by Babadoo Stationery, and Minute to Win It Invitations by Bee’s Knees Design Shop (in boy or girl colored designs).

The score keeping was simple: If a player attempted the game he/she automatically received 3 points, and if they were able to complete the task in under a minute they received 5 points. The top two point totals won the gold and silver prize at the end of the games.

What You’ll Need for these 10 Awesome Minute to Win It Party Games:

• Stopwatch or phone with a stopwatch function
• Round Sandwich Cookies (1 per person)
• Pennies (25 per player; 2-3 players compete at a time)
• Plain M&M’s (25 per player)
• Plastic Drinking Straws (1 per player)
• Small Paper Plates (6)
• Bounce Off Party Game
• Ping Pong Balls (LOTS! I bought a big bag of 144 balls for $8)
• Red Plastic Party Cups (50-100 depending on if you re-use the cups for more than one game or keep them separate and ready to play – Stack Attack & Movin’ On Up)
• Blue Plastic Party Cups (2 cups, same size as the red cups)
• Plastic Spoons (1 per player)
• Small Plastic Bowls (2 per player; 2-3 players compete at a time)
• Bamboo Skewers (cut off the pointy tip; 2-3 depending on number of players in each round)
• 5/8″ Hex Nuts (5 per player; 2-3 players compete at a time)
• Square Tissue Boxes (2-3)
• Adjustable belt or long length of wide ribbon (2-3)
• 9″ balloons (at least 6 + a few extra in case of accidental popping!)

COOKIE FACE:

This is a great game to kick off the party because all of the players can compete at the same time (or you can break it down into several rounds of game play). Each player places a cookie on their forehead, and the goal is to get the cookie into your mouth using only your facial muscles in under 1 minute. No hands! This is tougher than it looks!

STACK IT UP:

Players must stack 25 pennies in under a minute using only one hand. This game works well with 3 players competing in each round of play.

SUCK IT UP:

Players place a straw in their mouth and use suction to transfer a pile of 25 M&M’s from one plate to another in under one minute. Only one hand may be used to hold the straw. Everyone gets to eat their candy when the round is finished!  This game also works well with 3 players competing in each round.

PONG TAC TOE:

Pong Tac Toe was one of our guests’ most favorite games – some of the adults even asked if they could do play it twice! We used three trays from the game Bounce Off Party, and assigned one to each of the three players. Each player had one minute to bounce ping pong balls down the length of the table and into their tray – 3 in a row (in any direction) wins!

STACK ATTACK:

Players have to stack up a pile of cups and then place them back into a single stack in under a minute. The original Minute to Win It version of this game calls for 36 cups to be stacked, but we reduced the number of cups for the children. Each child stacked 21 cups, and we discovered that this was the perfect number that resulted in exactly half of the kids being successful. Challenging, but not too challenging! Two players competing in each round works well so that any falling cups won’t knock over your competitor’s stack, too!

SCOOP IT UP:

Using nothing but a spoon in your mouth, transfer six ping pong balls from one bowl to another) in less than one minute. No hands! Hands are only allowed if you drop the ping pong ball, and then they can be used to place the ball back into the original bowl for another transfer attempt. 2-3 players compete for each round of play.

MOVIN’ ON UP: 

Each player starts with a stack of 25 red cups with one blue cup at the top of the stack. Start by moving the top blue cup to the bottom of the stack, and continue moving cups from the top to the bottom until the blue cup is back at the bottom of the stack again. Again, we modified this from the original adult version of the game that calls for 40 cups, and found that 26 cups was a great amount for the kids to work with. 2-3 children per round of competition works well.

NUTSTACKER:

Thread five hex nuts onto a wooden skewer. Using only one hand on the skewer, stack up all of the nuts in under one minute. Since this game requires the table to stay as still as possible, only two players compete per round.

JUNK IN THE TRUNK:

This game was another crowd favorite! To prepare for this game, empty a tissue box, and use an Xacto knife to make two slits into the bottom of the box. Thread an adjustable belt or wide ribbon through the two slits to create a tissue-box-on-a-belt. Removing the thin plastic barrier from the tissue box opening will make game play easier (for younger children) or keep it intact for more challenging play.

To play the game, strap the tissue box onto the player’s back, and fill it with 6-8 ping pong balls (we used 6, but 8 would be appropriate for older children and adults). Shake, shimmy, jump, and dance around until all of the balls have fallen out of the tissue box. No using your hands and no laying down! This game is hysterical to watch in action!

DEFY GRAVITY:

Using only one hand, players must keep two balloons from touching the ground for one minute. For a more challenging game, increase the amount to three balloons per player (and use different colored balloons for each player to make it easy to differentiate!). No holding the balloons!  2 players per round of competition worked well to give the players ample space to knock their balloons around.

PRIZES:

I used heat transfer vinyl from Expressions Vinyl in white, bright red, sky blue, metallic gold and metallic silver to create our “gold medal” and “silver medal” grand champion prizes. More more how-to details on layering vinyl, check out my post on DIY custom t-shirts here.

The birthday boy was SO happy to be one of the grand prize winners, and they both loved their shirts!

Everyone had a blast playing these fun Minute to Win It Games, and all ten games took 12 kids about an hour and a half to complete. Aside from the two grand prize winners receiving their special “Champion” shirts, each player also received a blue prize ribbon and a goofy “prize money” necklace. This was an incredibly fun party, and it was actually quite inexpensive to host, too!

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