"Who would like to play Hot Potato?"

or

"Our next contest is Blazing Potato where you can all win some great prizes just by sitting in a circle".

And if they still object.

Be Firm

One child voicing his objection to a certain game can become an instant epidemic. And suddenly you've got a group of little protesters on your hands. The first time this happens, be firm (in a kind sort of way) and just let them understand that they were invited to party and they need to play. This may sound a bit too harsh for such a fun gathering, but it lets kids understand that you're in charge and you're not about to let them ruin fun by sitting out and distracting others.

And now that you've got everyone ready to play, remember one of most important factors to making birthday games work.

Don't Rush

Give kids ample time to play each of birthday games and that way you don't need a zillion birthday games. Take Hot Potato for instance. The kids all sit in a circle and hot potato is being passed around to sound of music. Let music play a few beats before it stops. Sometimes, because you may be nervous to get things going, music is stopped so fast that kids don't have time to enjoy. Choose music that children know and can sing along and have them pass potato under their arms, above their heads, across circle, etc. Find ways to make it fun and you'll be able to turn this classic into a long-lasting game.

But there's one thing you should beware of.

The 'Danger' of Sit-Out Games

Let's go back to Hot Potato. The kids pass potato and whoever is "stuck" with it when music stops is usually out. And as game goes on, there are more and more children sitting around just watching (if you're lucky.). And that may translate into trouble. So instead, you can play game without anyone being out. How? Place a bunch of giveaways in center of circle and child who is "stuck" with potato when music stops gets to choose a prize. This way you also have control over length of game because you can finish whenever you like and not when only one kid remains.

(If there's a game in which you can't work around having kids sit out, turn them into judges and have them help.)

And one last note regarding the..

Prizes

Prizes don't have to be large and expensive. They can be trinkets or sweets. It's challenge of winning prize and not prize itself that most appeals to kids.

Consider handing out prizes at end of party instead of right away. Show winner their prize, and just tell them that it'll be put in their favor bag. This way, prize won't become a distraction during party time. And, at party's end, everyone gets a prize - favor bags - so if a few kids have a few more goodies, it really doesn't matter.

Tip: you can serve many things in dog dishes or sandpails with shovels.

Drinks:

*Blue's Punch - blue Kool-Aid (or you can freeze blue punch in ice cube trays and have kids put them in a clear drink like sprite or 7-up...) *Magenta Punch - raspberry sherbet, sprite, and berry punch juice concentrate *The Blue's Shake - place 2 cups of vanilla ice cream, 1 ¼ cups of low fat milk, 2 tablespoons of sugar into a blender and mix until combined. Then add blue food coloring a little at a time until mixture is a nice shade of blue. For a thicker shake, place it in freezer. *Blue Lemonade - Blue loves lemonade!! You can turn any ordinary lemonade into a Blue's Clues drink by adding 1 pint of pureed blueberries.

Tip: Try freezing Blues Clues fruit snacks in ice trays and then kids have Blue appear in their cups when you drop ice-cubes into their drinks.

Treats:

*Blue Jell-O (in dog bone shapes) *Blue's Clues Applesauce (found at most supermarkets-or just put blue food coloring in applesauce). *Blue Jellybeans *Dog chow (any mix of dried cereals-Chex would be good) *Blue Tortilla Chips with blue sourcream (just mix in blue food coloring) *Blue Cotton Candy *Blue Popsicles *Mr. Salt's salted pretzel sticks

Tip: Most grocery stores carry many Blue's Clues snacks, and you might be able to find fruit snacks, crackers, applesauce, and many other kinds of Blue Clues licensed by Nick Jr.

Party Favors

A neat Blue's Clues idea for favors is to make your own DOGGIE bag favors? You can take blue bags or use a Shovel and Pail. Put inside trinkets such as personalized dog key chains, personalized dog bones, a magnifying glass, mini paw tattoos, a bone cookie, Blue's Clues stickers, blue crayons, blue candies, happy face items (to represent FACE), and anything else you can think of. Another variation of this favor idea is to put these trinkets in dog bowls with names of kids written on bowls.

Another way to hand out favors is to make a giant mailbox out of an empty paper carton and poster board. Then put all goodies in large white envelopes and put them in mailbox. At end of party, your kid can have "Mail Time" (just like in show) and birthday child can hand out envelopes to her departing guests.

Games and Activities

The Snoop: Hide about 40 cardboard bones or bone-shaped cookies at "dog height", and have kid puppies hunt on hands and knees for them.

Doggy Drink Race: What you'll need for this Blue's Clues game are two or three doggy dishes. Put Jell-O or any kind of drink in these doggy dishes and have kids kneel beside dishes with their hands behind their backs and see who finishes first doggy drink. This is always hilarious!

Barking Contest: A hilarious game idea is to host your very own barking contest where everyone is a winner. Each kid gets to give their best bark, and then you can award prizes for loudest, saddest, most real, squeakiest, funniest, etc.

Shovel And Pail Relay: For this cool game, get two sets of sand buckets and shovels and draw Shovel and Pail faces on each of them. Then form two teams and have a relay race where kids have to pick up a small block with Shovel and then run to other side of room to dump it into pail. The first team to put all their blocks into Pail is winner.

Blue's Bubble Doodles: This Blue Clues game needs to be played outside. You'll need blue food coloring, white paper, and bubbles (you can make your own bubble mixture by mixing ½ a cup of dishwashing liquid, 2 tablespoons of glycerin - found at drug stores, and 5 cups of water. STIR, do not shake). Add blue food coloring to bubble mixture and give each kid a sheet of white drawing paper. Have one or more adults blow bubbles and tell each kid to try and catch bubbles on their sheet of paper. As bubbles pop they make a design on paper. See who can come closest to making a paw print.

Let's Find Blue's Clues: Before party, think of several clues that'll be easy for your age group. Write each clue on an index card or a piece of notebook paper, and add a blue paw print to each. Here is an idea for a clue: "I'm cold on inside, and I run all day and all night long." When kids figure out that answer to clue is a refrigerator (you can try giving them more hints if they don't figure it out), have everyone look inside refrigerator for next clue. Hide remaining clues all around house, party area or yard (you can have last clue lead to birthday cake for a tasty surprise!). This is always a fun-filled child party idea!

Mystery Clue Balloons: Hide all kinds of party favors everywhere around party area. Then write clues on little notebook papers or a printed paw (each clue leading to a different party favor). Roll these papers up and slip them inside balloons that you'll blow up and hang as decorations. Then, when game is about to start, tell kids to choose a balloon and pop it and use clue to find missing party favor.

Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper Bean Bag Toss: To make your own Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper bean bags take two pieces of white felt, hot glue two edges, fill with uncooked rice and hot glue other two edges. Do same with black felt and put faces on them. Then take a red plastic pail and yellow shovel and add details so that they look like Shovel and Pail. The object of game is to use Shovel to toss Mr. Salt and Mrs. pepper into Pail (try all kinds of distances).