Adult Birthday Party
Games and Ideas

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Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you...

Here are some adult birthday party games, ideas and activities to make the day really special. Even some gift ideas!

Adult birthday parties often mark a milestone birthday, but you can celebrate any year!

When you are planning your adult birthday party theme and adult birthday games, keep in mind how many people will be attending and what their age range will be. The info and links below will help you plan a unique and unforgettable party!

Remember, birthday parties aren’t just for kids. Adults like to celebrate too!

Adult Birthday Party Theme Ideas

First, let's consider finding an adult party theme - but not just any theme - we're looking for a legendary, second to none party theme!

Following are some of the best most popular adult birthday parties. Read the brief party descriptions to help determine which party idea is best for you!

Kids Party for Adults: Pretend you are a kid again and celebrate your birthday as you did when you were 5 years old with a Kids Party for Adults. No adult birthday party games at this party - instead play all your favorites from when you were a kid!

This is Your Life Party: This is a great way to celebrate an adult birthday! Lots of fun for the guests and the birthday person...the This is Your Life Party is modeled after the famous TV and radio show. Adult birthday party games and party all rolled into one!

100th, 90th or 80th birthday celebrations (or any senior birthday!): Celebrating a senior birthday? Make your celebration memorable with our page full of ideas, tips and adult birthday party games to help you plan this special celebration.

Decade Party: There are two ways you could go with this one. First, you could celebrate all the decades of the honoree's life at a Decade Party. Lots of trivia on our twentieth century decade timeline. You could also have a party dedicated to a specific decade. For example, when was the honoree born? If born in the 50's have a 1950's themed party. For my friend Elizabeth who was born in the 1960's, we held a fun 60's party. An easy and instant theme!

Over the Hill: Over the Hill parties are very popular, fun and perfect for the person who isn't truly over the hill! You're never too old to celebrate with good-humored games. PrintGamesNow.com has some fun Over the Hill themed adult birthday party games available on their website.

Around the World in 80 Years: Perfect for an 80th birthday party, this can also work for any year for the person who loves to travel! ( just change the 80 to whatever birthday you are celebrating)

Escape Room: Plan an Escape Room at your location! It is easy with a printable escape room kit!

Milestone Birthday Party: Often an adult party is to celebrate a particular milestone - such as a 30th birthday, 40th, 50th, etc. Here are listing of some popular ideas by category:

80th (and older) Birthday Party

Even more ideas for a 50th birthday party can be found at Majorbirthdays.com It's a one stop information shop for all things 50th birthday.

More Themes: Pick a party theme that salutes what the birthday guy or gal enjoys. For example, if Pamela loves wine, have a wine tasting. If Brenda loves the 1980’s, have an 80's party. You can actully use any party theme to celebrate a birthday! So...check out our adult party ideas page for fun "first class" party themes such as a Casino Party, Margaritaville Party, a Tacky Party...and more! Pick a birthday party theme and add a birthday cake. It is as easy as 1-2-3!

Visitor Ideas: It is so wonderful when visitors to this site share details about their own parties. I love reading them because some of the ideas are really unique and creative! Read about their parties (or add your own) at this site's Adult Birthday Parties Forum.

Shop for Adult Birthday Party Supplies

Not wanting to have a party? (but still want to celebrate!)

Here are some ideas for celebrating an adult birthday that doesn't require actually having a party.

Bucket List: Have the birthday guy or gal make a "bucket list" of things they would like to do in their life time. Write them all down on sheets of paper, fold up, and then draw one. Then go for it!! You can even make it an annual birthday ritual event. Each year, gather friends and do one thing from the list!

Card Party: Plan a card party if you can't have a party due to health or distance. No excuses for not celebrating!

Cameo Shoutout: Cameo is a website where you can hire a celebrity to record a video message. There are lots of celebrities to choose from, with a big range of prices. Check it out at Cameo.com

Adult Birthday Party Games

Any adult party game could be played as adult birthday party games at the party you are planning.

Here are three really fun adult birthday party games and ideas:

Birthday Bingo: Enjoy a bingo game! Create bingo cards where each square is something that is of interest to the birthday guy or gal, such as “Crossword Puzzles”, “Bike Riding”, “Horror Movies”, etc. This is something that can work for all ages of party guests - kids and adults alike (not many adult birthday party games fit that bill!)

Predict their Future: What will the birthday guy or gal be doing in 10 years? Have guests write down their predictions and collect them to read aloud and place in an album.

Birthday Trivia: Play a trivia game about the honoree, or, play a trivia game based on the years that the birthday guy or gal has been alive. Check out our decade timeline to give you some ideas for creating your trivia adult birthday party games.

Print and Play Adult Birthday Party Games: Very easy option! Printable adult birthday party games for your next birthday party. Simply print from your home computer and you are ready to go. You'll find lots of choices here.

Will your party guests be on the older side?

If so, visit our page of elderly adult party games. (Full of ideas to help plan adult birthday party games just for these guests!)

Making an Adult Birthday Party Special

In addition to a great birthday party theme and adult birthday party games, there are other ways to make an adult birthday party special...

Birthday Cake: Everyone loves birthday cake, and it is always fun to have everyone "ohh" and "ahh" over the cake when it is brought out at a birthday party. Visit our page of unbeatable birthday cake ideas!

Poems, Toasts and Tributes: Some helpful hints about toasts...keep it short and sweet. No insults or embarrassing stories. Instead, use it as a chance to really say something great about the person. It is always a good idea to preview it with someone you trust before the big day! Here are some funny birthday quotes you may want to use.

Official Flag: Purchase a flag that has flown over the U.S. Capital. You can order one from your Representative or Senator, or order from http://www.usflag.org/capitalflag.html.

Presidential Greetings: Order a birthday greeting from the President of the United States, for people who are age 80 and older, contacting your representative or senator (may be faster to do it this way), or by writing to The White House, ATTN: Greetings Office, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20502-0039. No matter how you request it, you will need to allow at least 6 - 8 weeks to receive it. You must also include the following info:

Name and home address of honoree(s) and form of address (Mr., Ms., Mrs., Dr., Miss, etc.)
Exact date of occasion (month, day, year) and age (must be at least 80)
Your (the requestor's) name and daytime phone number

Birthday Slideshow: A slideshow is perfect for an adult birthday party. Include photos from birthdays, weddings, graduations, new babies, vacations and more.

Memory Book: Before the party, ask guests to tell you their favorite memory about the honoree. Include photos if they are available. Collect these into a memory book to present at the party. You can also make these into a slide show. Don’t limit it to guests. Also collect memories from out of town friends. We did this for both my mother and father’s 70th birthdays. What a big hit! It is something they really treasure after the party.

Top Thirty (or 40, or 50, or 60 ….) List: Before the party, ask guests to complete this sentence “I like (the birthday guy or gal) because. . .” Collect as many as the age of the honoree. Combine the answers into a list, frame it and present it at the party. For example, Jimmy is having a 40th birthday, so collect forty things about Jimmy from his friends. “I like Jimmy because he's always up for a game of golf!" You’ll collect some that are sweet and touching, and some that are really funny!

Other options to do in advance of the party: create a slide show with these quotes and add photos and music and show it at the party for all to see, or even better, before the party, ask guests to complete the sentence while you video tape their answers. They can tell a funny story or something to back up their sentiment. You can then show the video at the party.

Set up a Display: A display (this is the display from our friend Jimmy's birthday) of mementos, photographs, and other items is a great addition to any party honoring someone or something.

Give the Number: Ask guests to think of something that matches the age of the birthday guy or gal and bring it as their gift. For example, for a 50th birthday, guests could bring 50 M&Ms, 50 pennies, 50 paperclips, 50 cookies, etc. Give the examples to your guests and see what all they come up with!

Golden Birthdays: For those turning 31 or less, you may be celebrating a golden birthday. This is when you are turning 21 on the 21st of the month, or 25 on the 25th of the month, etc. It only happens once...so do something a little extra special if this is the year! Perhaps some special adult birthday party games... By the way, I think it is OK to amend this a little. When my mother-in-law turned 70, we celebrated her Golden Birthday. She was born on the 7th...so it seemed fitting to do. Doesn't work for everyone. My birthday is on the 16th of the month, so I guess I need to wait until I turn 116 before I get my next golden birthday!

Old Photos: Go a step beyond collecting old photos...how about old yearbook photos? Old yearbooks are online and you could even use this for adult birthday party games, by putting up old yearbook photos and letting everyone guess who the people are.

Special Frame: You've seen it at weddings or other special events. A photographed is framed with a nice wide mat as a border so that all the guests can sign on the mat. These wide mats can be purchased at any craft store with framing supplies, art store or framing store.

Retro Candy: How about tasting your past? Retro candy & gifts would be a fun walk down memory lane.

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