Fun Graduation Party Games & Ideas
As we start celebrating graduates of all age in the next few weeks, I thought it was time to revamp and reshare some of my favorite graduation games we played at my sister’s graduation a few years back. These would go great with any of these other graduation party games and activities! These graduation party games are simple to play and perfect whether you have a small group, a big group, adults, kids, teens, high school graduates, college graduates, you name it. These graduation game ideas work for everyone, and that’s the beauty of them! We played with adults, graduates, and even young kids and everyone had a ball!
How to Play These Graduation Party Games
All of these games are Minute to Win It style games and depending on the number of guests attending the graduation party, there are three different ways you can play them. You choose. No matter which way you choose, I guarantee they’ll still be fun. And I’ve designed the games so that they are all family-friendly, so feel free to invite families along with the graduates, the more the merrier! Style #1: Man vs. Clock – In this version, one player will be trying to beat the clock for each game. Style #2: Head to Head – In this style, you’ll pick two players for each game who will going head to head against each other playing a game rather than trying to beat the clock. Style #3: Team Competition – In this style, you’ll split your group into two (or 3 or 10 depending on the number of guests) teams. For each game, teams must choose one player to compete head to head in the game with the other teams.
Graduation Games List
I recommend choosing a couple of these games rather than trying to play them all! They were designed to be played on their own so feel free to pick and choose the ones that best suit your celebration!
Oh, the Places You’ll Go
Supplies Needed:
Plastic beach bucketsMasking or duct tapePermanent markerColored ping pong balls (use different colors for each team if you can) or globe bouncy balls
For this game, set up seven buckets close to each other on one side of the room and tape a line about ten feet away on the other side of the room. On each bucket, place a piece of tape and write one of the seven continents. To play, players must stand behind the taped line and either toss or bounce ping pong balls across the room and get a ball to land in each of the seven buckets. If seven seems too hard for you or you’re playing with young kids, you can change it so they only have to get one ball in.
Keys to Success
Supplies Needed:
Keys with large holes like these ones, five per personChopsticks
Before the game, place the set of chopsticks and the keys on a table. To play, players must put the chopstick in their mouth and using only their mouth, get all five of the keys rung on the chopstick.
One Smart Cookie
Supplies Needed:
Oreo cookies or similar
To play, players must put an Oreo cookie on their forehead then when you say go, they must move the cookie from their forehead to your mouth. This is one of our favorite minute to win it games! If the player drops the cookie on the ground, they can pick it up with their hands, put it back on their forehead and start again.
Shoot for the Stars
Supplies Needed:
A star shaped bowl (or regular bowl with star stickers)White card stock, one piece per playerTapeMini marshmallowsPlastic cups
Before the game, place the star stickers on the plastic bowl (or just buy a bowl with stars on it or a star shaped bowl like this one). Place the bowl on one side of the room. Put a cup full of mini marshmallows on the other side of the room in a line, with enough space for someone to sit or stand next to it. To play, players must roll up their card stock and tape to keep it together. They should roll it up wide enough so that they can put a mini marshmallow in it. To win the game, players must sit on the ground and shoot marshmallows through their rolled up paper to try and land the marshmallows in the star shaped bowl.
Face the Future
Supplies Needed:
VaselineCotton ballsTape
Before the game, tape two long lines on the floor – one on one side of the room and one on the other. On one side place a bag full of cotton balls and on the other, vaseline with a spoon in it. This game is played in teams of two. One player should go to the side of the room with the vaseline and use the spoon to put vaseline on their face. They can put it wherever they want but the places I recommend are face, forehead, chin, and cheeks. The other teammate will go stand by the bag of cotton balls on the other side of the room. To play, one player must toss a cotton ball across the room to their teammate who will try to catch the cotton ball on their face. To win, player must catch three cotton balls on their face. If this seems too hard, feel free to move it down to two or one cotton balls.
Don’t Blow It
Supplies Needed:
Graduation tasselsStraws
To play, players must put their tassel on the ground and kneel down behind it. Players must blow on the tassel using the straw to get it from one side of the room to the other and back.
A Piece of Advice
Supplies Needed:
This free printable Piece of Advice paper, one per team/personFree printable Advice Papers, five to a sheetColored balloons, six of one color per teamTape
Before the game, print out one printable piece of advice paper and one advice letters person team. Cut up the advice word into individual letters, so each team has one set of the letters A-D-V-I-C-E. Place letters into six balloons of one color then blow up the balloons. Repeat for each team in different colors. You’ll have one set of balloons with the letters ADVICE inside for each team. Tape up the piece of advice papers on the wall or a table across the room. To play, the player must pop the balloons using only their hands (no teeth, no feet, no sitting, etc.) to get the letters out the balloons. Once they’ve retrieved all the letters, they must unscramble the letters and fill in the blanks on the Piece of Advice paper.
Roll With It
Supplies Needed:
Rolo candiesPlastic cups
Before the game, line up 10 plastic cups on one side of the table and place a bowl of Rolos on the other end. To play, players must stand on one end of the table and roll the Rolos across the table to knock off the plastic cups. To win, the player must knock off all ten cups.
Picture Perfect
Supplies Needed:
Pictures of the graduate all from different years, preferably about 10
To play, players must look through the photos of the graduate and put the photos in order from oldest to most recent.
Top of the Class
Supplies Needed:
Books – one per playerObjects to make an obstacle course
Before the game, place objects on the ground to create an obstacle course that players have to walk around. It can be as simple as just putting things on the ground around a room or more complicated such as putting a broom on the ground that people have to step over. To play, players must get from the start to finish line of the obstacle course balancing a book on their head. For young kids, they can have one hand on the book as they walk, everyone else hands off. The person to finish fastest wins.
Story Of Your Life
Supplies Needed:
Children’s books (these are some of my favorites!)StringPhoto of the graduate
Before the party, attach the photo of the graduate to the string. Tie the string up so the photo is hanging three feet from the ground. To play, players must use children’s books to build a tower out of books. First player to build a tower that’s high enough to touch the photo wins.
A Bright Future
Supplies Needed:
Glow sticksGlass cup that’s weighted down with something
To play, players must bounce glow sticks on the ground and try to land them in a bucket. First player to land one glow stick in the bucket wins. If one seems to easy for your group, require them to get two or more.
Speechless in 2022 (or whatever year you’re playing)
Supplies Needed:
Cake mixMini cupcake tinCandy numbers like these onesPaper plates
Before you play, bake mini cupcakes. Once they’re baked, gently put one number in each of the cupcakes then cover the hole with frosting. Bake 12 cupcakes per team/person playing and make sure each team has 3 sets of the numbers inside the cupcakes. So each team should have 12 cupcakes total. Give each team their set of 12 cupcakes right before you play. To play, players must eat the cupcakes, without using their hands, to find the numbers baked inside. Once a player chooses a cupcake, they have to finish eating the cupcake before moving onto the next one unless they find a number inside. If they can’t find a number, they just move onto the next cupcake after they finish eating the first one. If they find a number inside, they immediately put the number on the paper plate for their team and move onto the next one. Players have to continue eating cupcakes until they’ve found all four numbers and have 2022 written out in order on their plate. No hands the entire time.
Smarty Pants
Supplies Needed
Panty hoseSmarties candies
Before the party, place a smarty in the toe of each of the legs of the panty hose. To play, players must put the panty hose on their hands and put their arms out straight. Keeping their arms out straight, the player must use their fingers to inch up in the panty hose, trying to get to the Smarties candy. First player to get one of the candies in their hand wins.
Dip-low-ma
Supplies Needed:
Brown paper grocery bags, cut at varying heights, one set of four bags for each player/team
Before the party, cut each of the brown paper grocery bags to varying heights, making sure that the heights across teams match. To play, players must lean/bend over and pick up the edge of the first bag with just their mouth. Once they’ve picked up the first bag, they can move onto the next one. First player to pick up all four of the bags wins.
Cap and Gown
Supplies Needed::
One black plastic tablecloth per player/teamOne baseball cap per person/playerTape
Before the game, tape a large circle on the ground on one side of the room and tape a long line about 10 feet from the circle. This game requires two players, so it’s best played when you’re playing in teams. Or you can just do a pair game. For the game, one player must wrap their teammate in a black tablecloth “gown” and tape it together so it stays on. Once their gown is stable, the person in the gown must go stand in the tape circle. The other player goes and stands behind the taped line. The second player has to toss a baseball cap to try and get it to land on their teammate’s head. The teammate wrapped in the gown can move anywhere within the circle to catch the cap on their head (no hands!) but they can’t leave the circle. They also must make sure their gown stays on. If the gown falls off, the team has to go back and fix the gown before continuing with the cap part of the game. First team to have a cap and gown wins.
O-fish-ally A Graduate
Supplies Needed:
Swedish FishThree Fish bowls – these plastic ones are great!Colored ping pong balls
Before the game, fill the bottom of three glass fish bowls with ping pong balls. To play, players must sit behind a line and bounce ping pong balls trying to get them to bounce in the fish bowls. First player to get a ball to bounce into all three fish bowls wins.
More Great Graduation Ideas
Graduation scavenger hunt – graduation inspired clues sending your graduate to a surprise gift waiting at the end! Graduation party decorations – simple decoration ideas that can be personalized for any graduate! High school graduation gifts – the best gift ideas for high school graduates including everything from gift baskets to DIY gifts!
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