Pizza party games

Topping pizza party games for the little 'uns!

Pizza party games are very simple to organize, and will fit in well with the relaxed nature of a pizza party.

Pizza parties can be organized really quickly; you can prepare food beforehand, or order a delivery for the day. And keeping the kids busy is a snap!

Here's a selection of easy game and activity ideas for a pizza party that others will be bound to imitate! Classic games can be adapted, your house can become a virtual Pizza Parlor and a pizza obstacle course can be designed in minutes - so, let's take it away...

Pizza party games

1. Cut out a large circle from construction paper.
2. Cover it with red and yellow colored paper to imitate tomato and cheese, and decorate it as you will - black blobs for olives, small yellow stickers for pineapple chunks and so on.
3. Use a black marker to draw lines dividing your pizza into six pieces.
4. Now choose six classic kids party games. Write the name of each game on a small slip of paper and put each one into a small envelope.
5. Affix one envelope onto each part of the pizza.

Once you are ready to start playing some games, get the birthday boy or girl to choose one of the envelopes. Then you play that game. Another child can choose the next one - and so on. Simple!

Pretend pizza parlor

Think of a name for your very own pizza parlor, make a sign and stick it on your front door!

You can get the kids to make their own pizza hats, decorate aprons or make their own craft pizzas out of paper, fabric and scrapbooking materials.

Of course, you might want to make up some dough and prepare toppings so that the kids just make their own pizzas - delicious!

Use the classic games from the pizza activities above, and tailor them to a pizza theme. How about

• pass the pizza - when the music stops, the child holding the pretend pizza wins a small favor - but is "out!" Continue until you have one child left, who wins something a little more special.

• musical pizzas - instead of chairs, use large circles of card.

• "I went to the shop/store..." memory game with pizza ingredients.

• hunt the pizza - you could "hide" a pizza in selected rooms in your house, as well as in your garden or yard.

  Tell the children which rooms/areas they need to look in.

• ...or hunt the ingredients - use pictures of chunks of ham, pineapple, cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms and so on. Give them five minutes to find everything!

Pizza delivery relay or obstacle course
You can play this pizza party game in teams or individually. Should you use a real pizza on a plastic plate (with a few in reserve...) or an imitation pizza? I know what I'd use! You could, of course, use a pizza delivery box.

The aim of the game is to deliver a pizza despite many obstacles. Each child has to carry their pizza climbing over cushions...

crawling through a tunnel...

going up the steps and down the slide...

or through a cloud of bubbles - adapt your course to the ages and stages of your little guests, but do keep it fun and manageable.

It's easy to let your imagination run riot on this one, but do remember that children get frustrated if they can't achieve their goal in the excitement of a birthday party!