You know the mom who is always seemingly better at everything than the other moms? The one whose holiday cooking is spectacular, and whose birthday parties are over the top? The kids – and adults – often look forward to the next invitation to a party at her house. You might not be that mom, but kids will be talking about how much better your Memory game is, when you have a birthday party featuring the popular card game. You know the game, don’t you? You turn a bunch of cards upside-down and kids turn over two over at a time. If the two match, the child takes those two, and he or she takes another turn. It’s a simplistic game but it’s challenging and fun. It’s also a great game to play for prizes at a birthday party for kids. When you change the game a little bit, that fabulous mom will throw away her Memory game cards, because all of the kids will want to play only your version in the future.
When you buy tiny tins, like Altoids or even Sucrets, you get a metallic box full of candies or throat drops, plus a little tin with a hinged lid. You can also purchase small tins with lids at a craft store or novelty retailer. Use the tins instead of cars and the birthday party kids will have more fun than they’ve ever had playing Memory. As they play the game they get to keep their game pieces!
Decide how many tins (painted or not) you want to use and keep in mind how many kids will be at the birthday party. Allow at least two tins for each child. Align the tins in a block arrangement on a table. To begin the game, have each child draw a number from a jar you’ve prepared, and the one with the number “1” goes first, the number “2” goes next, and so on. The first child opens up two tins to see what’s inside. If the items inside each tin match each other, the child removes those two tins from the game, and places them next to him or her. That child continues his turn and opens two more tins. When the opened tins don’t match, the next child takes a turn.
There are lots of things you can place inside the tins as party favors but just make sure to create two exact tins each time. Suggestions for small prizes include stickers, temporary tattoos, shaped erasers, felt cutouts, a miniature marker, dice, mints or candies, coins – real or play, fake fingernails or small cosmetics (for an all-girls party), toy soldiers or other characters, or even things to make an emergency kit. Once the kids open up your Memory game tins they’ll call you “that mom”!