• Use water balloons for outdoor games.balloons 1 image by Pix by Marti from Fotolia.com
  
  Being outdoors is a great place to celebrate a summer birthday party or get together. Plan several party games for the guests to play outdoors to keep them involved in the party. Playing games also gives guests who do not know one another, a chance to make new friends. Awarding prizes to game winners keeps your guests wanting to play more games.
  
  

Shaving Cream Balloon Pop

• All guests need to wear old clothes or bathing suits for this game. Fill up several balloons with shaving cream. Place a large tarp on the ground in the backyard. Divide the players up into two teams. Give each player a balloon and mark a starting line, which should be about 10 feet away from the tarp. On, "go," the first player in line takes his balloon to the tarp and has to sit on the balloon to pop it. Once he pops it, he runs back to his team and tags the next player in line to go. The first team to have all their balloons popped wins the game. As the balloons are popped on the tarp, the shaving cream makes it slippery and harder for the next guests to pop their balloon.
  
  

Donut Hang

• Hang several donuts from a tree or clothesline in the backyard. Be sure to have one donut for each player and the donut needs to be hung at mouth height for each player. All players line up in front of their donut and put their hands behind their back. On, "go," each player must eat their donut as fast as possible without using their hands. The first player who eats all of their donut wins the game. Tell guests to be careful and not laugh as they are doing this because it could cause them to choke.
  
  

Glow Sticks

• You need several yellow/green glow sticks (necklace ones work best) and a few red glow sticks. Play this game at night and play it just like tag. Select one player to be "it" and give him a red glow stick to wear. All other players wear the yellow/green glow sticks. When you yell, "go," all players runs from the "it" who is trying to catch them. If "it" catches a player, that player must trade necklaces with him and become the new "it". If you have several players, give two or three players red glow stick to have more "it" players. If you want to award prizes for this game, award them to the players who do not get tagged.