5 Creative Hunger Games Party Activities and Tribute Scavenger Hunt Ideas

My party philosophy is that no one should be bored at a birthday party. That and that parties “ought to be well structured” timing should be scheduled to a point, and there must be activities for all.

One of the most challenging aspects of having a party with teenagers is their strong inclination to use their phones the second they become even slightly bored.

At the beginning of the party don’t leave teens to their own devices (literally) or you’ll lose them.

We were so passionately anti-phone that we thought about taking the phones away at the door. But we were glad we decided against it. Our party was so full of fun activities that the phones only came out to take pictures.

That’s a win in my book!

These are the 5 activities we created for our Hunger Games birthday party for our teens.

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1- The Reaping

We made custom t-shirts for all our guests inspired by the Mockingjay pin and asked them to change into them right as they came in the door.
Each teen was now an official tribute in our Hunger Games just like Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark in the Hunger Games movie.

To separate the kids into groups or districts we had a “reaping”.

We thought that we should have 4 teams of 3-4 and we decided on the teams and the different districts ahead of time, keeping friends with friends.

We chose 4 district numbers at random and I printed name tags for everyone with their district’s logo. (The name tags are available in the shop).

I looked absolutely ridiculous dressed up as Effie Trinket, but the kids loved it. I pulled each name tag dramatically out of a reaping jar and grandly announced the formation of the teams.

Now the games could begin.

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2- Dress up Your Tribute

Now that we had teams and districts, it was time for the parade to start the games.

I filled a laundry basket full of all kinds of things from toilet paper, foil, a bunch of plastic tablecloths, tissue paper, garbage bags, streamers in all kinds of colors, face paints, and packaging tape.

I wished I had taken a picture of how full it was.

We told each team to pick someone to dress up and on our mark, the rest of the team quickly rushed to the basket to grab whatever they could! They then were given about 15 minutes to come up with the best costume.

Just like in the Capitol parade in the Hunger Games books and movies, each team made an outfit to represent their district. And naturally, the tributes had to show their creation off by strutting from one side of the lawn to the other accompanied by (Barbie Fashion Fairytale ) music. (The song has nothing at all to do with the Hunger Games but it does have to do with fashion and my kiddos loved it when they were younger so we added it in.)

15 minutes was about the right amount of time and allowed for more detailed designs.

Everyone got really into it and it was hilarious.

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3- Tracker Jackers Tag

I saw a version of this game on a blog which now I can’t find to link to it and thought it would be fun.

Each team got to choose 3 representatives to play Tracker Jackers Tag. We knew this was going to be a rough game and that some kids would not be able to play for medical reasons so we gave them an easy out.

How to play

Each remaining player was given a sheet of colored round labels like the ones you’d use for garage sale prices. The colors of the dots don’t matter.

Define a playing area and maybe set a penalty for going out of bounds.

The kids had 3 minutes to tag any person not on their team with a sticker.

Once they’re finished with their sticker sheet, we told them they could remove the stickers off themselves and stick them on to others.

You could not remove stickers and throw them on the ground.

At the end of the 3 minutes, each team counted the number of stickers they received as a threesome (they’re very honest teens so we didn’t worry about them cheating) and the team with the least amount of stickers won the round.

We had originally planned for this game to go longer but it turned out to be more exhausting than we expected and 3 minutes seemed like a good cut-off point.

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4- How to set up a Hunger Games Scavenger Hunt Outside

It can be a challenge to set up a full-blown scavenger hunt.

It takes creativity and some quiet time to think.

So I’m always so grateful to people who blog their entire hunt so I can get ideas and modify them to work with my area.

So you might not be able to use all these ideas but several are doable for any neighborhood.

This was not our first scavenger hunt birthday. Our Amazing Race birthday party was such a hit that we wanted to re-create that team and challenge spirit in the Hunger Games theme.

Hunger Games Arena Ideas

First, you’ll need to decide where you’re comfortable having the tributes run around. It could be outside or inside.

We have a pretty safe neighborhood with a park half a block away so we chose about a one block space around our house to hide our items. We agreed that having kids cross the large street nearby was a bad idea so we made clear to the kids that no part of the game required them to cross a major street.

Make a Map with Zones

I drew a primitive map on the “arena map” paper available as a free printable in my download library.

Then I circled 4 separate zones on the map.

The number of teams you have will decide how many zones/challenges you’ll need to come up with.

We had 4 teams and we wanted each team to start separately in one of the areas so we needed 4 zones.

It’s best to name your zones with letters (A,B,C,D). I used numbers in our hunt but kids got confused with the clue numbers. So don’t make the same mistake I made and distinguish the zones’ names from the clue numbers.

You’ll see that for most of the tasks we used what was available in the area to create the clues and tasks.

All our clues (which you can edit to fit your needs) and the blank Arena map are available for FREE in the free downloads library.

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Zone A Tasks – (Our Backyard)

What we did:

We placed 4 filled water bottles at the bottom of our fountain in our backyard.

We set up an empty metal bucket at one end of our sideyard and placed a Nerf tennis ball gun and lots of tennis balls by the fire pit.

What the clue said:

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Zone B Tasks (The park)

What we did:

We hid little baggies with trail mix under the stone tables at the park.

The “blue coverings” we asked the kids to use are the doggie poop bags available at the park for free 😂. That clue stumped each team for a good 10 minutes.

What the clue said:

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Zone C Tasks (A section of a paseo path)

What we did:

Using packaging tape we hid 4 sparklers behind a light pole that had the number 7407 painted on it. We also used magnets to place 4 match boxes behind metal poles nearby.

The “fire flower” is just a fun looking flower that grows aplenty in that area. Use what you have in your area.

What the clue said:

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Zone D Tasks (The street)

What we did:

We made 4 splint sets with paint stirrers and bandages and hid them under the ledge of a pedestrian bridge.

We placed 2 rolls of foil behind a big electrical service box (we may have wanted to put 1 roll of foil for each team as one team took one with them).

What the clue said:

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The Final Clue

This last clue listed all the items they should have collected and instructed the teams to come back to our backyard and light the sparkler in victory.

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Preparing the Clue envelopes

If you have teams, you’ll need to stagger the clues so they don’t all try to do the same thing at the same time.

So with 4 teams, we decided on 4 areas each with its own set of challenges, but you could do more. You just don’t really want 2 teams in the same zone at the same time.

So I folded and numbered the clues on the outside of the paper from 1 to 5, with 5 always being the final clue paper in this order:

• Team 1 started at zone A, then went to B, C, D, and back to A.
• Team 2 started at zone B, then went to C, D, A, and stayed at A
• Team 3 started at zone C, then went to D, A, B, and back to A
• Team 4 started at zone D, then went to A, B, C, and back to A

With the clues numbered and in order, I put them in an envelope and put that envelope in a paper lunch bag so each team would have a container to hold all the items they were asked to collect.

It all worked well. We had a little backup at the tennis gun challenge but we just made the teams take turns instead of waiting for the first team to finish (Something we learned from our Amazing Race scavenger hunt.)

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The start of the scavenger hunt

At the start of the game, we took all the kids to the end of the cul-de-sac and asked them to make a big circle.

I set the paper bags with the clues in the middle to mimic the cornucopia (I could have done better there, I admit it).

My hubby was the gamekeeper and had a whole schpeel, said “May the odd be ever in your favor” incorrectly 🤣 and then kids started running to get their bags and start the race.

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How We Chose the Winning Team

We had 3 games and 4 teams.

We made a chart like this one:

Then we marked the order in which each team finished or won each game. That way the team with the least amount of points would win.

As a bonus, we removed one point for the team which made the best foil hats, which ended up being the winning team! I wanted to show their creative hats, but they didn’t want to show their faces…They even added leaves as camouflage!! Very clever.

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5- The Pinata

Even though you may think that teens are too old for a pinata, they actually enjoyed using a stick to take their frustrations out on a ball of reinforced cardboard.

About half of the teens wanted to participate but the others cheered on while watching.

I did have candy in the pinata and they all rushed for it… still. They’re little kids at heart.

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Our Hunger Games party was absolutely fantastic!

The games we played were incredibly fun and the teens had an amazing time.

The highlight of the party was definitely the scavenger hunt. The teens eagerly searched for clues and raced against each other to find the hidden items. It was such a thrilling experience to see their competitive spirits come alive as they strategized and navigated their way through the challenges. 

The whole atmosphere was filled with laughter and cheers throughout the party.

It was truly a memorable event, and everyone couldn’t stop talking about it even after the party ended.

The Hunger Games theme added an extra layer of excitement, and the teens embraced the role-playing aspect with enthusiasm. It was a party that will be remembered for years to come.

Go check out our other Hunger Games Party related posts for more fun ideas including Hunger Games party decorations and food:

• Our Epic Hunger Games Party
• How to make a Hunger Games parachute favor box