PULTEVENT
Kids birthday party games indoors: 7 games for the TV when the garden is a puddle
It rained on Saturday. Of course it did. The bouncy castle stayed rolled up in the garage, the garden turned into a paddling pool, and eleven seven-year-olds arrived in wet socks at a semi-detached house with one living room and a TV. By ten past two the birthday girl's name was on the screen in glitter letters with her photo from the zoo, and half the room was yelling at a little red car on the telly because their team was steering it into a wall.
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Indoor birthday parties have a reputation among parents as the ones you survive rather than enjoy. Too many children, too little floor, and a craft table that holds everybody's attention for eleven minutes. I've hosted plenty of these, and the thing that saves the afternoon is almost always the same: something big on a screen that the whole room can watch and shout at together.
PULTEVENT runs from a laptop that an adult keeps on the kitchen counter, connected to the TV with an HDMI cable. The games appear on the TV. Some are played from phones via a QR code, no app and no sign-up, and those phones need internet. With young children the phones are the grown-ups' phones, or one phone per team held by a parent. Plenty of rounds need no phone at all.
7 indoor games, from the welcome screen to the medals
1 The birthday splash screen
When the guests come in, the TV already shows the birthday child's name, age and a favorite photo, with confetti falling over it. It sounds small. Seven-year-olds treat it like a film premiere.
How to run it. Pick a photo where the birthday child is doing something, not posing. Change the caption to their name and the date.
It gives the first nervous guests something to point at while their parents are still in the doorway.
2 Drift Arena in teams
Little cars on a 3D track, up to twelve of them, each steered from a phone. With a young crowd you run it as teams: a parent holds the phone and a child steers, then the next child takes a turn.
How to run it. Do one practice lap with just the adults first so they know what the controls feel like before a child grabs the phone.
Loud, fast and very easy to understand. Children who can't read yet can still play.
3 Charades from the screen
The TV shows a word or a picture to act out, the rest of the team guesses. Animals, jobs, things you'd find in a kitchen.
How to run it. Turn the laptop so only the actor sees the word, or let a parent whisper it for kids who are still learning to read.
It burns off energy without anyone leaving the rug, and shy kids can act as a pair.
4 Who's that baby
Baby photos of the birthday child and a few classmates, one at a time on the TV. The room guesses who it is before you reveal the name.
How to run it. Ask the other parents for a baby photo when they RSVP. Keep it a secret from the kids.
Children find their own baby faces hilarious, and the parents at the back suddenly start paying attention.
5 The dance-off
Music starts, the screen counts down, and two teams dance in front of the TV. The adults judge by cheering, or vote from their phones.
How to run it. Clear the coffee table first. Always.
It's the moment the too-cool nine-year-old cousin gives up and joins in.
6 Birthday quiz in teams
Five easy questions about the birthday child: favorite animal, what they want to be, the name of the class pet. Each team answers from its parent's phone.
How to run it. Write the questions yourself in the quiz builder, in plain words a six-year-old understands.
Children love being experts on their friend. The birthday child loves being the subject.
7 The medal ceremony
The team scoreboard closes with an awards ceremony: special prizes first (best dancer, loudest cheer), then third, second, first, with fanfare and confetti on the TV.
How to run it. Make sure every team gets some award. Nobody goes home from a seventh birthday as a loser.
It gives the party an ending before the cake, which is exactly when you need everyone sitting down.
An adult at the laptop
One parent runs the show from the laptop. The kids never touch the controls, which keeps the peace.
Teams, not twelve phones
Split the room into three or four teams, each with a parent holding one phone.
Works in a small room
Everyone faces the TV. No furniture needs to move except maybe the coffee table.
A proper finish
A scoreboard, a medal ceremony on screen and a slot for the cake.
How long it really takes
A two-hour party at home usually looks like this: twenty minutes of arriving and running around, forty minutes of games, twenty for food, cake, then another short burst of games while parents drift in for pickup. Screen games fit in both of the game slots.
Don't plan more than you need. With young children, three games done well beats seven rushed. The list above is a menu, not a schedule.
Phones and small children
Here's the honest part. Any game played from a phone needs a phone with internet, and most five-year-olds don't have one. That's fine. You run those rounds in teams, with a parent or older sibling holding the phone for each team.
Check the Wi-Fi password is on the fridge, or read it out before the games start. If the signal is patchy, the games that only use the TV (the splash, charades, the baby photos, the dance-off) still work from the laptop.
The ages matter more than the games
At four and five, keep it to things they can watch and shout at: the splash, the cars with a parent's help, charades with pictures instead of words. Rounds of two or three minutes.
At seven and eight, they can handle teams, a simple quiz and a scoreboard, and they'll care a great deal about who wins.
By ten, they want to hold the phone themselves. If they have their own, let them, with a parent's say-so.
Where to put the laptop
Somewhere a child can't reach and can see the screen from. The kitchen counter works, or a shelf near the TV. Run the HDMI cable along the wall and tape it down, because someone will run through that room at full speed.
Mute notifications on the laptop before the party. Nobody wants a work message popping up over the medal ceremony.
When grandparents are in the room
Indoor parties in winter often end up as family affairs, with a grandma on the sofa and an uncle leaning on the door frame. Hand them a phone and put them on a team. They'll pretend to be reluctant for about a minute.
"I don't do video games."
"You're steering the blue car, Grandad."
Trying it before the party
Set it up on a weekday evening with your own kids as testers. The free 3-day demo needs no card, so you can load the photos, write the birthday quiz and run one race before the real thing. After that it's a one-time license, no subscription, and the price is listed at pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to run indoor birthday games on the TV
- 1
A week before, collect baby photos from the other parents and write five questions about the birthday child.
- 2
Load the splash screen photo, the quiz and the photos into the laptop.
- 3
On the morning, connect the laptop to the TV with HDMI and check the Wi-Fi on a phone.
- 4
When guests arrive, leave the splash screen up and split the kids into teams with a parent each.
- 5
Run three or four games, alternating phone rounds with screen-only rounds.
- 6
Finish with the medal ceremony, then bring out the cake.
FAQ
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See also
Run brighter events — with PULTEVENT
All audience interactions, a second screen and timing in one app. Guests join by QR — internet is needed for you and for them.
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