10 Best Neon Party Games

We were getting really excited at the thought of throwing our first neon party at home. We were envisaging some awesome games that would have kept all our young guests enthusiastic for the whole stay.

This is the list of 10 best neon party games that we put together…

Last Updated: July 9, 2024  |  10 min Read

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Black light is needed for these games.

If you need to learn more on how to set up black light go here.

1. Glow In The Dark Mummy

This fun game is played in teams. The objective is to get a member of each team wrapped in tissue (toilet) paper or neon streamers in the least amount of time.

What you need

• Tissue (toilet) rolls or neon streamers

(Note: Check if the toilet roll you’ll be using for this game glows under black light; not all white toilet rolls react to UV light.)

How to play

• Guests are to get in groups of 3 or 4 at one end of the room or yard.
• They need to choose one of them to be the glow mummy.
• On the “go”, all teams must wrap the tissue roll or the neon streamer around the mummy until it is all used up.
• As soon as this happens, the mummy is to be lifted by the rest of the team and taken to the other end of the place.
• The team who arrives first is the winner.

Pro Tip: You can repeat this activity asking the teams to choose another participant to be the mummy.

How to form teams

When grouping guests in teams you may allow youngsters who know each other more to stay together. If however you want your invitees to mingle with people whom they aren’t necessarily friends with, try one of these 3 ideas.

Method #1

You can hand out glow sticks bracelets and participants will gather in teams according to thew color of their bracelets.

Method #2

Otherwise, you can send different highlighter shoelaces with the party invite and ask your guests to tie them to their sneaker before they come to the party. Then when time to play comes they just stay with the people having the same shoelace color.

Pro Tip: Most of highlighter shoelaces on sale do not glow under UV light. Even though we found these to be better than all the rest, most of them gave a slightly different hue of blueish-green when exposed to black light.

What you can do instead, get white shoelaces and dip them in a mixture of water and highlighter color from highlighter pens. Make sure the pens you choose glow under black light.

Method #3

Another easy and fast way to divide youngsters in teams, is to assign each guest a number. Start from 1 till the number of groups you want to have, then start all over again. So, say you need four groups, looking at every child one by one, you say 1, 2, 3, 4, then 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on, until all kids have a number. Tell them to remember their number and group up together according to the given number. This way all the ones play together against all the twos, the threes and the fours.

2. Black Light Scavenger Hunt

Before the party starts, hide as many as you can, small items that glow in the dark. This needs to be done in the area you have designated for the hunt to take place in. There’s no need to have blacklight where you put these items, since guests need to go around and find the items using a UV flashlight. This is what makes a blacklight scavenger hunt unique and much more fun.

What you need

• UV flashlight
• Glow in the dark toys (for little kids)
• Glow in the dark fidget toys (for youngsters)
• Paper with list for each team
• Neon streamers or blacklight tape

How to play

• Guests are to group in teams of 3 or 4. (Teams from the first game could be maintained.)
• Give each team a battery operated UV flashlight and a list of items that they have to look out for.
• Instruct the teams that they have to go and find items that glow when the flashlight is directed towards them and that are listed on the paper.
• The team who first finds all the items is the winner.

Pro Tip: You may need to set a time limit, especially if you don’t want the game to take too long. This avoids things getting out of hand.

Safety Tip:  Make sure to define the area where the kids can find the items on the list and that they have understood all your instructions. Cordon off the area where this game will be played using neon streamers or blacklight tape.

3. Neon Balloon Stomp

If you want to hype up your group, then this is the game to start with.

What you need

• Highlighter balloons that glow under blacklight
• String cut in pieces of 2ft (60cm)
• Music

How to play

• Prepare as many inflated highlighter balloons as the number of guests taking part in this game.
• Attach a string 2ft (60cm) long to each balloon and give one to each kid.
• Ask them to tie the balloon to their ankle.
• Have some upbeat music ready.
• Explain that while the music is playing, they can dance freely, being very careful not to burst anyone’s balloon or even their own.
• As soon as the music stops, they must try to burst someone else’s balloon, by stomping on it.  They also must be on the alert not to let anyone stomp theirs.
• The kids whose balloons burst are eliminated.
• The winner is the remaining kid with an intact balloon still tied to his or her leg.

Pro Tips

• Use large balloons and inflate them to half their capacity to make it a bit harder for the kids to burst the balloons.
• Playing the game on soft sand or grass also takes more effort to pop the balloon than if it were played on concrete or tiled flooring.
• Make the game more challenging by tying two (or more) balloons to both ankles.
• You may also play this game in teams by sorting kids in groups. Assign a balloon color to each group. Each group’s mission is to pop everybody else’s balloons except those from their own team color.
• With older kids, you may even skip having the balloons readily inflated and ask them to blow up their own balloons instead.

Safety Tip: To prevent anyone getting hurt, even by accident, remind your guests that no one should play rough. Do this before they have the first go.

4. Black Light Bowling

Another awesome fun DIY neon party game is bowling using recycled water bottles and highlighter balloons.

What you need

• 6 to 10 recycled water bottles
• Highlighter paint
• Highlighter balloons
• Sand

How to do it

• Set aside 6 to 10 clear water bottles.
• Pour some highlighter paint in the bottles and add tap water (½ inch from the bottom is enough).
• Screw well the caps.

• Fill the deflated balloons with sand using a small funnel. Then fill them with just one small blow of air and tie them up.

• At the party, place the bottles at one end where the game is being played with the participants taking their turn to topple the bottles from the other end, as they throw the balloons.

5. Neon Ball Giant Toss

Great fun awaits your guests with this variation of bean bag toss. Instead of bean bags and hoops, reusable neon pool tubes and a light up volleyball are used.

What you need

• 3 to 6 inflatable neon tubes
• Glow in the dark volleyball

(Note: Instead of buying a glow in the dark volleyball, you can paint your basketball or soccer ball with neon paint.)

How to play

• Place the neon inflatable tubes at a distance from where your guests are going to throw the volleyball.
• Assign points to tubes of different colors.
• Have the participants take their turn.

6. Capture The Flag – Black Light Edition

For the more adventurous bunch, Capture the Flag is the most logical choice. You may go straight and buy the Starlux Capture the Flag kit. It has all the equipment for 4 to 8 players that lights up in the dark. No blacklight is needed if you use this kit. You can also get expansion sets if more than 8 people will be playing at the same time. Here’s a video by Starlux…

Having said that, however, you can make your own cheaper DIY capture the flag gear. Here’s how…

What you need

• Green LED lights
• Blue LED lights
• 8 water bottles filled with tap water
• Glow sticks

How to do it

• Just before the game is started, green LED lights are lit and put in 4 of the bottles.
• Do the same with the blue lights in the other 4 bottles.
• 3 green light bottles will serve to demarcate the green team jail and the other green one represents the green flag.
• The same applies to the blue bottles.
• The green players wear green glow stick bracelets, whilst the blue team wears the blue ones.

How to play

To see in detail how Capture the Flag is traditionally played, check out this video…

7. Neon Star Make-Over Relay

Teenagers and kids in general love to put on costumes and props, and pretend they are someone or something else at least for some time. At a neon party the fun is doubled as youngsters have the opportunity to witness how they look like when they put on accessories that glow in the dark.

What you need

• Neon party accessories
• LED tutu skirt (optional)
• Neon party cone hats (optional)
• Large cardboard box

How to do it

• Guests are to get in groups of 3 or 4 at one end of the room or yard. (See section above on ideas how to form teams.)
• They need to choose one of them to be the Neon Star.
• On the “go”, one player from each team has to rush to the other side of the venue, where a box full of glow in the dark accessories is set in place, grab one of the items and dash back to where the rest of his or her team is.
• On the latter’s arrival to the group, another player goes to get another accessory.
• In the meantime the rest of the players are to help the Neon Star to put on the accessories.
• Team members are to keep going to and fro until the box is empty.
• The team whose Neon Star has the most accessories wins.
• You can repeat this activity asking the teams to choose another participant to be the Neon Star.

8. Black Light Reverse Charades

This is a variation of the classic charades game. It comes very handy when you need your young guests to calm down after some vigorous activity we are suggesting here above and below.

Follow this clip if you wish to refresh your mind how to play normal charades…

What you need

• White slips of thick paper or cardstock (A5 size is good)
• Highlighter pens
• Double-sided tape

How to play (Reverse Charades)

• Provide the participants with highlighter pens and white slips of paper for them to write the secret word or phrase.
• Divide the guests in two equal teams.
• In reverse charades, each team selects one guesser – every participant will have a turn.
• Stick one of the papers to the guesser forehead with some double-sided tape, without showing him or her the word or phrase.
• The rest of the players have to act out the word or phrase to help the guesser guess the word or phrase.
• Get a timer handy and give the team 1 minute to do their act.
• The team who guesses more words by the end of it, is the winner.

9. Pass The Glowing Parcel

This gripping game that is usually associated with younger children can be turned into an awesome activity for older guests at a neon party.

What you need

• Party favors or small gifts that glow in the dark
• LED baseball cap – to be discovered upon the unwrapping of the last layer (optional)
• Fluorescent kite paper and/or wrapping paper
• UV tape
• Transparent tape, string and ribbons
• Music

How to do it

• To get the most out of this game at a neon party, you need small gifts that are reflective of UV light.
• Wrap the gifts as indicated in the link above with plenty of highlighter paper. Kite paper is very suitable, but you can use any kind of wrapping paper that glow under blacklight.
• When playing this game with older kids there is no need to ask them to sit down in a big circle. Teenagers, especially, love passing the parcel randomly to whoever is next to them.
• Start playing music to indicate to your guests to pass on the parcel to someone else as soon as they receive it. The person in whose hands will be the parcel when the music stops, unwraps a layer. Whoever uncovers a gift, can keep it.
• Repeat until all layers are unveiled.

Pro Tip 1: Have more than one parcel prepared so that if you see that your guests are enjoying it, you can do again this activity.

Pro Tip 2: Play this game when you want the kids to calm down or before you plan to move on to something else on schedule like cutting the cake for example.

10. Black Light Water Blast

Short of going for a paint ball battle, this is a decent home version using water pistols filled with glow in the dark liquid. Youngsters will love it and it will fetch a fraction of the costs for the real paint ball.

Another difference to paint ball is that players have to roam around in a well demarcated area and the aim is to shoot at targets instead of directly at the opponents.

In a restricted area, if the objective was to hit the opponents to eliminate them, then the game would be over in just a couple of minutes.

What you need

• Kitchen wipes or white pom poms
• String
• Water blasters (one for each player)
• Highlighter paint
• Neon tape
• Buckets
• Water

Preparation

• Prepare white tissue balls made from kitchen wipes. These will be the targets at which your guests have to aim at. The amount of balls you need has to be equal to the number of players plus one on each side.
• Follow the steps below to learn how we made the tissue balls.

• You can also opt to buy white pom poms if you don’t have time to do the tissue balls yourself.
• In the area where you plan this game is going to be played mark the middle line using neon tape.
• Hang the tissue balls 3 feet (1m) above the ground, scattered all over the two sides of the play zone. Remember that you need to hang an amount equivalent to the number of players plus one  for every team.
• Get a water blaster for each player.
• Fill buckets with a mixture of highlighter paint and water – mix one part paint with 20 parts water.
• Make sure that the paint you choose is water based and that it reflects black light.

How to play

• Split all the players in two teams. (See note above on how to easily form teams at a party.)
• Players need to stay on their side of the playing area. At no point in the game they can cross over to the opponents side.
• When the game starts they have to fill their blasters from the bucket/s that are on their respective side. Then they need to hit at the tissue balls on the other side of the play zone.
• In turn everyone must protect the balls on their side from being hit by moving in front of them and thus reducing the chance of being hit with the luminous liquid. Remember that there is an extra ball on each side, which prevents the players staying in front of the same ball.
• Water blasters need to be refilled by the players themselves.
• As soon as one of the balls is splattered with the paint, one of the players of the defending team is out of the game. That means that there will always be an extra tissue ball till the end of the game.
• The winning team is the one who maintains the last player on the playing zone.

Pro Tip 1: You can repeat this game by having the water blasters filled with a mixture of a different color of glow in the dark paint.

Pro Tip 2: Before the game starts announce a rule that players are eliminated from oldest to youngest. This will avoid any ambiguity of who is to be out of the game when one of the paper balls is hit.

Extra Party Games That Can Be Played In The Dark