EPIC Ninja Birthday Party! Games and Activities
Get your little ones ready to channel their inner ninja for this epic party plan! I share the best creative ideas for ninja games, activities, snacks, and decorations to make your Ninja Warrior party an epic, action packed party full of fun!
I’m Zoe, and with over 8 years of experience as a kids party host, I’m here to pass along my top tips and tricks. From obstacle courses to ninja-worthy snacks, these ideas are sure to keep your warriors having the best time, and keep the party, simple and stress free for you too. Let’s dive in!
Top 5 Tips for the Ultimate Ninja Warrior Party
Before we get stuck in with epic game and activity ideas, let me share my top tips for throwing an unforgettable kid’s party, especially for a high energy theme like Ninja Warriors:
- Use upbeat, energizing music to set the tone for a high-adventure atmosphere
- Use storytelling to create a sense of adventure or challenge – this will be so exciting – and don’t worry we have plenty of idea for this later in this post!
- Keep decorations simple—think DIY banners and ninja-themed props. No need to break the bank!
- Get the kids moving with physical challenges like Ninja Warrior balance beams, crawling tunnels, and jumping games
- Ask a couple of parents to stay and help, so you can keep everything running smoothly and stay stress-free!
In this guide, I’ll share ideas for energizing music, creating adventure, and cost-effective decorations. Plus, I’ll offer a range of fun, active games to keep the kids engaged and ensure they leave feeling like true ninja warriors.
Remember, you don’t need fancy décor for kids to have a blast—it’s the challenges, fun, and imagination that make the day memorable!
Ninja Warrior Theme Game Ideas
1. Frozen Ninjas
This game is like musical statues—children dance to music, but when the music stops, they have to freeze in their most ninja-like pose! Encourage them to strike the most daring ninja stances they can manage—this is also a great way to help them burn off some energy.
You can either reward the most “frozen” ninjas (the kids who keep the most still) or call out the coolest and most impressive poses. This creativity will make this the cutest game for parents to watch!
You can also send kids out after each round- for instance those who wobble!
Pro tip: We recommend making the ‘being sent out’ party more fun, by telling the kids that if they wobble they have to be sent to the corner of the room where there is a massive pile of jello, and as they jump in they get to do a dramatic splash! It makes the event more funny, and avoids kids getting upset!
2. Ninja Training Grounds
In this game, the facilitator shouts out the actions below, and children must follow the instructions for each. The last ones to follow the actions are out, and the game continues!
- To the climbing wall – Children run to one side of the room and point up to a climbing wall
- Hiding spot – Children run to the other side of the room here they pretend to hide under some shrubbery
- Mission ready! – Ninjas stand to attention with a salute or with a bow, arms in prayer pose
- Sword practise – Children swipe imaginary swords in front of them in an x patter, practising their moves
- Ninja kick – Kids practise a high kick, karate-style action
This is a fast-paced, high-energy game. You can simplify it for younger children by reducing the number of actions, or reward the fastest child to keep everyone engaged without eliminating them.
Pro tip: If you don’t want to send kids ‘out,’ you can send them over to perform a dramatic ninja roll into the “shadow realm”! They’ll love doing a dramatic tumble, and it keeps the peace.
3. Star, Star, Ninja
This game is similar to duck duck goose but with a ninja theme. It’s perfect for when children arrive or during a quieter time in the party. New players can easily jump in, and the game is familiar but with a fun twist.
Children sit in a circle, facing inward. Child A walks around the outside of the circle, gently tapping the group one by one on the head, saying “Star, Star, Star…” then chooses one child (Child B) to say “Ninja!” Child B jumps up and chases Child A around the circle. Child A must run around the whole group and sit back in Child B’s spot. If they manage, Child B becomes Child A for the next round. Otherwise, Child A has to try again!
4. Ninja stealth practise
In Ninja Stealth, one player is the Master Ninja and stands at the front of the room with their back turned, while the rest of the players (the Ninjas) start from a distance and try to sneak up on them.
When the Master Ninja’s back is turned, the Ninjas move forward, but if the Master shouts “Stealth check!” and turns around, the Ninjas must freeze. If the Master catches anyone moving, that player must return to the starting line. The first Ninja to reach and tap the Master without being caught wins and becomes the new Master Ninja.
Pro tip: Add some fun to the game by having the Master Ninja try to “trick” the sneaking ninjas by pretending to turn around without fully doing so, or by making sound effects to distract them!
Ninja Warrior Activity Ideas
1. Ninja Training course
This is a perfect obstacle course, training camp for the little ninjas and is a great, fun, physical activity for them at the party.
We suggest having 3 or 4 stations around the room, ideally with a grown up or helper manning each one. The idea is the ninjas can practise all their skills with game like training! Split the group into smaller training classes so there are 4 or 5 people in each little group and let them rotate on the training stations.
Some ideas for stations are:
- Target practise: Have the kids throwing beanbags or clothes pegs into a box.
- Stealth relay: Have the kids practise relay races as a sub-team where they crawl or creep or roll from one end of the space to another.
- Balance practise: use masking tape to create a line on the floor for the kids to ‘balance’ along without stepping off it.
- Obstacle training: Kids have to roll under or jump over a series of obstacles, for instance, jump over a chair (have an adult hold this steady) and then rollunder a piece of cloth strung up.
- Ninja Jump: this is long jump practise for jinjas! Use masking tape on the floor to mark out targets for them to jump to without touching the floor in between.
- Kick box practise: place coloured stickers or pieces of paper on a wall and have kids touch then in a sequence called out by the trainer of that station. For instance if there is a yellow foot height sticker and a red hand height sticker and the caller shouts RED YELLOW RED they would touch hand, foot, other hand. Kids can take it in turns.
Pro Tip: Play suspenseful ninja music as the kids train!
2. Ninja Graduate Ceremony!
What can be really fun, to extend this training camp is to give the children a graduation ceremony at the end where are announced official ninjas!
Some cute ideas for this could be to line the kids up and for the ninja master (perhaps a parent dressed up in a cape, or with a ninja-style head band tie) to go down the line and shake each ninjas hand or give each ninja an official bow.
Rather than hand each ninja a certificate, each graduate could get a ninja style headband, or a ninja style arm tie. These could be a black piece of fabric, nothing fancy! It would be easy to cut multiple strips out of scrap fabric or an old t-shirt.
As the ninja master goes down the line, they tie one of these onto each trained ninja! Afterward you could get the cutest group photo of the with their headbands!
3. A Ninja Mission (scavenger hunt style)!
This is a perfect, party themes mission for the ninjas. You can create a story or use the ideas we are sharing below and have the kid ‘hunt’ around the room for the special objects. Once all of the object are retrieved, the ninjas have won the mission!
We suggest a rescue mission: ‘Dear Ninjas, there has been a terrible kidnapping at the local park! [6 children/8 ducks/xxxxx] have been abducted! We need you to go on a special mission to retrieve them. We have word that they are hidden somewhere in this [house/garden/room], but we need specially trained ninjas with ultra sharp senses to recover them. Are you up for the challenge?’
To make the mission even more fun, you can do it with the lights down, or with the lights off and give each ninja a small flashlight. You can also add extra suspense by putting a time limit on the mission! Play mission impossible music while they search!
Hide playmobile/lego characters or cuddly toys around the room for the kids to search for. If this is hard in your space, you can print of little photos of ducklings or cartoon character and hide the photos of them instead.
Tell the kids how many items they are looking for. Another really cute ideas is to take a photo and print out a wanted poster style image of the figures hidden for added suspense. That way, you can cross them off as each character is found!
4. Pin the sword on the ninja!
This variation of Pin the tail on the Donkey is a really fun party game and it perfect fits the ninja theme of target practise. Since this is a bit niche to the theme, we suggest making these DIY. They are very simple to do with a large piece of card and some paints.
If you can recreate a ninja stance from an image online, you can make a small sword and have kids blue tack it onto the poster of the ninja with the outstretched hand. If you don’t want to DIY you could print out an image of the Ninja and an online image of a sword.
Each kids gets blindfolded and spun around and gets to pin the sword on the ninja trying to guess as close to the hand as possible. You can mark each child’s guess with a biro and their initials to ee who gets the closest at the end and the winner can get a prize.
5. Ninja Pinata
A piñata is a classic party game that can bring a burst of energy to any party! It’s a figure, filled with sweets, which is strung up somewhere from a height.
The idea is simple: the piñata is hung up, and blindfolded kids take turns trying to break it open with a stick. Once the piñata cracks, all the goodies spill out for the kids to gather.
The best part about this is there are loads of inexpensive ninja themes pinatas available online to buy. This is perfect because the act of opening the pinata with a stick could be considered the ultimate ninja attack move, and could easily follow from sword practise or something similar!
6. Ninja Craft activity: Decorate a ninja headband!
A craft activity is a great idea for a party. It can be a lovely peaceful thing for the kids to get stuck into as they arrive one by one, or can make a great down-time activity to work on in the background while they have a snack or if some kids finish their snack early.
Cut strips of simple/cotton fabric and let the kids decorate them with fabric pens or even regular permanent markers (be sure to cover the table with newspaper to stop ink leaking through if so!)
Let then write their names/decorate with ninja stripes or stars or anything they like! They can wear the costume for the rest of party and it’ll look so cute in pictures!
You can repurpose old bed sheeting/shirts or t-shirts for the fabric, it doesn’t need to be anything special and if you have nothing around, you can pick something up from a thrift shop for next to nothing. Just give it a wash before hand of course.
Ninja Warrior Decoration Ideas
1. Big Bunches of Balloons in Colour Themes!
Balloons are bold, affordable, and they create so much energy in a space! They’re our number 1 decoration choice. They’re particularly useful because you can arrange them at different heights around the room, flooding the space with themed decoration.
Great colour combos for a Ninja Warrior balloon garland:
- Black, Red, and a few White and Silver
- Black, Red, and Gold
- Red, Gold and white
We also recommend eco-friendly balloons, since they’re disposable. The great thing about balloons, however, is disposability also makes for a very simple clean-up!
2. Ninja Warrior Photo Prop Background!
We love recommending clients go all out with decorations for one focal table or one corner and make that the backdrop for birthday photos.
One focal area is absolutely enough for an evocative and elaborately decorated feel while keeping the planning, set-up, and clean-up to a minimum. You can use a movie banner as a backdrop, or a very affordable ninja-themed backdrop (these are inexpensive on Amazon or other online retailers).
To bring the ninja characters to life, it could be fun to get some life-size cutouts of ninja warriors (also inexpensive online) for kids to pose next to. You could also create photo-prop ninja characters with face cutouts so kids can pose behind them and get photos of their heads on ninja bodies.
Making this a photo station also makes it interactive—and therefore much more impactful and memorable!
3. Ninja-Style Decorated Food Tables
Set up food tables with ninja-themed tablecloths, plates, and cups. This will add a bold, action-packed atmosphere while being functional! It’s inexpensive to buy sets online, and any interactive decoration has a much bigger impact on the kids.
We love shuriken (ninja star) and katana-themed sets, but there are plenty of options to explore online—choose one that fits your party style!
4. Epic Ninja Background Music
Music is key to setting the scene!
Luckily, Ninja Warrior themes can feature dramatic or high-energy background music. We suggest playing iconic ninja-themed tunes as the kids arrive and during active games like ninja obstacle courses or freeze tag.
Additionally, have some background music to create a sense of excitement and action-packed atmosphere. This is one of the best hacks for setting a themed vibe, and it doesn’t cost a penny!
Instrumental Japanese taiko drumming or dramatic action soundtracks would work especially great for this. See our suggestions in the music section above for more ideas.
Food Ideas for a Ninja Warrior Party
The best tip for food ideas is to keep it simple and stick to what kids love. To make the food experience more fun and ninja-themed, here are some ideas to add a little excitement to the snack table:
1. Ninja Warrior Cocktails
Make jugs of your child’s favorite juice and give them fun ninja-themed labels like:
- Stealth Punch
- Ninja Power Nectar
- Dragon Strike Juice
- Silent Storm Brew
2. Ninja red and black cupcakes with golden star toppers
Creating cupcakes with cute toppers is a great way to introduce theme onto the food table. For a perfect Ninja aesthetic, we suggest red or black icing (have a mix of the two on the platter) with golden star toppers!
The toppers could wither be edible (for instance white chocolate dusted with gold glitter or inedible trophies and stars cake of cardboard, stuck in with cocktail stick that can be easily removed before the kids tuck in! An extra cute idea is to use gold cupcake liners for this for even greater, ‘star’ effect.
3. ‘Ninja’ Themed Jelly
Jelly is a crowd and party favourite and a bright red jelly, such as strawberry will be perfect to customise for a ninja theme! Its so easy to prepare ahead of time, meaning one less thing to worry about on the day.
Create a big bowl of red jelly, adding in gold glitter, as well as sprinkling glitter on top for an even more sparkly effect! Just before serving, sprinkle the top with additional edible gold stars!
This will be a delicious snack and look absolutely spectacular, in perfect keeping with the theme!
4. Ninja Themed Popcorn Lucky Dip
Popcorn is always a party hit, and you can customize it to fit your ninja theme. Make red or black popcorn by adding food coloring to the syrup coating (there are loads of recipes on line for how to create colourful popcorn!) and top it with golden balls or dark chocolate sprinkles.
Create a lucky dip by mixing the popcorn with red and black lucky dip sweets for instance:
Cut up red strawberry laces, Haribo love hearts, black liquorice (thought not all kids will love this!), and dark chocolate sprinkles, minstrels, and chocolate chips!
Good Luck!
I hope these ideas help get your imagination flowing and make you feel excited about your little ones Ninja Warrior party! This is such a fun theme, it is going to be a fantastic event!
The best advice I can give is to keep it simple and focus on fun and adventure – no stressing over details.
You’ve got this! Don’t forget to capture plenty of photos to remember this action-packed day!
Best of luck! Zoe x
