Hobbies And Interests
Charades
Play good old-fashioned Charades. You can use the actual board game with the cards that tell you what to do or make your own. Clear a large space and have everyone gather in a room. Split up into two teams. Have one person from the first team take a card and read it to themselves, then act out whatever is on the card, no talking allowed. Give her team 90 seconds to guess what she is doing, then if they don't guess correctly the opposing team can guess. Then switch and it's the other team's turn. Make sure everyone gets up to do the acting out as it will get them involved.
Name That Tune
Play Name That Tune. Before the party put together a burned CD with 20 to 50 songs from all genres of music and decades. Mix them up in a random order. Split up into teams and play the beginning of a song; the first team to guess it correctly wins. Keep score to see what team really knows their music. You can also play this game as a team face-off where each round a new person comes up from each team and they are the only two people who can guess. Play with the rules as you see fit to make it best accommodate your guests and their personalities.
Who Am I?
As guests arrive, place a sticker name tag on their back with the name of a famous person written on it. Instruct them that they are to try to figure who they are based on just asking others questions about their "character." These can only be yes or no questions. This will get people talking to one another and socializing among people they know and don't know.
Limbo
Limbo is a classic game perfect for an outdoor party that kids and adults alike can play. Make your own rules and use whatever you have on hand as the limbo pole. Keep it light and casual, it should just be a fun game of bending and laughing at your own and others' abilities and failings to "get low."
Murder Mystery
Set up a murder mystery game where guests have to figure out "who did it." You can make your own personas, plot line and rules where you secretly assign one person to be the killer and let everyone else figure out the mystery or you can order a kit that has everything done for you. See the links in the resources sections for murder mystery games. These are fun to do because it gets everyone involved, interested in one another and ready to participate.