Games to Liven Up Your 2026 Graduation Party and Thank-You Banquet
After the graduation ceremony, many schools might hold parties or thank-you gatherings.
And if you’re the organizer, you might be struggling to choose games or activities for entertainment, right? Since it’s a special graduation party, you’ll want to make it a wonderful and fun time that everyone will remember.
In this article, we’ll introduce a variety of ideas—from games related to school life to activities that get large groups excited.
We’ve also prepared plenty that let you look back on memories, so please use them as a reference!
[2026] Games to Liven Up Graduation Parties and Thank-You Banquets (1–10)
Where is this? Quiz
Let’s try a “Where is this?” quiz using photos.
It’s a game where you guess the location from pictures alone, but even if you’ve been there before, the name doesn’t always come to mind, so it can be surprisingly hard to answer.
If you’re doing it at a graduation party or thank-you banquet, it’s a great idea to pick places and photos that everyone shares memories of, like field trip spots or school trip destinations.
Just projecting funny photos with classmates on a screen will liven things up, and having prizes ready for the quiz winners will make it even more fun.
Drawing Telephone Game
The “drawing telephone game,” where you pass the given theme to the next person through a picture, is a perfect party game that can reveal some outrageous talents—for better or worse! A prompt that’s no big deal for someone who likes drawing and is used to it can be extremely difficult for people who aren’t good at drawing or don’t draw often.
The more they think about it, the further the picture strays from the real thing… That said, what matters in this game is that the last person guesses the answer, so even if the drawing isn’t great, there’s a chance it’ll get across if it captures the key features! More than raw drawing skill, flexible thinking might be what decides the winner.
Perfectly Choo-Choo
Set a “drink up to here” line on a glass and, while blindfolded, see if you can drink to exactly that line—Pittari Choo-Choo! It’s a party game that’s easy to get everyone excited about, and you get tasty juice too.
For the blindfold, we recommend a fun, quirky eye mask.
That way, even though the challenger is dead serious, it looks hilarious to the audience and everyone can enjoy it together.
If no one hits it exactly, the person closest to the line wins.
You can easily set the line using a rubber band.
A game where you guess someone from a part of their face
It’s a game where you show a photo of a body part and have people guess who it is.
It seems like it tests how much you usually look at and know about that person.
The photos can be of celebrities or participants at a graduation party—both are fine! It’s best to take and present parts like the mouth, eyes, or eyebrows—features that seem recognizable but aren’t too obvious.
However, if the pool of possible answers is too broad, no one will get it right, so be sure to give hints that narrow it down.
Picking unexpected people—like a teacher or a historical figure—could also make the game more exciting.
Katakana Ban Quiz
A simple yet exciting “No English” quiz! It’s a game where, during conversation, you’re not allowed to use loanwords written in katakana.
You might think, “That sounds easy!” but we actually use katakana words all the time without noticing.
Words like “OK,” “bye-bye,” “sign,” “task,” and “stress” all have to be converted into Japanese when you want to use them, which really makes you think.
If you’re looking for a game that sparks laughter, give it a try.
Overthinking it leads to weird Japanese, which makes it even funnier!
Memory game
The memory game is similar to a memory-based shiritori.
Participants take turns naming one sheet of construction paper from those set on the table, each a different color.
However, when responding, they must recite all previously named colors starting from the first one.
In other words, if the first player names “blue,” the second player points to the blue sheet before naming another color.
As the game progresses, the list of colors grows, putting everyone’s memory to the test.
Anyone who gets the order wrong is out, and the person who continues without making a mistake until the end wins.
You can enjoy this game with items other than construction paper as well—try using mementos or photos of the participants.
NG word game
Here’s an NG-word game everyone can enjoy at the thank-you gathering or party after the graduation ceremony.
It requires no special preparation and has no complicated rules, so the excitement ramps up quickly.
It’s more fun with a large group.
Each person writes down an NG (forbidden) word they come up with and holds it up so everyone can see.
You then talk based on a theme, and the goal is to steer others into saying their own NG words during the conversation.
If you say your own NG word while talking, you lose.
Enjoy the thrill of probing each other in a heart-pounding conversation game!
Speaking of 〇〇, games
It’s a game where you split into teams and try to align your answers to a given theme.
With broad, simple prompts like “When you think of ___” (e.g., “animals popular with kids”), you check whether your team’s thinking is in sync.
Since it’s hard to match answers without discussing them outright, the recommended approach is to talk things through to organize each other’s thoughts while avoiding actually saying the answer.
Watching people carefully steer the conversation with vague wording so the answer doesn’t slip out is another fun part of the game.
Outro Quiz
This is a quiz where you listen only to the outro—the ending section of a song—and try to guess the title.
Unlike the intro, which you hear more often, this tests whether you’ve really listened to each track all the way through.
Even if you’ve never heard the full song, someone with a good ear might come up with the answer from the vibe or rhythm.
Think carefully about how long to play the outro and how to provide hints—such as bits of song information—so people can enjoy the feeling of arriving at an answer.
Tongue Twister Challenge
A tongue twister is a tricky phrase you say quickly that makes you feel like you might bite your tongue.
Classics include “Nama-mugi, nama-gome, nama-tamago” and “Ao-makigami, aka-makigami, ki-makigami.” It’s impressive if you can say a tongue twister without stumbling even once, but since everyone knows the classics, some people worry it won’t be very exciting even if they nail it.
In those moments, funny tongue twisters are recommended.
Think up and perform lines that make people chuckle when they imagine the situation behind the tongue twister.
It’s also a good idea to write the tongue twister on a flip card and show it—this makes the joke easier to understand and serves as a safety net in case you don’t deliver it perfectly.