Birthday Bash Tambola Tickets

Birthday bash tambola is a picture housie for birthday parties: a cake, candles, balloons, gifts and party hats fill the ticket, and six prizes from Candle Five to the Birthday Star full house. This page has the free pack, the online game, a prize ladder, a planner for 10 to 40 guests and a run sheet for a two-hour party.

Cake, candles and fifteen lucky numbers

Birthday parties in India often have two crowds: children who want games and grown-ups who want to sit and chat. Tambola is one of the rare games both will play together, and this birthday theme tambola dresses it up for the occasion.

Look at a ticket and you will find five pictures, each guarding three numbers:

• a layered Cake, the star of every party table;
• lit Candles, ready to be blown out;
• a bunch of bright Balloons;
• wrapped Gifts with bows on top;
• a pile of Party Hats.

The top reads Birthday Bash, a Birthday Star medallion sits on the ticket, and the edge is a cheerful scalloped outline. You can change the title to the birthday person’s name, add the date, and print as many or as few tickets as the guest list needs. Sets of six tickets use each number from 1 to 90 once, so wins are shared around fairly.

Ready-to-print Birthday Bash Tambola pack

12 different picture tickets (2 on each A4 page) with a caller sheet, a prize sheet and a rules page. Print it as it is, or press Create your tambola ticket above for more tickets and your own party name.

Download the free PDF

What players are racing for

There are six prizes, and five of them can be won by finishing just one or two pictures. That is good news for younger players.

Candle Five is the warm-up: any five numbers, anywhere.

Make a Wish asks for the Cake and Candles sections together, six numbers in total. It is the classic birthday pairing and a fine prize to save for the birthday child if they are close.

Balloon Pop is won by completing the Balloons section, and Gift Hunt by completing the Gifts section.

Party Animal goes to the first person to finish Party Hats.

Birthday Star Full House needs all fifteen numbers marked. Whoever wins it can be crowned the second star of the party, just for the evening.

Hosting a birthday tambola

For a child’s party

Keep the game short and lively. Play right after the cake cutting, when the sugar is in and the energy is high, or just before the return gifts are handed out. Print two tickets per page for bigger numbers, and seat a parent or older sibling with every small child to help mark. Picture prizes help a lot here: a four-year-old may not follow “second line”, but they understand “fill the balloons”.

For an adult or family party

Evening works best, after dinner is served and before dessert. Set the mood with a dress code: a color theme, glitter, or everyone in a funny party hat that matches the ticket. Seat players around tables of four to six so they can tease each other about close calls.

Prizes that fit the theme

• Make a Wish: a cupcake box or a scented candle.
• Balloon Pop: a pack of balloons, a bubble wand or a balloon-shaped keychain.
• Gift Hunt: a small wrapped mystery gift.
• Party Animal: a crazy hat, sunglasses or a photo prop.
• Full house: a chocolate hamper or a gift voucher.

A kind custom at many Indian birthdays is that the birthday person gives, not just receives. Let them hand over each prize, or let them call the first and last numbers of the game.

Play birthday theme tambola online

Grandparents in another city, a best friend overseas, or a whole class at a virtual party can play together. Start a game, pass the link round, and every guest gets a ticket on whatever phone is handy. The birthday caller works by itself, announcing each number at your chosen pace with a voice if you want one, while each ticket ticks itself off. The host screen checks each Bingo claim, and the TV view with its QR code lets people in the room scan in from the big screen.

The age-number twist

Try this simple house rule that makes the birthday person part of the game. Before the first call, announce their age as the “lucky number”. When it is called, everyone with that number on their ticket sings one line of Happy Birthday, and the birthday person picks one of them to win a sweet. If they are over 90, use the two digits added together. It costs nothing and turns a single call into the loudest moment of the evening.

A few printing suggestions:

• Color printing makes the balloons and gifts pop for children; black and white is cheaper for a big guest list.
• Print the picture prize sheet and stick it on the wall so kids can see what they are chasing.
• Choose A4 or Letter to match your printer, and keep the caller sheet with the host.

Find more designs on the theme tambola hub, try our original birthday tambola tickets, or plan a big milestone with the Fabulous Forty tambola. Ringing in the year at the same time? The New Year Countdown tambola shares the balloons and party hats. If you enjoy the history behind the tradition, read about the birthday cake and candle custom.

Birthday theme tambola: why this theme works

Birthday parties need a game that adults and children can play at the same time, and housie is one of the few that works across ages. The five pictures are the things everyone expects at a party, so even a four-year-old knows what to look for, while the numbers keep older players counting.

The prize names, such as Make a Wish and Balloon Pop, give the host something to shout when a prize is won. Nobody needs to explain the rules beyond “mark the numbers on your picture”, which makes it a good choice for mixed groups of cousins, friends and grandparents.

Here is how birthday theme tambola fits a birthday party: the pictures need no explanation, the prizes give the host lines to announce, and the whole game fits comfortably around the other events of the day.

How to play birthday bash tambola step by step

The rules of birthday bash tambola are the rules of ordinary tambola, with pictures instead of rows. Here is the whole game in six steps, using the prize names printed on the sheet:

1. Hand out the tickets. Give each player one ticket and read the prize list aloud, starting with Candle Five and ending with Birthday Star Full House.
2. Call the numbers. The host calls numbers from 1 to 90 in random order, or lets the online game call them.
3. Mark your pictures. Each player strikes off the numbers on their ticket, and each picture holds three of them.
4. Claim a prize. The first player to complete a pattern shouts the prize name, such as “Make a Wish!”, before the next number is called.
5. Check the claim. The host reads the numbers back against the caller sheet. A wrong claim loses that ticket the prize.
6. Finish with the full house. The game ends when a player marks all fifteen numbers and wins Birthday Star Full House.

New players learn birthday bash tambola in about two minutes, because the pictures show them what to look for. If the group has never played tambola, our guide on how to play tambola explains the classic version.

Birthday bash tambola: the prize ladder in numbers

Every prize in birthday bash tambola needs a different number of marked numbers, so the prizes arrive in a predictable order. We simulated 3,000 games with 24 tickets, which is 4 sets of six, and recorded the call on which each prize was first completed. The table shows the median, with the middle half of games alongside:

With 24 tickets the first five arrives on about call 13, and the full house on about call 73, so the whole ladder runs over 60 calls, or about 10 minutes at 10 seconds a call. A one-picture prize arrives around call 29, and a two-picture prize around call 51, so most of the excitement happens in the middle of the game. When you plan birthday bash tambola, announce the prizes in the order they are likely to be won, and keep the biggest for last.

Birthday tambola tickets: how many to print and how long a game lasts

This planner answers the question behind birthday tambola tickets: how many to print and how long the game lasts. For a birthday party, the right number of tickets depends on how many guests want to play. This planner rounds up to whole sets of six and uses the same simulation as above for each size of group. One ticket for each player is the usual choice, and you can print a few spares for latecomers:

For 10 guests, print 12 tickets (2 sets of six) and expect the full house around call 76, which is about 12.7 minutes of calling. For 40 guests you need 48 tickets and the full house arrives around call 70.

The bigger the group, the earlier each prize is won, because more tickets are in play: the first five comes on call 14 with 10 guests but on call 11 with 40. That is why birthday bash tambola stays quick even at a large birthday party, and why it suits a short slot in the program.

What one ticket looks like during birthday bash tambola

A ticket holds 15 of the 90 numbers, which is one sixth of them, so on average it has one sixth of the numbers called so far marked. By call 30 a typical ticket has 5 of its 15 numbers marked:

That is the average ticket, though. With 24 tickets in play, the best ticket reaches five marked numbers on call 13, and the best ticket completes all fifteen on call 73, long before an average ticket does. This gap between the average and the best ticket explains why the prizes in birthday bash tambola are won so much earlier than the table above suggests.

Birthday party games: a ready-made run sheet

Here is how birthday party games runs on the day. Here is a run sheet for birthday bash tambola that fits 90 minutes. The times are suggestions; stretch the snack break or shorten a round to suit your birthday party.

The tambola rounds take 45 of the 90 minutes, which leaves room for food, photos and conversation. If you only have half the time, play one round and keep birthday bash tambola for the full house, since the biggest prize makes the best ending.

Prize ideas for birthday bash tambola: a gift for every pattern

Match the gift to the pattern: small gifts for the quick prizes and the best gift for the full house. These ideas fit a birthday party:

Decor and dress ideas to go with the prizes:

• Balloon arch over the prize table
• A banner with the birthday star’s name
• Party hats for everyone
• A wish jar where guests leave a note

Keep the prizes simple, wrap them in the theme colors and put them on a table where everyone can see them before the first call. A prize table in view keeps interest high all through birthday bash tambola.

Three twists to try with birthday bash tambola

A small twist makes the game feel planned. Pick one, or use all three across the rounds of birthday bash tambola, and birthday bash tambola stays quick whichever you choose.

Make a wish

The winner of Make a Wish makes a wish for the birthday star, and everyone says “amen” together.

Balloon pop

The winner of Balloon Pop pops a balloon with a mini prize inside.

Candle count

Guess how many candles are on the cake; the closest guess wins a sweet.

If you like birthday bash tambola, you may also enjoy Fabulous Forty Tambola, Queens Handbag Tambola, Kitty Queen Tambola, or browse the whole theme tambola collection.