Cheree Larson, Author at Fun Family Next Door

Box Bash

My son wanted a Box Party for his 12th birthday. What is a Box Party, you ask? I didn’t know either– but we had one! It was one of the simplest parties we’ve ever had and also one of the most fun. It was especially great because we had a large group of children ages 5-74 and they all liked it (kindergartners and grandpas included). We had planned to have this party in our backyard, but it rained so we moved our boxes to our church gymnasium. This would never have worked inside our house.

Preparation
We started collecting boxes a month before the party. We asked a few neighbors and aunts to call us if they were throwing out any boxes. I stopped at a local furniture store and asked for large boxes. We also asked the guests to each bring two shoe boxes. Most of them did. After the party, we took them all to a recycling center.
Boxes
Invitation
We pasted the invitations on pieces of torn-up cereal boxes. Classy, eh?

Boxtacular Activities

Steal the Box
As the guests arrived, we assigned them a team and number to play “Steal the Box”, which was just Steal the Bacon with a small box.

Steal the box game

Teams
After the first game, we divided the group into two teams- the mustaches vs. the goatees. We drew facial hair on all the kids with a washable marker. Since our son was turning twelve (becoming a man in some cultures), we thought it fitting to throw in a little facial hair.

Box Relays

Our two teams competed in several box-themed relays.

Pass the Box
The teams sat in a line. Then they were challenged to pass a box using only their feet from one end of their line to the other and back again.

Box Push
The guests were required to push (or hit with their hands) a box across the gym and back. No kicking allowed!

Box Push

Coffin Race
Each team used a large box as a coffin and carried three of their teammates (one at a time) halfway across the gym and back. This was a bit dangerous- as the boxes started falling apart, but luckily no one was injured.

Coffin Race

Kleenex Pull
I bought two of the smallest boxes of Kleenexes I could find (60 tissues). The teams stood behind a line about 20 feet from a table with the Kleenex boxes. They had to take turns running to the boxes, pulling out one tissue, then running back to tag the next person. I should have taken out half of the tissues because this took a long time. If they pulled out more than one tissue, they had to spin around five times for each extra tissue before they could run back to their team. I think 12-15 tissues in the box would be about right.

Kleenex Pull

Box Skits
I put a bunch of random costumes and props in four boxes. Each box was different. We split each team in two so we would have four groups. They were given fifteen minutes to make up a skit. Then they performed them for the group. This might be a hard activity for smaller kids, but it was perfect for my pre-teen group.

Skits in a box

Box Battle
This was my favorite part of the party. Each team built a fortress of boxes, then we had a battle with Nerf guns and small playground balls. The kids were so creative. They had all kinds of hiding places in their forts and made lots of cool shields to protect themselves. Here’s a photo of one such shield:

Box Shield

Box Battle

Box Soccer
We actually played this game in the middle of the party– but it should have been our last event. The kids destroyed a lot of the boxes during this game. We required every player to wear one box as a shoe while they played a game of soccer. The soccer ball was a softer playground ball, but the boxes had to be duct taped to the kids’ feet to stay on. This was really fun but required a lot of duct tape. Here’s a photo of the box shoes:

Box shoes

box soccer

Birthday Treats
We served ice cream sundaes for our party treat. How easy is that? If you want to be more creative, I’m sure you could find some boxed desserts.

Silly Sports Party

My nine-year-old son wanted a silly sports party to celebrate his birthday this summer. This was a very easy and incredibly fun party. At the end, one of the kids told me, “You always have the best parties!” This made me laugh because this particular party had only one expense: ice cream sundaes. It’s just one more example of the fact that you don’t have to spend money to have a good time.

First Things First

When the kids arrived, we had each of them write their name on a cup and clothespin it to a ribbon strung across the patio. I knew our guests were going to go through a lot of water at this August sports party, so this saved me hundreds of plastic cups!

Next, we had each child choose if they wanted to be on Team Mango or Team Banana. (I had yellow and orange fabric in my storage room. I cut it up into long strips for headbands. Teams Mango and Banana were born!)

With two teams, we were ready to compete.

Activities (Silly Sports)

Beach Ball Volleyball
We made a “net” by stringing yarn across the yard, then tying strips of crepe paper along the yarn, every two feet. We then played regular volleyball rules, but with a beach ball. It moves slower and doesn’t hurt your arms!

Crab Soccer
We played soccer using a giant beach ball. The kids all had to stay in crab position whenever they moved or kicked the ball. They could stand up and run get it if the ball went out of bounds. The entire fence on each end of the yard served as the goals. This was my 14-year-old son’s favorite game of the night. It’s quite challenging and very funny.

Crazy Baseball
We set up a baseball field in the yard using car mats as the bases. The ball was a soft knitted ball with stuffing inside about the size of a softball. The bats were a book, a spatula, a zucchini, a hockey stick, and a tennis racquet. Teams were required to use all the bats before they could repeat using one. The zucchini was especially funny. Some of the batters couldn’t stop giggling as they swung.

Stuffed Animal Dodge Ball
We strung a rope across the middle of the yard, then played dodge ball with stuffed animals. There were hippos and tigers flying everywhere. We put out two small rubber balls to give the teams more of a chance to “rescue” their players over in prison. If the prisoners could catch a ball in flight, they were freed and returned to the field. It was an epic battle of flying penguins and teddy bears!

Grand Finale
We ended the party with an ice cream sundae bar complete with whipped cream, gummy bears, and Oreo cookies. The birthday boy opened gifts, and the kids played a game of real soccer as their parents arrived for pick-up.

Narnia Party: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

We turned our back yard into Narnia to celebrate our son’s eighth birthday. My husband had been reading the C.S. Lewis books to our boys, and our little guy was quite taken by the whole world of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.”

Going through the Wardrobe

Our guests entered our backyard by walking through a wardrobe. We had a couple of old closet doors in our basement. I clamped them to the fence and attached a thick dowel across the top. We borrowed a few full-length coats from grandma and hung them up. The photo is at the top of this post. Isn’t it great?! We also borrowed two artificial Christmas trees to make it look more like a forest when the kids came through the doors.

Narnia Fashion

The first activity of the night was turning our guests into the creatures and royalty of Narnia. Many came in costume, but those who didn’t soon looked the part. We had lots of ribbon, sashes, capes, and giant pipe cleaners. These supplies were turned into crowns and animal ears. My husband painted faces… beards, whiskers, war paint, etc. Everyone was able to choose what they wanted to be. Most of the girls were queens but the boys loved being fauns, dwarfs, and talking animals. I took the part of the white witch.

Narnia Fashion

Activities

After costuming and dinner, we started the activities. We divided the kids into three groups for battle training: swords, bows, shields. Our party had about 25 kids- so 8 per group. You could definitely hold this party with less guests. You could just keep everyone together instead of dividing into groups. We rotated every 10-15 minutes. I just watched to see when it looked like the groups were ready to move.

Narnia Guests

Swords

I cut swim noodles in half with an electric bread knife. The children practiced sword fighting against each other and their trainers (adult aunts and uncles). After a bit of practice, we played sword tag. If you blocked a sword hit, you were fine, but if you got hit in the chest, you had to lay on the ground and count to 50 before you could get back up.

Bows and Arrows

My dad helped me make a PVC pipe bow for each guest. We used 4 feet of ½ inch PVC pipe for each bow. We used a kitchen knife to make a ½ inch notch in each end of the pipe. Then we used masonry twine to string the bow. Our arrows were wooden dowels, cut in thirds, with a pencil eraser cap on the end. I took an eraser cap to the store and chose the dowels that fit inside (pencil size). We cut a notch in the end of the arrow so it would sit against the string. We made enough for the kids to each take one home, plus a few extra in case some were lost or broken at the party. Here’s a link to a video with instructions for a little bit fancier bow and arrow set: PVC Pipe Archery Bow

Bows

Arrows

Our next-door neighbor let us use his yard for archery practice so the kids would not be shooting arrows near the sword and shield groups. We set up cardboard targets in the bushes, attached with some wire. The kids practiced shooting. We also had some markers and colored duct tape for them to decorate their bows. They were all excited to take their bows/arrows home with them after the party.

Shields

The children were all given a shield to use as they ran through an obstacle course. The adult helpers threw foam blocks at the kids as they ran. The kids used the shields to dodge the blocks. We let them each go through the course 3-4 times until it was time to rotate. Our shields were store-bought. I didn’t give these to the kids so I only needed four to keep the obstacle course running.

The Quest

After training, we gathered everyone for a game we usually call “Fugitive”. For this event, it was called “The Quest”. We mixed up our groups into four new teams. Our quest required the teams to find Aslan and bring him back to the house. As you know, Aslan is a lion, so we used four lion stuffed animals. We hid the lions around a church 3-4 blocks from our house. The kids had to go to the church, find a lion, and bring him back to the house, without being spotted by a wolf. The wolves were three adults (dads) on bicycles. The kids were given a two-minute head start. When the wolves saw one of the kids, they’d jump off their bikes and try to tag them. If a child was tagged, they were out of the game, but the rest of their team could keep going. The parking lot and grass around the church were a safe zone where the wolves could not tag kids. At our party, most of the kids made it back to the house without being seen. They were very sneaky and super excited about the challenge.

Narnians

Outdoor Movie

After the quest, it was movie time. We projected “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” on a sheet in our back yard. We invited the kids’ families to join us for the movie. We popped popcorn and passed around licorice buckets. The kids brought their pillows and blankets. It didn’t get dark until 9:30, so it was a pretty late party. –But that made the kids really excited to get to stay up late. Ah! Isn’t summer great?!

More Narnians