Big Kid Parties Archives - Page 3 of 5

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.

Mini Golf Party

My seven-year-old son wanted to go miniature golfing for his birthday, but he didn’t want to leave our house to do it. He wanted to build an 18-hole miniature golf course in our yard. -So, we did! Afterward, I thought this would be a fun party with several families. You could have a pile of supplies and let each family build three holes.

Invitation

Here’s the simple invitation we sent to all of his golfing buddies:

Golf Clubs/Balls/Tees/Scorecards

As the guests arrived, they checked in at the club house and received their scorecard, ball, and putter. We borrowed putters from lots of neighbors. Many of the kids were able to bring a putter from home. In the end, a couple of kids used random irons. That worked out just fine. I purchased a box of golf balls and tees. You can find these online or at any sporting goods store. I printed my own score cards and gave each foursome one card and a pencil. Here’s the scorecard with the rules printed beneath. Mini Golf Scorecard

The Golf Course

Dividing the Yard into 18 Holes

I bought four rolls of brightly colored plastic marking tape at Harbor Freight & Tools. They use this tape (which is not sticky) to mark off areas during construction projects. I used this tape to divide both the front and back yards into 18 sections. I used 3-inch-long nails to pin the ends of the tape into the grass. These were our 18 holes. Most holes were long rectangular sections, but a few were triangles. In each section, I stuck a flag with the number of the hole. This helped our golfers know where to go next and where to mark their score. I made the flags with dowels and paper. You could also use sprinkler flags.

Building the Holes

We found that the best thing for the actual holes were large 24 oz. paper cups. We laid them on their side and stuck a nail inside and through the cup into the ground to hold it in place.

We used all kinds of stuff to create the obstacles leading up to our holes. Here are some of our ideas:

PVC or dryer vent pipe for tunnels

Multiple 2 X 4’s, rocks, and bricks made great tools for building obstacles.

A castle made from a cardboard box with a hole through the middle (the doorway).

A ramp that drops into a toddler’s potty. (The kids thought that was hilarious.)

Weave the ball around a bunch of boots or shoes.

Make an animal face with a hole for the mouth.

We built a wooden ramp up and over a small kiddie pool—water hazard!

Plastic rain gutters make great ramps and slides.

Boxes- Oh what you can do with boxes! Ooh- and plastic crates or bins are great too.

Tree branches are challenging to hit a ball through.

Tires are great obstacles.

Orange cones (We have them for soccer drills.)

2 X 4’s set at different angles are fun because balls bounce off them and go a different way.

Toys! You can incorporate any cool toy buildings into your course. Think Little People, Legos, blocks, etc.

You can also use a lot of other toys. We used our big stuffed alligator and plastic snakes for a fun swampy hole.

We used a bicycle right in the middle of a hole. They had to hit the ball between the wheels to get through to the hole.

Treats/Cake

We served golf ball cake pops- which were donut holes on a stick, dipped in white chocolate, and sprinkled with white nonpareils (sprinkles).

The birthday cake was frosted with chocolate icing, then sprinkled with green colored coconut (grass) and white Sixlets that looked like tiny golf balls. I wrote the birthday boy’s name with red golf tees and stuck a flag made from a bamboo skewer with a 7 (the birthday boy’s age) written on it. We saved the cake to eat after dinner and gave the kids cupcakes. The cupcakes were frosted, sprinkled with the coconut grass, and had a large white gumball on top. You can kind of see them on the far right side of the photo above. Super easy and super cute!