6-Foot Tall Party- Celebrate your child growing TALL

Six Foot Party

It’s time for a TALL Party

We have tall genes in our family. We knew our boys would all be taller than six feet as adults. So far, three of them have passed the mark. Our fourth son just turned twelve, so we’ll give him a couple more years.

When our oldest son reached the height of six feet, we decided we should celebrate. We threw a Six-Foot Tall Party for him, inviting our extended family to join in the tall celebration.

Dinner for this party was a lot of fun.  I made a six-foot-long sandwich and a six-foot-long banana split!

I worked at Subway as a teenager, so I felt confident I could make my own sandwich. Years later, when we repeated this party for our younger sons, I just ordered six-foot sandwiches from a grocery store deli. That made it a lot easier, but here’s the instructions if you want to make your own.

6-Foot Dinner

I made enough bread dough for six loaves of bread.  I rolled out 1/4 of the dough into a large rectangle, then cut it in three long strips.  I braided the dough and placed it diagonally on a greased cookie sheet.  I made four of these loaves- each just over 18″ long.  I let them raise until they reached my desired size, then baked them for 24 minutes.  (My regular loaves usually take 30 minutes to bake.)

I made these the day before the party, allowed them to cool, then wrapped them in plastic wrap.

On the night of the party, I lay them side by side on a table.  I trimmed off the ends (except for the two on the far ends) and pushed them together so they appeared to be one six-foot loaf.  I filled them with sandwich fixin’s and it was the freshest, yummiest six footer I’ve ever tasted!

Six Foot Sandwich at the Six Foot Party
Six Foot Sandwich at the Six Foot Party

We made our six-foot-long banana split in a rain gutter.  Plastic rain gutters are very inexpensive at Lowe’s or Home Depot- less than $10.  I scrubbed it clean and it made a perfect 6-foot long bowl for our ice cream.  This is surely against health code, but lots of fun!

6-foot long ice cream sundae at the Tall Party
6-foot long ice cream sundae at the Tall Party

6-Foot Party Activities

When the guests arrived, we measured all of them on our growth chart. We need to know how tall everyone is at a Tall Party.

Growth Chart
How close are you to 6-feet tall?

We included markings for a few famous people, including the tallest man and woman to ever live.  Tallest woman: Zeng Jinlian of China (8′ 1 3/4”)  Tallest man: Robert Wadlow (8′ 11.1”)

Growth Chart

Our first activity was a slam dunk contest in the driveway.  We used a mini trampoline for the contest. Be careful if you decide to do this.  Our little tramp’s legs fell off after a dozen dunks.  Oops! An alternative idea would be to play the basketball game of HORSE but spell SIX instead.

Tall people party dunking competition
Tall people party dunking competition

Next we played volleyball, which is a tall person’s game but is also great for all sizes of people.

The next activity was a game we call “Line Up”.  In this game, you divide your group into two teams.  The person in charge then calls out a sorting category and the teams race to be the first group lined up in the proper order.

Lined up in order by darkest to lightest hair color
Lined up in order of favorite Star Wars character’s height. Chewbacca to R2-D2!

Here are a few examples of sorting categories:  Height (tallest to shortest), Age (oldest to youngest), Hair length, Shoe size, fingernail length, birth date by month- not year (January to December), number of times you’ve been to Disneyland, your favorite Star Wars character by height, your favorite sport alphabetically.  You can think of all kinds of things!  Make the list and give it to the caller. He then begins each line-up race by saying something like, “Think of your favorite food.  What letter does that food begin with? Now line up alphabetically A to Z.)  Fun!

Tall People Game- Describe and guess the famous tall people!
Tall People Game- Describe and guess the famous tall people!

Our last game was one we call the “30 Second Game”.  Again, we divided our group into two teams. Previously, I had printed a long list of famous people (and a few neighbors and friends) who are over 6’0″ tall.  I cut up the list so there was one name on each slip of paper and put the names in a bowl.  The teams took turns having one person give clues to their team.  Their goal was to get their team to guess as many names as they could in thirty seconds.  Teams took turns, trading the clue giver each time, until the bowl was empty. Here’s my list:  Tall People List

Sixlets are a great party favor for a Tall Party
Sixlets are a perfect party favor for a 6-Foot Tall Party

Everyone took home a party favor: a long pack of Sixlets!  Hooray for tall people!

Check out more great party ideas on our website!

Parties for Little Kids Ages 3-7

Parties for Big Kids Ages 8-12

Parties for Teens

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?

Box Party Invitation

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.
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.
Pass the Box

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.

birthday boy

Amazing Race Party

I get a little bored with the traditional classroom parties.  They usually consist of five or six “centers”.  The kids rotate to each center participating in a game, craft, or eating a snack.  This type of party is great for younger kids, but when the kids hit 3rd or 4th grade, they’re ready for something different. This year, I combined my 3rd and 6th graders’ classes for a joint Halloween party.  I created an Amazing Race all around the outside of the school.  I divided the students into teams of 6-7 people. I told them they had one hour to complete 12 challenges.  They would need to find the challenges and follow the instructions. Each team received a Team Tracker Worksheet to keep track of their progress. The team with the most completed challenges would be declared the champions.  It was nice for the kids to run around outside, have a little competition, then finish with nachos, apples, and juice.  Here’s what we did…

Challenge #1

Identify each jar of baby food by smelling, tasting, or looking at the jars.
Complete the worksheet and put it in your bag.  You’ll receive one point for each correct answer.

Challenge #2

Complete three cereal box puzzles.
Ask an adult to initial your instruction page when you finish. Then mix up the puzzles so they’ll be ready for the next team.
(I made three puzzles by cutting up the front panel of 3 cereal boxes into 16 squares per box. Super easy!)

Challenge #3

Every person on your team will hold a spaghetti noodle in their mouth. They must use the noodle to pick up three penne pasta noodles, then drop the penne in the bowl.
When everyone has transferred three noodles from the table to the bowl, you have completed this challenge. Ask an adult to initial your instruction page when you finish. Please put all the used spaghetti noodles in the trash!

Challenge #4

Build a human pyramid with your team. No more than three people can be touching the ground. Stay in the pyramid for at least five seconds.
Ask an adult to initial your instruction page when you finish.

Challenge #5

Dab Vaseline on one of your team members’ noses. They must pick up 8 cotton balls with their nose, then drop them (shake them off) into the bowl.
Ask an adult to initial your instruction page when you finish.
 

Challenge #6

Stack 55 cups with 10 on the bottom row. Once you have them all standing in a pyramid, you will have completed this task.
Ask an adult to initial your instruction page when you finish.

Challenge #7

Choose two people on your team to complete this challenge. One person will wear a blindfold and hold a tube of lipstick. He or she will apply the lipstick to the lips of the second person. That person will use their painted lips to make a face (2 eyes, 1 nose, and a mouth) on the paper pumpkin affixed to the wall. Reapply the lipstick as often as needed to complete the face.
Tear the paper off the wall and put it in your bag as proof that you completed this challenge.

Challenge #8

Search through the trees to find the ribbon that matches your team’s arm bands. Do not remove any ribbons that do not belong to your team.
Put the ribbon in your bag to show you completed this challenge.

Challenge #9

Each person on your team must eat two crackers, then whistle. Ask an adult to listen and initial your instruction page after they are able to hear a whistle from each member of your team.
(If someone doesn’t know how to whistle, the adult can give approval for a good effort.)

Challenge #10

Find the secret phrase by completing the Movie/Book Quiz.
Put the worksheet in your bag to show you completed this challenge.

Challenge #11

Find the secret word by completing the Sort Quiz.
Put the worksheet in your bag to show you completed this challenge.

Challenge #12

Use the code below to decipher the message.
Put your interpretation of the code in your bag to show you completed this challenge.

Party Supply List

Instruction Page for each group  Team Tracker Worksheet
Aerial map of school for each group (with 12 stations marked on map)
Print out instructions for each challenge. Amazing Race Challenges
Bag and pen for each group
Pen for judges
At least 3 cereal box puzzles
10 jars of baby food
Plastic spoons and plates for baby food
Arm bands or bandanas for each team
At least 55 plastic cups
Vaseline
cotton balls
spaghetti noodles
penne noodles
2 bowls for noodles
garbage can for noodles
lipstick (Q-tips to apply lipstick or at least tissues to wipe between users)
blind fold for lipstick
paper pumpkins affixed to wall
tape
scissors
ribbons same as armbands for trees (1 of each color)
Saltine crackers (2 per student)
Movie Quizzes (1 per team)  Movie and Book Quiz
Sort Quizzes (1 per team)  Sort Quiz
Crack the Code (1 per team) Crack the Code
Prizes
Refreshments for end of race