This post will actually be in 2 parts. This first part is all the planning behind the party. I spent quite a bit of time planning and preparing for the party and would love to share what I learned and planned. Lots of people have done it already and there are lots of ideas on Pinterest. I took lots of those ideas and combined them into one party that fit our needs.
This was for a birthday party for our boy/girl twins who were turning 10. We invited 15 kids and had 3 teams of 6 each (one team was short and had to do an extra turn for each challenge).
I used many sources that I found all on Pinterest.
This site for the invite and some ideas (I'd still love to do the whole Date idea from this site).
This site for their race clue printables and some of their ideas. And
this site for more ideas. Some of the ideas I actually thought of myself :)
I changed up the original Amazing Race ideas to fit our party, which was more of big team idea rather than doing individual tasks. I've created PDF documents of my race and the clues and ideas.
(I'm trying to figure out how to link them on here)
The party went pretty much as planned and took just over an hour for the teams to complete all the legs of the party. There are only a few things I would change and i'll go over that at the end.
Just before all of the kids started arriving and showing other family members the course and what help I would need. You definitely need help for this party. I took video along with my son. We could have had one more person taking still photos. We had more than one judge at each challenge and probably could have used one judge per team. I don't have a lot of photos of the actual party and most of these photos I took the day after when it wasn't so crazy.
After gathering all 17 kids in our living room, I announced our teams. We had 3 teams - one all boys and 2 teams of girls. Each team had a color - red, blue and purple. I was able to find sling packs and bandanas at the dollar store. I also found passports with stickers - an added bonus!
Our host Paul went over the rules with the teams and told them to travel safe and sent them out the door to find their gear and start the race. We started the race in the garage (we weren't sure if we were going to get rained on or not)
1st clue was laying on top of their packs. First thing they were told to do was put on their bandana and had to wear it at all times. The teams were instructed to use their passport and put the stickers in of the countries they visited. They were supposed to show them to that country's judge before proceeding to the next task.
1st leg – “roadblock”
Who’s Feelin’ Lucky?
Who’s
feeling LUCKY?
(A
Roadblock is a task that each team member must compete in).
Before
setting off on the race let’s see who is lucky.
Each
team member needs to take 2 dice and roll a 10.
After the judge has seen each team member roll a 10 you will receive
your next clue.
2nd
leg – ANTARTICA (ice cubes stack) This clue was on a BLUE ROUTE INFO clue
Now
travel to ANTARTICA (end of drive way)
“icy tower”
Once
there your team will need to build an ice tower.
Taking
ice cubes and working as a team build a tower of ice at least 10 ice cubes tall
and needs to stay standing for at least 10 seconds.
Once this
task is complete the judge will give you your next clue.
3rd
leg – “detour” Shoot it or Roll it
Shoot It Or Roll It
A Detour is a choice between 2 tasks. Read each task and choose the
one you think your team can accomplish.
In SHOOT
IT, each team member must make a basket with the basketball. Once each team
member has made a shot and the judge has passed you off, your team will receive
their next clue.
In ROLL
IT, each team member must run to the top of the hill and then roll down. Once the judge passes your team off, you will
receive your next clue.
(none of the kids chose this option since it had been raining most of the day and the hill was all wet, otherwise I think both girls teams would have chosen this option)
4th
leg – GERMANY (rootbeer chug)
Make
your way to GERMANY ( back
yard tree)
“ROOTBEER
CHUG”
Once
there your team will receive a bottle of rootbeer and some cups. Everyone in the team needs to fill their cups
and drink the rootbeer until it is all gone.
Once
the judge can see that the bottle is empty you will receive your next clue.
This is one part I would definitely change. 2 liters was A LOT to drink for a team of 6 10 year olds. I knew that going in and had looked for a 1 liter bottle but they don't do that size for rootbeer. Definitely could do half for that age group.
5th
leg – “detour” puzzles or poetry
Poetry
or Puzzles
A Detour is a choice between 2 tasks. Read each task and choose the
one you think your team can accomplish.
Memorize a Poem or
Puzzle time?
In
MEMORIZE, teams must memorize a short poem and recite it together. If you
recite the poem perfectly, you will receive your next clue. If you mess up –
you will have to go back to the poem and start over.
or
In PUZZLE
TIME, teams must put together a puzzle in a limited amount of time. If you run
out of time, you must start over.
None of the teams chose to memorize the poem. The time limit on the puzzle was 3 minutes. All teams completed the puzzle in less than 2 minutes.
6th
leg – CHINA ( Red dragon wrap)
Now
travel to CHINA
“RED DRAGON”
Once
there your team will be given a roll of red crepe paper. Each team must create a “red dragon” by
wrapping their arms with the crepe paper, connecting all team members.
Once
the judge is satisfied with your dragon you will receive your next clue.
7th
leg – “roadblock” EMPTY IT
Empty
IT
(A
Roadblock is a task that each team member must compete in)
You will find a table filled
with cups of snacks, treats and drinks.
One at a time, using only one
hand, each team member will take a turn choosing a cup and must eat/drink
everything in the cup. Each team member
will take a turn emptying a cup until you find a cup marked with an X in the bottom. Once you find that cup
show it to the judge and you will receive your next clue.
8th
leg – ENGLAND (tied up tea party)
Make your way to ENGLAND
Once
there your team must accomplish a
“tied up tea
party”
Each
team member will sit in a circle. After
having all your hands tied together, you must unwrap your cake and eat it.
When
this task is complete, the judge will give you your next clue.
This is one where we could make a change but it worked out. There should only be one cake in a package to unwrap per player. The boys thought they each had to unwrap a package and eat both cakes in the package.
9th
leg – “detour” sing it or spell it
Spell
it Or Sing
it
A Detour is a choice between 2 tasks. Read each task and choose the
one you think your team can accomplish.
In SPELL
IT, the judge will give you a word and you must spell it out loud to the judge
without writing it down.
If you
don’t spell it correctly you must wait one minute and then try spelling it
again.
Or
In SING IT,
the judge will give you a song to sing and your team must sing it all together
until the judge passes your off.
For this one if they chose to sing it, the judge gave them the option to take time and watch a clip of this song from youtube. One team watched it and one team knew it good enough that they just sang it right off. And the judge did let the boys team write down the spelling after a couple of tries of spelling it wrong out loud.
10th
leg – AUSTRALIA (Boomerang Train)
Make
your way to AUSTRALIA
Once
there you must perform the “boomerang
train”
Each
team will be given a ball of yarn tied to a spoon. Using that spoon you must thread the yarn
under each teammates shirt and to the next teammate. Once you’re all connected, the judge will let
you disconnect and then give you your next clue.
I did not get to see any of this in action because I had to hurry back to be ready for the first team back to the pit stop.
Final Clue
to Pit Stop – (printed on green FAST FORWARD clue)
Head
to the PIT STOP!
Head
back to
Jared
and
Kamryn’s
house
And
check in at the matt on the basketball court.
Good
luck!
The first place team received a MILLION DOLLAR prize (chocolate bars I found at hobby lobby that said million dollar bar)
The 2nd place team got a 100 GRAND chocolate bar and the 3rd place team received a bag of chocolate coins.
I've received lots of positive comments back from the kids and parents. It was definitely worth all the time and preparation. I'm sure we'll do it again - would be a fun group date.
