So, at our house we're fans of reality TV. I swear watching it makes me feel SO good about myself. It makes me realize that there are people out there that are WAY crazier than we are. And usually, it's pretty entertaining. Plus, the kids like it. And Survivor and The Amazing Race are shows we watch as a family. A few years ago, we had a Fear Factor party for Carissa and her friends loved it! This year we decided on The Amazing Race theme.
I got some envelopes from the Post Office (don't tell) and decorated them in yellow and black so that they could rip them open, just like the clues on the show. I planned out the course, full of detours and roadblocks too. We just kept it in the neighborhood. I would've liked to have done it through town but that would have required parent volunteers to drive and frankly, I wasn't up for that.
Here are the girls before the race. They broke balloons that had numbers inside to determine the teams. Each team had a different color bandana.
For the first leg of the race they had to do it three legged style. They had to go all the way to the end of the street and retrieve a puzzle, come back and assemble the puzzle. Each puzzle had 100 pieces. Let me tell you, these girls were talking smack the whole time! It was so funny!
Next, they had to choose DIMES or LIMES. In Dimes they had to stack 50 dimes, in limes they had to peel and eat a whole lime. They all chose dimes.
Next was a Roadblock. They had to choose one teammate to find a specific house and eat what was on the front porch, which was a whole jalepeno! They all did it, although I don't have pictures yet because I couldn't follow them around. But, each team had disposable cameras to take their own pictures too.
After that they had to go out back and find a newspaper. They had to find all of the circled letters and unscramble them. Unscrambled they spelled: Carissa is fourteen!
Next they had to choose BRAIN or DRAIN. Either find two specific roads and count the number of houses on them or drink 8oz of soda from a baby bottle. They all chose the bottles, until they realized how long it took and then they wished they had chosen the other! It took them about 8 minutes to drain the whole bottle!
Next, they had to pick one teammate to go to the backyard and untie the strings for their team. They had to find the one ribbon with an X on it.
Their final task was to memorize a set of symbols that were taped on the back wall. Then they had to go to the driveway and recreate the order.
Afterward we had pizza and ice cream.
Then they played Hide and Seek in the dark until it was time to go home. Overall, I think it was great! I would've included a few more challenges, though. They were done in an hour.
And Carissa told us we were the best parents ever because we finally got her a cell phone. She was the only fourteen year old on the planet without one and now her life is complete!
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Ok, that is an awesome party!! You are officially the coolest mom ever.
Posted by: Laura | December 10, 2008 at 12:47 PM
BEST.Party.Idea. EVER!! WOW.. looks like so much fun. GREAT Job..
Posted by: Kim | December 10, 2008 at 12:54 PM
you are the coolest...most bestest parent ever...and not because of the Cell phone. You just plain rock. what a fun party. I suck at planning parties. ugh...I need you to rub off on me.
Posted by: Corey~ living and loving | December 10, 2008 at 02:50 PM
What a fantastic party idea! Great job! Happy birthday to Carissa!
Posted by: Suzy | December 11, 2008 at 02:20 AM
holy cow! carissa's parents are WAY cooler than queen of hearts' parents, who merely took her to the beach for her birthday instead of throwing a party that all her (bitchy) friends would be at.
Posted by: hollydolly | December 11, 2008 at 02:31 PM
On the real show, did you hate that the obnoxious pairing won?
That is a perfect teenage party idea. I love it!
Posted by: Anglophile Football Fanatic | December 11, 2008 at 07:13 PM
That seriously looks SO fun!
Posted by: Kristi | December 12, 2008 at 09:15 AM
You really *are* the coolest mom ever.
Posted by: Meghan | December 13, 2008 at 03:55 PM
What a great party!
I've done Survivor-themed parties before. The kids have a blast.
Posted by: Jenn @ Juggling Life | December 30, 2008 at 08:59 AM