Balloons, party hats, trumpets, noise. At least it's usually a YEAR between birthday parties... In your time as a parent you will be going to lots of kids' birthday parties. Too many. Entire weekends will be spent driving your offspring to various party locations, from soft-play centres to school halls - one location more echoey than the next. There will be balloons, there will be sweets - too many sweets - there will be kids shouting: "WHERE'S MY PARTY BAG?" before the party has even begun. You will listen to not very entertaining entertainers and silently pray for time to accelerate. It will mostly be hell. Unless... unless you have the good fortune of being invited to a "survival" party outdoors, like we were last weekend, thanks to the brilliant Louis who turned eight.
What happens at a survival party? Ironically, less "surviving" than at a traditional, indoor party. Why? Because the bright, echoey environment of the party room or softplay (see pic on right) is replaced by trees, leaves and fields. The entertainer is not some guy with a red nose and a creepy voice, but a normal dude who speaks in a normal voice and gets the kids excited, muddy and utterly exhausted. The games are physical, challenging and different. There is team-work, creativity and thrills. But most of all, there is laughter.
Bobby and Minu loved all the games they played, but particularly LOVED:
What you need:
Top tip: Don't be put off by the unpredictability of the weather. In the right clothes you can "survive" in all weather.
Top quote: "Survival can be summed up by three words really - never give up. That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying." Bear Grylls
What happens at a survival party? Ironically, less "surviving" than at a traditional, indoor party. Why? Because the bright, echoey environment of the party room or softplay (see pic on right) is replaced by trees, leaves and fields. The entertainer is not some guy with a red nose and a creepy voice, but a normal dude who speaks in a normal voice and gets the kids excited, muddy and utterly exhausted. The games are physical, challenging and different. There is team-work, creativity and thrills. But most of all, there is laughter.
Bobby and Minu loved all the games they played, but particularly LOVED:
- Den building. This was timed and done in teams. Each team had to come up with innovative ways of making their den better than the other team, such as providing "toilets", "fire-pits" and even a Christmas tree (see pic above).
- Sniper. This involved the friendly dude getting the kids all giddy and then playing a variation of Grandmother's footsteps. He tricked them, fooled them, made them jump, got so excited they slipped in the mud... The kids were 100 per cent engaged, even loving the bits when they had to be sent back to start over (see pic below).
- Wounded soldier. This one can easily be done in your garden. All you need is a big piece of sturdy fabric on which to place your "wounded soldier". The kids had to carry three "wounded soldiers" to the "hospital" and back in teams. The fastest team won.
- Tug of war. Always a classic, but even more so in the mud.
- Water balloon catapult. Ok so it was beginning of December. It was cold. It was muddy. It was wet on the ground. But when the dudes suggested catapulting water balloons into the air with a giant contraption and said that those who caught it on their chest would win AND be allowed to catapult the next balloon, the kids went for it. Splash after splat after splash.
What you need:
- Outdoor space
- Sticks, logs,
- Sturdy fabric
- Water balloons and a giant catapult
Top tip: Don't be put off by the unpredictability of the weather. In the right clothes you can "survive" in all weather.
Top quote: "Survival can be summed up by three words really - never give up. That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying." Bear Grylls
Annie heading to the party. Survival party or not, it's never too cold for a tutu.
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Morning winter sun coming through the trees... Or would you rather the fluoro lights in the softplay?
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Lots of muddy, squelchy action. As our whole family went, five pairs of shoes were covered in mud for a week and nobody knew quite how to tackle the cleaning process but it was all totally worth it.
Making a run for it playing the sniper game.
Pretty good birthday-cake spot. No tables or chairs needed. No we did not litter, this was a momentary lapse of a seven-year old's keep-the-earth-tidy judgement.
It's the simplicity of this game that I love so much. I last got seriously involved in a parent/kid tug-of-war at Camp Bestival. The competitive spirit kicked in as soon as the ref said "go". I think I near on popped a vein in my neck with all the effort. We won though.
Heave-ho. I believe at this point Bobby let one rip from all the effort.
December - wet and yet exhilarated. Why? Because having taken one on the chest Bobby is allowed to sky-rocket a water balloon using a giant catapult onto all the other children.
BOING.
Who's going to get it? Who's going to get it? Who's going to get it?
Splat!
This was the scene at home after the birthday party. Best nap ever for all family members. It's all that fresh air, it's good for you, my granny used to say.
Other wild ideas:
Find your inner wild
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Sitting Bull knows best - A ridiculously brilliant solution for all those random sticks in your house
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Want to see this guy in your garden?
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