Obstacle Course Birthday Party: Wipeout theme

Host an Obstacle Course Wipeout Theme Party

Obstacle Course and Ice Cream Tower Contest!

Messy and Delicious Fun for Boys:

For R’s 8^th birthday this year, we decided to make a Wipeout-themed outdoor party. We’ve had parties at bouncy house places in the past and have loved them, but this year, we wanted something that would give the kids more chance to interact with each other in a smaller setting – our yard! At first, R thought we were building a life-size Wipeout course in our back yard, gigantic pools and all! Needless to say, that wasn’t my plan, but we served up some easy, low-cost, messy fun for the boys, and they all had a blast!

Obstacle Course:

Our fun started with a backyard obstacle course. It was simple to set up and take down, with loads of messy fun in between!

· Hop through a series of hula hoops (from the dollar store!) without touching your foot to the hoop.

· Next, sneak by or under the “sweeper,” a pool noodle being swung back and forth around waist-high on the swinger.

· Balance as you pounce from red ball to red ball, each which is resting on a floaty pool tube (I bought mine at the dollar store, but they are available at many retailers, of course).

· Then the mess began. Pool, water balloons, shaving cream = FUN! Messy fun! The boys had to step from one upside down bucket to another, through a kiddie pool filled with water balloons and shaving cream, without falling down! Leave it to R to start the mess by faking a fall off the bucket and landing splat in the shaving cream.

· Next step: A quick shot on goal, trying to get a ball into a little goal net while a friend swings another pool noodle “sweeper” at you.

· And last but not least, crawl UP a lawn water-slide (we used Slip n’ Slide) , and we made sure the slide was wet and slick from dish soap I poured on it. We had the boys crawl instead of walking or running up the slide so nobody would get hurt.

We timed each kid and gave out medals in the goody bags to celebrate having completed the course.

Can you guess what happened after each child had two runs through the course? They all jumped into the pool full of water balloons and shaving cream and basked in the joy of slimy, sloppy mess.

Ice Cream Tower Contest

After a few minutes, we wiped everyone down with beach towels and headed to part two: The Ice cream tower contest. Each child received a set of building materials I had arranged before the party:

· A waffle cone bowl and one big waffle cone

· Two sugar cones

· Little cups filled with toppings (jelly beans, chocolate sprinkles, rainbow sprinkles, chocolate chips, chocolate syrup)

· Two scoops of ice cream

· A can of whipped cream (1 can per every 2 kids)

The challenge was to see who could use their building materials to craft the tallest yummy tower within a 2 minute timeframe without it falling down (wiping out!). It was the quietest part of the party as everyone focused on building while their mouths watered, eager to eat their construction! After judging the contest, everyone gobbled up their creation.

After that, we just played good old-fashioned fun stuff in the yard – not Wipeout-themed, but just fun: basketball, catch, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, bikes & scooters.

All in all, it was an easy, affordable party to prepare and to run. It was memorable and super-fun for the kids, who were thrilled to be allowed to get so messy. And at the end, while I was tired, I wasn’t entirely wiped out. J