Crowd Pleasing, Budget Friendly, Summer Birthday Party Idea (Part Two)

A Dangerous Party for Boys

Let me warn you right out of the gate here, this party is NOT for everyone. It's most certainly for older children 8-12 and most loved by boys but over course plenty of girls will love it too. It's a play on the book, A Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn Iggulden

A Dangerous Party for Boys is an opportunity to let the kids imaginations run wild. The cost is low, the kids love it but it takes some leg work and some effort to clean up after. It's REALLY worth it though.

(Of course you can invite girls! Just call it A Dangerous Party for Kids)

The Basics You'll Need (for starters, get creative)

• Boxes

• PVC Pipe

• Pallets

• Scrap Wood

• Tarps

• Bungee Cords

• Duck Tape

• Hammers and Nails

• Hand Saws

• Rope

• Whatever odd things you can find - old wagons, broken lawn chairs, bike tires

Kids never have access to the kind of cool stuff we used to do when we were kids. This is their chance!

Our summers were spent building forts, contraptions, inventions, bridges over creeks, whatever our imaginations could come up with on any given day.

A Dangerous Party gives them the opportunity to spend an afternoon doing all the crazy stuff they would do if mom let them. When they arrive instead of having all the supplies organized and laid out and sorted for them. Have them piled up. Have them in empty garbage cans, and bins, stacked haphazardly. Half of the fun is in the discovery.

Yes, you are essentially creating a dumpster full of treasures for the kids to sort through but you decide how far to go - if you can't bear the idea of the kids sawing PVC pipe with a hacksaw (which 10 year old boys are totally capable of doing) then keep your party to boxes and duck tape - they'll still love it.

Challenge them to some specific tasks and have them work together, this is not a competition. What's really brilliant about this party is it's also wonderful Team Building exercise. It helps kids within their friend group to learn how to better work together, work out differences, compromise, and support one another. If your kids play sports together, go to school together, do scouts together with their group of friends, then opportunities to grow in Teamwork are fantastic ways to bring them closer together.

Possible Challenges:

• Build a Fort or a Base Camp

• Build a Rube Goldberg Invention

• Build Bunkers (for the Nerf War that's coming)

• Build a Catapult

• Build Marshmallow Guns

Obviously this Party Plan needs some supervision but I beg of you to keep the supervision at a distance and allow the kids to do as much of the work, creating as possible. This is a great opportunity for dads, grandpas and uncles to get really involved. Because let's face it most of the time the moms are doing all the party work and dads are sitting on the deck. Amirite? yeah, I'm right. I'm the mom that has all the power tools in this house - so do whatever works for your family!

Grown ups needs to stay close for safety but keep their distance from the actual work. The problem is, especially the dads, are really just big kids and they often want to get in there and build some stuff too. If dads really want to get their hands dirty, have them work as their own team. Later they can compete against the kids in a Nerf War, Capture the Flag, Zombie Apocalypse Tag, whatever.

This party needs adequate time. The kids can do this all afternoon.

You can have some intermittent activities - mini games throughout the afternoon, like an old fashioned tug of war, or sack race, maybe build paper airplanes. How creative and brave are you? Can the kids roll down the sidewalk in a laundry basket on a skateboard? Watermelon helmets optional.

Break for food, stay well hydrated and take time to have cake but let them play!

Party Favors could include a roll duck tape, a birdhouse building kit, a pocket tool, a flashlight or some other cool thing.

Creative Play is the central theme of this Dangerous Party. Don't be surprised if your kids want to do it every weekend. The best part of this party is the phone calls you get when the invitation A Dangerous Party for Kids arrives in their mailbox...