Party signs help keep things organized, and they create a fun party atmosphere. Download the NERF party signs for FREE.
The Invitation A couple of weeks ago we celebrated Zack's 9th Birthday. That seems so weird to say. I still can't believe that he is ni...
So much going on lately... We held Alex's 9th birthday party on the Sunday before his actual birthday. We picked Sunday afternoon because we never get soccer schedules early enough for me to plan his mid-September party around it, and I just have to hope we end up conflict-free. Despite our many pleas to have his party somewhere not at our house, he wanted a home party. With Nerf Guns. He wanted to shoot his friends, and he wanted to play Capture the Flag. So we sent out this evite. And let him invite his nearest and dearest, prayed for good weather, and got down to planning out all the details. Alex didn't want much in the way of decorations, and he wanted a cookie cake. This broke my heart a little bit, but I honored the birthday boys wishes. My days of hosting cool birthday parties may soon be over. :( First up, we had to inventory our own Nerf Gun stock, and our foam dart stock. Guns = good. Foam darts - not so good. A few e-bay orders remedied that problem. Next, during my internet sleuthing (read: pinterest), I had fallen in love with the idea of the kids using big cardboard boxes to hide behind during their nerf battles. I spent many a lunch hour dumpster diving for boxes, and then Carl re-assmebled then and spray-painted them to look sort of camoflauge-y. Alex found these to be acceptable party "decorations," so there was much happiness all around. It was also nice that these were FREE decorations, since we just used spray paint on hand from various projects. Carl even came up with the red target ideas when we ran out of the green-black-brown colors. My other big project that I tried to replicate from online ideas was that I wanted to make t-shirts for the kids. I thought they all looked so cool in the all black shirts, and it would make for great photos. Alex went to party a while back where they all came home with personalized t-shirts. He LOVED his shirt, so I decided to make a "Nerf Wars" tshirt. This was much, much more work than I thought, and since it necessitated the purchase of a new color printer for us, more expensive than originally envisioned. (I should note we have been in need of a new printer for quite some time, so it worked to get it, it just seems a bit crazy that I had to go out the day before the party and spend $100 to make the shirts happen.). Anyways, I spent $2 per shirt at Michaels (they were on sale) and then $20 on the iron on transfers, which meant $60 total on the shirts. I also wanted to get the kids sunglasses to wear because 1) eye protection seemed like a good idea to the lawyer in me, so that no one shot their eye out on my watch, and 2) it looked cool in the idea photos I had seen. These I picked up for $1 each at the dollar store, so $20 total. And I also wanted to get them bandanas, since with everyone wearing the black t-shirts, Capture the Flag could be tricky. I picked neon orange and yellow, two "Nerf" colors, and these were $1 each. The shirts, glasses and bandanas served as any party favors, since I don't think nine year olds really need the normally cheapy goody bag items. We also spent about $40 on various PVC pipes. We had planned for the boys to make marshmallow shooters and have a big marshmallow fight, as a way to break up the monotony of just Nerf Guns. Carl made some water bottle labels up for us, like we had done for Ryan's party. This is so simple to do, and we just tape them on over the bottles - I don't bother with waterproof labels which would raise the price quite a bit. We also served orange and yellow gatorade. No one mentioned my color coding the gatorades - not sure if it just went completely unnoticed, or if the other parents thought I was too sane to have planned that out. I also don't think anyone noticed that we only served color coded foods, in oranges, yellows and greens. But I noticed, and I think it all popped really well with the white tablecloth and serving bowls. Alas, it rained all day the day of his party. The party was set from 2-4pm, and around 3:45, the rain stopped falling. Thanks, rain. Carl decided we needed a Plan B, so while I started moving all breakables out of harm;s way, he got busy and decided all the boys were going to make a movie. He wrote a script up, and we divided the kids into the Orange and Yellow Teams. He and our neighbor Tatianna would be busy filming while we had other smaller games for other team to play or keep busy with downstairs. *I'll also note that his movie set sign seen below couldn't have been printed in color if we hadn't replaced our broken color printer. ;) First, Carl explained the rules of Nerf Gun shooting to the boys: nothing at close range, and nothing above the neck. Then, everyone got decked out in their shirts, glasses and bandanas. Some of the games we played included: shoot the Green Army Men off the mantel. Shoot the spray painted cans off the hearth. Shoot the paint ball gun out the back door at the target, but not actually going outside. And assemble your own marshmallow shooter from PVC pipe. We had a big marshmallow battle inside, but a note to other parents that marshmallows and hardwood floors don't mesh very well. Because of the last-minute decision to make a movie, Carl used our good camera for video purposes. Which left me with just my phone for many of the pictures. A lot of these are fairly poor quality, but I'm trying to console myself with the fact that there is a video I can watch. This wasn't the big Nerf Wars party we had originally planned, but all the boys seemed to be having a great time, and I think the finished "movie" will be a nice thank you for everyone. Assuming our technical support ever gets finished with its editing, that is. ;) And since all good movies need a preview of coming attractions: UPDATED: Here's an image of the t-shirt design. Fell free to use it for your own personal use.
The best Nerf party decorations are right here! Do you need some fun and cool party decor ideas or Nerf party favors for your upcoming Nerf birthday party? Maybe you need a gift, check out the Nerf party gifts list, and invite the kids with some cool Nerf party invitations. Besides the usual balloons, streamers
M y son, like many young boys, LOVES his Nerf guns, so when his birthday was approaching and I asked him what kind of party he wanted, hi...
My son wanted to have a Nerf war party for his birthday. When I asked him what he would like for a cake he said he wanted cupcakes with a Nerf dart sticking out of them. I thought he meant a real Nerf dart but he said he was thinking they might could be made out of fondant icing and then they would be edible! Oh my! Why does he have to be so creative?! I've never worked with fondant but it is an icing that kind of has the texture of Play-Doh. I've seen lots of pictures of amazing edible creations with fondant. I was excited to learn about it and give it a try myself. The cheapest way to work with fondant is to buy a big tub of white fondant and color it yourself. I was in a bit of a time crunch so I opted for the pre-colored kind which was a little more expensive but I found a multi-pack that had several different colors in it and then I used the regular 40% off one item coupon for Michael's so it ended up being a good deal. I started with just rolling up a Nerf dart sized blue cylinder of fondant but I didn't really like the results. It would be too much fondant to bite into (the kids might think otherwise) and I was worried that they would get floppy if that sat in the heat for a little while at the party. So I looked into ways to create a firm structure in the center. I found a blog post online that showed fondant rolled over long cylindrical cookies and I knew that would solve my problems perfectly! I started with rolling out a thin layer of blue fondant. The fondant roller came with bands that you can put at the ends of the roller to control the thickness of the fondant you roll out. I went with the thinnest one. Then I placed a little bit of blue fondant over one end of the cookie and then eye-balled about how wide of a strip I would need to roll over the rest of the cookie and cut it out. There are special tools for cutting fondant but my old faithful steak knife worked fine. I seriously use my steak knives for everything! Then the fun part. Just roll the cookie over the fondant until it is completely covered and then cut the fondant strip off. You may have to press down around the cookie or even out a few bumps but it usually went pretty smoothly for me. Next I put a little bit of orange fondant over the other end of the cookie and then rolled the cookie over the fondant again and trimmed. It took me a while to make the first few darts but once I got the hang of it I got a lot faster at making them. My son decided he didn't want them sticking out of the cupcakes after. Instead he just placed them on the guests' plates next to their cupcakes. The kids loved them!
These Nerf party favor bags were the perfect gifts to give to my son's friends at his 6th birthday party! Disclosure: I was provided with these craft kits from Oriental Trading free of charge in exchange for my fair and honest review. Please see my disclosure policy. This post also contains affiliate links, which means that at no extra cost to you I can make a tiny bit of money to help support this blog. Thank you! Now I haven't written at all about this here, but since the end of last year my son has been rather obsessed with Nerf
Fire up your next nerf birthday party with these amazing nerf party favor ideas for boys and girls. The kids will have a blast with any of these unique nerf party favors... Also, here are some of the best Nerf party gifts. Are you getting ready for a Nerf Birthday Party and looking for some
This year Thomas decided he wanted to have a Nerf gun party, complete with an all-out capture the flag battle. We did quite a bit of searching and heavily relied on ideas we found on Pinterest. You can look through...
Transform a simple canvas into a charming Valentine's Day decoration with our DIY Ampersand Thumbtack Art guide. Quick, affordable, and perfect for any skill level, this project adds a romantic touch to your decor.
M y son, like many young boys, LOVES his Nerf guns, so when his birthday was approaching and I asked him what kind of party he wanted, hi...
Kids love a great Nerf war. Learn how to build a budget friendly Nerf War Battlefield for a Nerf War birthday party or a summer filled with fun! A brilliant outdoor engineering and construction challenge using upcycled items that will challenge kids to think outside of the box to ensure their Nerf gun battles are epic!
My boys love having NERF gun battles, so when it came to picking a party theme for my two youngest boys, it didn't require a lot of discussion. My 10 year old requested an "epic NERF battle", and my 8 year old wanted a "target shooting area". Today, I am sharing the details of all our super-fun NERF party games and activities. Before the battle started, the kids applied their war paint. Then, to ensure that everyone was safe, I made them all put on safety glasses. Then, I set up a NERF gun battlefield. I spray painted some boxes with camo spray paint, I made some obstacles out of mats, I added some pop up tents we had a home, and blew up some orange and blue balloons. The kids spent most of the party having their battle, but they took out a little time for some of the other games and activities too. I created a DIY prize punch that they could shoot with their NERF guns. When they hit a prize, they got to keep it. I also had a "guess the number of candies" station. The kids all made guesses, and the child that guessed closest got to keep the jar of blue and orange jelly beans. I also made some fantastic shooting target games for the kids. To make a spinning target (see photo): 1) Cut four squares from a cardboard tri-fold. (I got mine at the dollar store.) Then, trim the squares in duct tape to make it look more colourful and neat. 2) Turn the four squares into round targets, and decorate with markers. 3) Tape a paper straw and coin to the back of the circles (for weight). 4) Insert a skewer through the straw, and tape the two ends to the tri-fold. I also stacked plastic cups with army men, and converted another tri-fold by cutting out a rectangle and hanging plastic cups. All of the NERF party games and activities we had at our party were easy and inexpensive to put together, and the kids all had a fantastic time. If you have a NERF gun fan in your house, you should give them a try! ♥ Gina Bell (aka East Coast Mommy) PS - Find more NERF party ideas (including party food, FREE party signs and party favours) here. Follow East Coast Mommy on Facebook for more easy and inexpensive ideas for family fun. For a closer look, check out the video I made here:
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A Nerf battle birthday party is the ultimate party theme for any Nerf gun loving kid. Get ideas for invitations, DIY activities, a Nerf war, and camouflage cupcakes. Last week we celebrated Carter’s 8th birthday. It’s so hard to believe…
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Lifestyle blog showcasing craft tutorials, holiday fun, party planning, recipes, DIY projects, travel tips, and more. Easy & inexpensive family fun.
