Please let me start by saying, I was never the dress wearing prim and proper type child. I was more of the tromping through the creek and making mud pies kind of girl. So when I came across the above image over at LMNOP this morning, it made me smile and immediately created a need for a food-fight themed party. Idea after idea on how to pull it off (with or without the mess) are waiting after the jump!
Why Not Stage A Food Fight?
Have you ever had a food fight? I have. I spent many years at camp when I was younger with giant institution size cans of chocolate pudding having what was the equivalent of a snowball fight, but far messier. There were pie eating contests and whipped cream covering contests and although it all took place outside in the heat of the summer, the ideas could still be scaled back, or improved upon to suit a proper food fight birthday extravaganza.
Here's some ideas to throw your own Food-Fight Throw Down Birthday Bash:
1) Games: Just because you'll be whirling and hurling food later on, doesn't mean there can't be traditional games and activities. Try playing pin the sprinkle on the cupcake or even a top your baked potato sticky dart game. Bob for apples, or check out our previous thoughts about food on a string!
2) Food For Eating: You could always have the kids create a meal themselves before tossing around snacks later on, make octopus hotdogs and dye the noodles before they're assembled to help make things a little colorful. Try smaller snacks that little hands can grab and go, assuming some food will be eaten later on, you might try to make things a little more on the nutritious end of things (assuming of course that most messy and easy to fight with foods are usually made of sugar)
3) Take Home Bags: The memories from this event will be what really sticks with the kids attending your Food Fight, so don't worry too much about sending them away with funny parting gifts, although mailing everyone back out photos of the event could be awesome or if you really want to send them away with something, try making "I fought in the great food fight of '09" awards to hand out to everyone!
4) Decor: A few hours spent watching your favorite TV show will most likely result in wonderful construction paper cut outs and paper chains that can reflect your favorite sweets or treats, or just provide pops of color by making all sorts of circles or other geometric shapes!
5) The Food Fight Itself: We're going to go out on a limb and suggest that on your party invitation you ask children to wear clothes they don't mind getting messy and then maybe hit up your local thrift store to find a few extra tshirts kids can wear as protection from the flying feast. You could also use trash bags, which might make for easier clean up all around. Trash bags will also come in handy if it happens to be cold or snowy outside and kids still need to wear their coats or jackets. If you don't want to have an all out war, try thinking of games and making it more like a food based Double-Dare.
Try thinking outside your traditional thrown foods (like pies and such) and try focusing on lighter foods that might be easy on the pocketbook as well as your yard. Start with less messy foods and end with the nastiest, that way it will save your environment from too much gunk and grime. Here's a few ideas to ponder:
Popcorn Snowball Fight: Team your party up with two sides and draw a line between both teams. Distribute popcorn in buckets and time them to see who can throw the most on the other side of the line before the time is up. Try dying your popcorn (check the baking aisle for food sprays) if you have snow, so it can be seen. Basic Bulk Ingredients: Check your bulk big box retailers for the cheapest and largest amounts of food. Usually such things will be baking basics or bad for you things like the aforementioned cans of pudding or nacho cheese. A flour fight like the picture above suggests could be super fun! Cabbage Carry: Cabbage is cheap and has some structure to it, have kids carry the leaves from point A to point B, on their heads and filled with something icky, sticky or wet. Think watered down jello or oatmeal. Ask Your Grocer For A Deal: Often times your local grocer will be willing to work with you on some of the perishables that are on their way out the door. Fill a baby pool with mushy bananas and have the kids dig for treasure (And then let them hurl it around later on), all the while reaping the benefits of already squishy bananas that you picked up for half the price! Balloon Pop: Fill balloons with random food that can be popped and dropped on their excited little heads. Try filling them with raw oats if you've done a wet activity prior for maximum sticking (which they will think is ultra cool) or something wet, if you're trying to clean them off a bit from say a flour fight. Egg Toss: Just like back in school, line em up and let the tossing start, backing kids up after each catch. Or, give each kid a dozen and see who ends up with the most yolk on their face, you or them!
Do you have an idea for a food fight? Even if you'd never be able to stomach the idea of it happening in your own backyard, chime in with your best food fight game or suggestion for those who have that evil childish twinkle in their eye and might be daring enough to pull it off! You will of course be obligated to send us photos!
(Image: Graham Monro for LMNOP)
Comments (18)
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A to headline: Because it teaches kids to waste food.
view ElleBee's profile
Playing with and wasting food in a time where millions of children worldwide (and more than a million in the United States) go hungry is more than cynical. If you want to do something with your food except eating it, go and donate it. There is lots and lots of stuff that can be used to get messy. Don't waste resources, please.
view berlinmom's profile
Yeah.... I agree with the previous commenters. This party idea is pretty tasteless.
view girlwithgreencard's profile
No thanks. Besides the fact that it's wasteful, I think the other kid's parents would hate me.
Some youngsters might expand the idea beyond what you had originally intended.
view theacademy's profile
I have to follow up and point out the irony of this post on the heels of a recent UN and UNICEF reports showing that:
* 200 million children in the world have stunted growth due to undernourishment
* 1/3 of deaths in children under 5 is related to poor nutrition (ie these children would have survived with better nutrition)
* 17,000 kids a day die of starvation
I know you're just looking for some fun party themes and that you don't want to have to think about saving the world when considering festivities. But a food flight party is beyond cynical.
view ElleBee's profile
I agree with the comments above. I have myself worked for several years in refugee camps in some far flung places. Many of these refugees, usually the majority women and children, rely on food rations to survive. "Playing with food" as per the above article - even if it were to be thrown away anyway the next day (another big issue in its own right...) - just reflects an attitude and ignorance that is indeed cynical and I would not want my children to adopt.
view Ciriella's profile
I disagree with the above comments. You are being too hard on this party idea. Yes, it's true that children are starving - but why aren't people bashing birthday parties where parents spend into extravagance. That is money that could be sent to starving children. And it certainly is easier to send money overseas instead of shipping popcorn that would have been used in a food fight. This is a cute idea.
view laurashelly's profile
i agree with laurashelly. instead of spending money on pinatas and princess themed decorations you are spending it on flour, etc. my kids would love it.
would it make a difference if the kids were having a fight with powdered paint, silly string and shaving cream because they aren't edible?
you might as well tell people they are cynical for spending money on birthday parties (Christmas presents, movies, anything other than basic survival needs) when there are starving kids worldwide.
view k8theriver's profile
I agree with k8theriver and laurashelly. People "waste" money on all sorts of things for parties. In fact, you can fight the "green" fight with everyone that celebrates a party with all the paper goods used. Anyway, even if it's not a huge party thing and just an occasional fun thing to do, I'm for it. You can have modest food fights and still instill values in your kids such as caring for and sharing with those that have less than them.
When I was younger my brother and I had a babysitter that decided to take us to the park down the street with a basket loaded with things that should have already been thrown out of our pantry and fridge (eggs, whipped cream, etc.) and let us go for it. I will never forget that experience. We had so much fun.
view lyndsea's profile
Many of us work hard to provide more that what is necessary for our families, and an exciting birthday party is no exception. I love this idea and imagine my 5 year old daughter would as well.
k8theriver said it best. I really don't see a difference between spending money on balloons and silly string as opposed to flour and other cheap food items. I suppose one could argue the "it teaches your children to waste food" argument, but I think a special event like this could hardly drill that idea into ones head.
World Hunger is a terrible thing, but people really do need to lighten up.
view alllebasii's profile
I think that staging a food fight party with popcorn and flour is way more economical than a lavish extravaganza. It seems that some of these people are way to high on their horse. It is a kids party! No, maybe adults do not see the fun in it but to a child throwing flour may be one of the most exciting things they could ever do. Maybe a compromise would be that every child that attends bring a canned food good or donate money to a charity that the birthday boy or girl chooses. I think that some just need to lighten up and remember that there are simpler and cheaper ways to have fun.
view AmandaAG's profile
I can't believe that people are looking to start something every.where.they.go. You teach children to not waste by example in your home. You teach them to be frugle by making their own gifts for christmas. You celebrate with small scale parties with a few family members. It's the exception not the rule people. People are starving. We understand that. A birthday party is not the place to make this statement. In hard times people need to smile.
Take your very passionate oppinions somewhere they'll actually make a difference (like your child's school that serves over processed over shipped food). Not a children's design blog. I don't read other parenting sites exactly for this reason.
view BuddhaBellysMum's profile
Evil. terrible. horribly wasteful!
Speaking of wasteful...the U.S. is burning corn for ethanol as a (highly-inefficient) fuel source so that we can be more "green".
Corn = food that could feed thousands of hungry people. How's that for wasteful?!
We make a fuss about wasting a bag of flour at a birthday party but noone blinks an eye at that?
view abbygraykit's profile
Oh. my. gosh. No one even cared about being green until it was trendy. Let them eat cake!
view MamaLea's profile
I want to throw food at some of these comments!!!!
My kids would love this! BECAUSE they know they wouldn't ever be allowed to do this on a normal day.
I hope that passion is not just talk but really meeting those millions of children in need.
view sskinner's profile
Love this post and the ideas to use less messy ingredients like popcorn. I would have loved to have a flour fight when I was little! And I think that kids over 4 will completely understand that this is a special event not to be repeated at dinner.
view Sugarbakers's profile
oh this remindes me of my pizza making days. we had flour fights all the time...we were mostly teens! sooo much fun, great party idea. oh and a little flour goes a looooonnnnngggg way. super fun. i am thinking 8 or 9 age group? so they know that dinner time isnt for throwing food....so trying to teach our 22 month old not to throw his food on the floor!
view jackied302's profile
This sounds like modern parents micro-managing children's fun. A planned food fight? Isn't the whole point of a food fight the wild spontaneity of it? Thumbs down.
view Jaybirdy's profile