Tween birthday parties can be difficult to plan, they are getting too old for children’s parties and are still not ready to move up to teen party activities.  They want to have a party that includes a lot of fun without seeming too childish.  Helping to make it an event that their friends will talk about long after it is over can be the greatest gift of all.

I recently threw my Stepson a Fear Factor birthday, which would be perfect for a creepy October birthday!   Read on for my suggestions and printable party supplies.

Eleven-year-old children value their friends and do not value spending time with non-friends. It is important to take the birthday child’s feelings into account about which friends to invites.  I allowed him to invite five to six of his closest buddies rather than an entire class of acquaintances.  It should also be said this was for my sanity too, I didn’t want 30+ kids running through our house….and can you blame me?   I tried to include him in as much of the party planning as possible, not only to ensure he got to do what he wanted, but also so he had the opportunity to use the social skills and decision-making processes he is learning.

INVITATIONS:

I was able to create and print the invitations myself so the total for these was FREE.

DÉCOR:

The Theme seemed obvious for the age and gender since “Gross is Great!”  I wanted to steer clear of anything childish so I kept the decorations minimal.  But you could have a lot of fun with creepy decorations and gruesome themed food choices.  Instead  I focused on the take-away gifts. I purchased Gatorade, and movie sized milk duds, and personalized these with themed labels. All for a reasonable $12.

Concept:

I created a list of ten challenges (important to call them challenges and not games) and had the birthday boy pick four.  Everyone received monopoly money for successfully completing each challenge.  I had 4 prizes at the end of the challenges, and they competitively bid on the prizes at the end.  (Like how I snuck math in there 😉 )

Initially the birthday boy wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea of the challenges.  He wanted to run around playing nerf wars and doing Karate.  However with the wisdom of motherhood, and from talking to other parents; I determined a bit of structure would help to keep the party on track and reduce any chances of disagreements.

In the end the kids loved the games!  They only took up 30-45 minutes of the party, and it gave them something to focus on, and laugh about.

Challenges:

the below challenge supplies and the prizes came to a reasonable $30.00….bet that got your attention.

1. Egg Roulette:

In this challenge you will place a bowl of boiled eggs in front of the players. All players must pick up an egg out of a big bowl and on the count of three, immediately crack it against their forehead.

The challenge is before the game you tell the players that one of the eggs is actually raw. Who has the courage to egg themselves in the face? The trick is that ALL the eggs are actually boiled and this is just a test of courage. The players that hesitate to crack the egg fails. Award all the players that don’t hesitate $100

2. Iron Toes:

Fill a bathtub or bucket with water, marbles, and tons of ICE (you want it to be freezing). The object of the game is for players to stick their foot in the ice water and grab as many marbles as they can in 30 seconds. The winner is of course the one that collects the most marbles. Award 100$ for every marble they are able to retrieve and 100$ additional to the one that pulls out the most.

3. Worm Pie

Place 3 gummy worms on a paper plate (you’ll need to make one for every player). Next, cover them with whip cream. On the start of go all players must place their hands behind their back and retrieve all gummy worms with their mouth. This game is perfect for PICTURES, so make sure you have your camera ready!  The first player to eat all three worms wins! Award 100$ to the winner!

4. Cricket Challenge

This game will take a little preparation. You’ll need to purchase a bag of live crickets from your local pet store. Place these in an aquarium or clear large tub.  Throw in a bunch of rubber frogs or bugs.

To play players must reach in the tank and pull out as many rubber toys as they can, in 30 seconds. The crickets will actually jump out of the way when you stick your hands in but it’s the minds aversion that will make this challenge hard. Award $100 for every item pulled out. Give an additional $500 to the person who pulls out the most.

I am sharing my downloadable templates with you,  CLICK THE ABOVE IMAGE so you can throw your own Fear Factory Birthday!

FOOD:

We made homemade pizzas, and offered pop and chips with a healthy veggie platter. Happy to announce that the boys helped themselves to veggies without being  asked. #win

For dessert we had a Blizzard ice cream cake from Dairy queen, which ended up being more than enough cakes….we still have leftovers.

All in, the food was the most expensive part of the party, in both time and money at $102.00. However I am happy that we were able to offer a combination of “junk food,” and wholesome homemade options.

A birthday party where the kids and the parents get what they want, and it comes in at under $150 is a win in my books!

Hope you found some birthday inspiration here!  Don’t forget to send me pictures of your Fear Factor Party!