Anyway, we planned a really fun activity for Father's Day, and I need to write about it, before I forget it all. This is one of those events that I definitely see myself doing again some day. (By the way, we did a tea party for Mother's Day, and I relied heavily on my blog post from the Young Women activity I did a couple of years ago. It was also a hit.) So in June, we invited the fathers to join us for a "Fear Factor" competition. We split the girls and their Dads into groups of 3 and 4, and then had them compete in 6 different competitions. (I remembered my camera for a few activities, but completely forgot to record others. My apologies. I was busy.)
1. Blind Fold Challenge- The fathers put on blindfolds and the girls had to give them something to touch. The Dads then tried to identify the items. Most of the stuff was gooey plastic eyeballs and bugs, but we did have them touch live earthworms, which got some great reactions, although I wish we had organized this event a bit better.
2. Baby Food Challenge- For this competition, we gave everyone a plate with 6 different types of baby food. As a team, they had to correctly identify what type of pureed food they were eating. Great game- challenging and fun.
3. Gummyworm Grab Challenge- For this contest, the girls had to stick their faces (no hands) in a plate of whipped cream and take out all of the gummy worms hiding inside. They LOVED this one, and asked for more whipped cream and candy afterwards.
4. Cold Feet Carry. For this activity, I filled a small pool with ice water and plastic bugs. Everyone took off their shoes, and they had 10 seconds to put their feet in the pool and transfer as many bugs as possible out of the pool and into a nearby bucket. Great game- important to keep it fast paced.
5. Crickets and Keys- This game was my personal favourite. I had the three teams line up and I put a box with a hand sized hole at the top several feet in front of each team. I had borrowed three padlocks that opened with keys and gave the padlock to the first person in each line. Then I put the key to the padlock, as well as many other keys that didn't open the padlock, in each box. The person at the front of the line had to run to the box, pull out a key, run back and try to open the lock. If it worked, they won, if not, the next person in line had to run to the box and get another key, so it worked like a relay. The kicker: I had gone to the pet store and bought a bunch of crickets that I put in each box. They jumped around your arm as you tried to reach for the keys. Lots of fun.
6. Blender Challenge- We thought this activity was brilliant- so simple and funny. We brought in a happy meal from McDonald's and put it in a blender- hamburger, fries, apple juice, yogurt, everything- all into one chunky beverage. Then everyone got a small cup that they had to drink. Only problem- it was WAY grosser than we thought it would be! None of the teams had everyone finish! And everyone got so quiet and serious after that. I felt like some of them were mad at us for making them do it! This is the event that everyone talked about afterwards. I guess I'm glad it was memorable, but I don't think I'll be doing this one again...
Rewards and Refreshments- I just kept it simple and did candy bars for the winners. Note for next time- I need to make sure I have some quick and easy tie- breakers ready just in case. I was struggling to come up with a winning team there at the end when no one finished the last challenge. For the refreshments, I made a kitty litter cake and Sister Bulan made dirt cups. We thought we were pretty awesome, but there was a lot of leftovers. I think maybe everyone had lost their appetite a bit. Oops!
It really was a lot of fun, though. The girls and their Dads all said they had a great time, and I had fun, too!
