Survivor Party - Compete for Immunity

Survivor Party (outdoor event)

Invitations:  Using a computer program for making greeting cards, I chose the single fold (saves paper and you can make two invites on one sheet) I typed in "You're invited to , my daughter's name, (followed by a picture of the "CBS Survivor logo"), Party." On the inside (left) I asked each guest to "wear camouflage, or black, army green and khaki clothes, boots or good shoes.  (But not required!)"  You may not want to add that part yourself, I had children that had bought new outfits just for this one occasion. 

On the inside (right) I wrote:  "Where will the tribes meet?   At, my child's name, house."  It was at an empty lot that has a wide trail made by our kids with a four wheeler.  The trail looks almost like a wish bone that goes into three directions and the tall grass in the trails was mowed down).  "When will the adventure take place?  On , date of party."  "The challenges will begin at 6:30 p.m."  (I wanted it to be daylight long enough for the guest to get an idea of the terrain before they started the games).  "The challenges will end around 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. following the tribal meeting."  

Decorations:  I begged, borrowed, but I did not steal, most of the decorations.  I got tikki torches, fish net, hammocks, a blue tarp, duck decoys, camo tarp, logs, etc to make the setting as close to an island as possible.  The blue tarp (the pond), was lei out in a small open area on one of the trails and we placed the duck decoys on it and named it Bay Island.  The tikki torches were strategically placed to illuminate as much territory as possible without giving off too much light in one particular area. 

At the entrance of the North Trail (I labeled each direction), there was a tree house that had been in the process of removal.  It was perfect the broken pieces of wood resembled a shipwreck.  I painted S.S. Skipper on the largest piece.  Using my daughter's stuffed and plastic animals, I placed "wild or exotic" animals throughout the trees and grass.  The camo tarp was tied up to four trees.  My husband placed a large table under it for the food and gifts.  We collected the largest logs we could find.  They were placed around the campfire.  

Activities:  I had the guest line up according to height. I separated them equally into to two tribes, which they named themselves, "The Discoverers" and "The Explorers." We started with a relay race.  The tribes formed two separate lines.  At the sound of the whistle the first two hoola hooped from the starting point (a line drawn with flour), and touched the camouflaged blanket, (blanket was folded in half long ways and tied to trees on each side of the trail), hoola hooped back for the next tribal member to get ready to start (they start when the other member goes under the blanket), and then had to run back and crawl under the blanket (the blanket was used because I did not find the tunnels I wanted)

Next they jumped through tires (5 for each team all 10 were borrowed from a tire store),  and finishing when they walked across a balance beam.  The first tribe to complete the course received immunity and a prize for each member. 

The immunity part was thrown in just for drama (lol), none of the tribal members were ever voted off the "island".  The prizes were an assortment of survival needs, (ie: flashlights, binoculars, etc.  Most were purchased from the dollar store).  Following the relay race they liked it so much they did it twice.  After, the tribes went to their first tribal meeting at the campfire.  They ate hot dogs and talked about how much fun they were having! 

The scavenger hunt was the next activity.  We removed the obstacles from the relay race while they were eating.  I gave the instructions to play the game successfully.  Each tribe had to find the object that was secretly coded in the clues. Each object had another clue that eventually led them to the "survival" treasure chest.  I placed two of everything along the trails for the scavenger hunt so that both tribes had the same opportunity to get to the survival treasure chest first.  One tribe went down one trail and the other went down the other trail.  Each object was placed approximately the same distance from the other for both tribes.  This activity took a while. 

Once the treasure chest was found we had our final tribal meeting.  This included sitting around the campfire and eating cup cakes (frosted with an army green color) and my daughter opened her gifts. 

Favors:  Each guest received arm bands made of camo material (ripped strips), and doo rags made of army green material when they arrived for the party, treat bags were filled with small gadgets, candy, etc. and given to the guests as they were leaving. This was a huge success Good luck if you take the challenge to "Outwit" "Outlast" and "Outplay" the birthday party scene.  Email if you have questions.