Survivor Party -10yr- Indoor Survivor

Survivor Party for a 10 year old  Our whole family loves to watch Survivor, so it was easy for us to plan a Survivor Party for my daughters 10th birthday… the challenge was keeping it indoors since her birthday is in December and we often have snow on the ground.  We decided to let Jessie have a co-ed party since she is a bit of a tomboy, and the party worked great for both boys and girls. 

Invitations:  I started with cream colored card stock and envelopes that I purchased from JoAnns Fabrics and printed them myself.  I downloaded a logo from the internet and put it on the front of the card stating "Outwit! Outplay! Outparty!". I tore the bottom edge of the front and chalked it with black scrapbook chalk to look like it was burnt.  On the inside of the card, we invited everyone to take part in our production of Survivor stating that CBS has nothing on us! And gave the details: who, what, when, where,etc… I mentioned that the kids should wear old survivor style clothes and bring an item that they would find useful if stranded on an uninhabited island.  

Decorations:  We lined the garage floor with an old solar cover from a pool that my neighbor was throwing out.  We washed it off and it was big enough to cover the entire floor!  But you may also use blue tarps to imitate the ocean.  We hauled a small truckload of sand for $6 locally and put that in a pile on the floor also.  A childs sand box would also work well (and probably be less mess). We bought palm tree and flower cut outs and had streamers in blue green and turquoise everywhere.  We used brown paper grocery bags (free from the grocery store) sliced open to lay flat and cut in strips to within 3 inches on one side to imitate a raffia table skirt.  Attach with tape and top with kraft paper or more openend bags for a very inexpensive table topper. 

Upon Arrival:  I issued each child a name badge complete with Survivor logo and a childs sand bucket that we got on sale at the end of the summer clearance (again labeled with their name to prevent confusion).   We had them sit to chat in the livingroom.  We gave 15 minutes for everyone to arrive before starting the "contests".  Dividing the tribes: We had a sack with even #'s of red & green yo-yo's which the kids drew out to determine tribes.  They were given an appropriately colored buff. 

I made the buffs from cheapie cotton fabric ($1 a yard from JoAnns) that I cut into a triangle with pinking shears not bothering to hem them, but you may wish to if your material tends to fray easily.  Each tribe was given a tube of acrylic paint in white, black, and the tribal color (in our case red & green) along with a poster board.  They were given 15 minutes to paint their faces with "war paint" and put their names on the board.  We hung up the poster board and I took a picture of each child their face painted for future use.  

Contests:  No one was voted off the island (so no one had hurt feelings), instead, they competed for points.  Both individual and team points.  You may dole out the points as you feel appropriate.  I gave points based on how they ranked individually with 1st place getting most points and last place getting the least.  I gave additional points for RSVPing, showing up on time (within the first 5 minutes), dressing like a survivor, bringing a necessity item (they had to tell me why they thought it was a necessity and some of them were really funny!) Bringing a present (to appease the birthday goddess). 

We played Survivor Trivia and match the survivor winner to their name with points given for each correct answer. We had a couple of team relay games that the kids earned points for… gummy bug eating relay (I would not suggest this for little kids) where each kid had to eat 2 gummy worms or bugs and pass the tray to the next tribe member until they all had eaten two.  A puzzle contest where they had to work together to put a childs puzzle together without having a picture of the finished puzzle.

 We had a bunch of small beads and coins buried in the sandpile in the garage that each child got 30 seconds to dig thru and get as much buried treasure as they could…  After each contest or game, the kids got to pick from the treasure chest and put an item in their sand bucket.  The chest was a cardboard box that I had painted up to look like a pirate chest, but I have seen them for sale on the internet.  I had mini candy bars, pencils, small toys, etc… 

Sole Survivor: After all contests, we awarded prizes based on points. The top tribe got first dibs on another trip to the prize box and bragging rights with the "losing" team getting the leftovers.  The SOLE SURVIVOR got a funky necklace with beads and shells that I picked up for $1 at the Everythings A Dollar store, an home made certificate and they got $5 cash to take home :)  We had so many things going on, and were running out of time so decided to skip the present opening and go straight to cake and punch.   

As a thank you for coming, I had my daughter deliver a 4 x 6 photo of each child painted up along with a thank you note that I printed at home. 

Many of the parents thought this way GREAT!  And the kids have told us that it was the best party EVER! Can they come to next years party?