NERF party

Can't believe that it is already that time of year again for our summer birthdays.  It is always interesting to find fun things to do working with the 110* weather and this year with Mom not feeling totally up to par.  Hunter decided that he wanted to have a NERF gun party and I thought that sounded swell.  Every boy I know has one and loves it and it is not hard to figure out some activities to go with it so NERF it was.....

So we made up some invitations......

Set up some fun obstacles for the boys, we decided to make it competitive and have all the events be points based with the winner getting a surprise package at the end.  I figure they are all nine and they are old enough to handle this now.  In fact having it be a competition made it even more fun.  Had to take all my picture frames and breakables down and off the walls and move the furniture out of the family room to make room for the boys to be able to run around.  Indoor NERF party, very fun yet has the potential to break something so I took extra precautions.

No fancy cake this year just some quickly whipped up homemade cupcakes with makeshift targets out of pull n' peels.

Packs of gumballs for "ammo" and sour straws for "gun powder" for the boys treat to take home.

One event involved the use of a sniper riffle to hit targets placed strategically around the house by dad, which is why they were in tricky places such as this arch or on a fan blade with the fan spinning on low.  

Another was a balloon shot where they were given a allotted amount of rounds to hit as many of the balloons as possible.

I loved that when the boys started arriving some came with protective eye wear, all remembered to bring a gun.  Tyler came wearing this sweet ammo holder around his neck that made me laugh.  Each boy brought a different gun, I have never seen so many different NERF guns.

I loved listening to them as they arrived discussing the different  highlights and special features of their chosen weapon.  Trying each others guns out and practicing shooting.  "Ohhhhh, sweet! That's awesome!"  and other such comments to each other noting their approval of each weapon and its abilities.  Boy stuff, it is really fun.

They were given a five minute free practice to get warmed up and then we started with the balloon shoot.

We then moved on to the sniper targets which took a lot more time and practice aiming.  The boys all did a great job though and were really cute about cheering each other on with words of encouragement.  Though occasionally a competitive jeer would be exchanged, still playful yet clear that they all wanted whatever prize was to be had.

Next we moved on to the tower shooting.  The boys of course loved this one because it made a lot of noise when the cups knocked over.

Then they did a lazer evasion activity sort of similar to Catherine Zeta in the movie Entrapment.  They were given 20 points and if they could get through the hallway without touching a lazer they got all the points.  Each touch was minus one point.

The loved this activity and after everyone had gone kept wanting to take turns trying it again and again to see if they could get through it without touching any.  None of them were able to do it.  Avery actually came the closest of all of them with only two touches.  We totaled up the points, awarded a winner and then handed over the prize of a new air dart launcher.

A break for some good ole sugar intake....

Opened up some presents....

With a cleared out living room they had to take advantage and have a little free for all shooting practice.

Before they headed outside to battle in teams in a nice field that dad had set up for them.  Including boxes to duck and weave behind and snow sleds to use as shields.  They LOVED this.  It was hilarious to watch and they played until they were all cherry red and too hot and we had to drag them inside.

They all played so hard they had to be exhausted.  Hunter had a lot of fun, it seems like his year from eight to nine has flown.  I can't even get my head around him being double digits next year, it doesn't even seems possible.  Happy Birthday Bug, to the seriously most awesome, fun, smartest kid ever.  Love you, Mom and Dad.