Perfect Parties Theme Nine: The Amazing Race Party

My friend Krista has done it again! This time she organized a super fun "Amazing Race" themed party for her daughter's birthday. If you're not a fan of the show, the details may be a bit confusing...but if your family does enjoy watching, it might be a great party theme to consider!

Colour Scheme: Red and yellow with black and white as accent colours (Amazing Race colours)

Decorations:  "Name's Amazing Race" signs and red and yellow balloons were all over the outside and inside of the house
Cake: Vanilla cupcakes with red sugar sprinkled on top in red liners and Amazing Race Flags as decorations



Loot Bags: Once the girls were in teams (they selected a random piece of coloured paper out of a bag and on the count of 3 they held out their hands and opened the paper to reveal which team they would be on) they received the matching coloured bag (to collect all of their clues), an Amazing Race water bottle, a bag of cheesies (snacks) and matching coloured sweatbands and bandana (to be worn during the race). All items were purchased at the dollar store, other than the water - and Krista added the labels herself.  The second part of loot bags was matching blankets and glow sticks: As teams arrived at the Pit Stop (made out of an old bath mat and coloured duct tape) they were allowed to select which matching blankets they wanted (which Krista thought was appropriate since the party was also a sleepover). It became a prize for finishing the race, and part of their loot bags. (Blankets purchased at Giant Tiger for $10 and glow sticks at Dollar Store.) The first place team received a dollar store trophy too! A peek at the Pit Stop:
Route Info and Envelopes:  Krista would like to thank Chica and Jo's website for offering editable clues (details about their Amazing Race party available there as well).  She found a couple of clue ideas on the Internet and also made up a few of her own. I have saved all of Krista's clues to Google Drive (three separate documents) which you can access here (feel free to use them!): Amazing Race 1 Amazing Race 2 Amazing Race 3
As I read over her challenges, I was thinking that not only are they fun for kids, but many grownups would enjoy participating in an Amazing Race party too! Many of the same clues could be used, or they could be adapted to be as "adult" as you want!


First Leg:         “Hold Onto Your Spoon” Second Leg:    “X Marks The Spot” Third Leg:        DETOUR  “Squash It” or  “Washer It”  Fourth Leg:      ROAD BLOCK “Poem Madness" Fifth Leg:         FAST FORWARD “Oreo Kidding Me?" Sixth Leg:        DETOUR “Lucky Doubles” or “Lucky Charms”  Seventh Leg:   SPEED BUMP (means go back and do the other detour that you didn’t choose and do it) Eighth Leg:      ROAD BLOCK “TWEEZE ME CRAZY”  Ninth Leg:       “You Better Do It Write" Tenth Leg:       FAST FORWARD “Don’t Burst My Bubble” Eleventh Leg:  “Don’t Be a Buckethead”  Twelfth Leg:     “It’s Time to Build A Tower” Final Leg:         FIND THE HIDDEN TRAVELOCITY GNOME!  Gnome was purchased at Green Earth: Krista says that the order of the clues doesn't matter, so feel free to switch it up. You need a copy of the clues for each team you have playing, and some supervisors (she enlisted grandparents) working at each station.
Teams were not allowed to leave their teammates behind and everyone was encouraged to be positive and a good sport to other teams. The girls had so much fun running the race and it just so happened that the birthday girl and her teammate ended up the winners! Thanks again for sharing your (ahem) "amazing" ideas with us, Krista! If you've missed any past party themes, they're all gathered together in a Perfect Party Roundup right here.