Looking for Amazing Race ideas!

[WDWNewbie]

A week or so ago I posted looking for ideas for a 10th & 40th birthday party, and a DISer gave me the idea of having a 'theme'.

I have decided to go with the Amazing Race--a theme my DD loves!

We'll have 8 teams of 2 adults and 2 kids in each car. No 2 family members can be in the same car. Ages of kids are 6 thru 14.

I need creative ideas for 'roadblock' and 'detour' activities. Some to be performed by the entire team (or some by one or two members)--before they get their next clue!

A few of the 'tasks' I can think of so far are

-complete a crossword puzzle related to the birthday girls
-small scavenger hunt to find certain items before getting next clue
ie, safety pin, toothpick, penny from a certain year, etc
-solve a toothpick puzzle
-go to a bowling alley and the team must bowl 3 strikes
-go to a mini-putt and the team must get 2 hole in ones

Any more creative ideas?? I'm trying to think of brain or physical tasks that are challenging but achievble--or creative scavenger hunt items. Maybe a tricky but solvable math problem or something like that...

Thanks!!

 

[Keggy]

I WANT TO COME!!!!

Sounds likes lits of fun!

Kelly

 

[Duckfan]

Food challenges often occur in Amazing race, how about something that is border line yechy to the kids ie, some place have to eat all the vegies or find a food at the store you haven't eaten and eat it.....

Maybe something involving pictures ie like get a picture from the top of some small hill or playground equipment so that they show it or some other unusual place or angle

 

[monkeyboy]

Collect X number of recipts from stores that contains the town name

 

[Donaldnut]

Take polaroids of places around town. We did an entire scavenger hunt in high school with polaroids and town clues. One was have your picture taken with the chief of police, another was have a picture taken on church steps. It was a ton of fun.

 

[coinkc]

Roadblock: Go to an ice cream store and eat a large sundae. Bring back a spoon to prove you did it!

(Someone actually did this as part of a scavenger hunt when I worked at Baskin-Robbins.)

Go to a gas station and pump 5 customers gas for them. or wash the windshields for them.

Detour:
Go to a local library and check out 3 Dr. Seuss books. Find a child to read one to before you leave.

Go to a local park and pick up 10 pieces of trash that have been left there.

 

[kcork1026]

SORRY ....Not offering any ideas. However the party sounds like a blast, please let us know how it turns out!

 

[Tink33]

Shaving is usually a fast forward on Amazing Race. How about having one of the kids shave the legs of the man in their group?

 

[MsLeFever]

I was also going to suggest the library....

maybe hide a clue in a specific book or books - and they have to search (neatly) for that book?

I want to come to your party!

 

[ktglads]

We were talking about ideas for what they could do with the Amazing Race family edition. Things that came up were:
1 - instead of 5 lbs of meat, you have to eat 5 lbs of veggies, like brussel sprouts or asparagus or something that the kids don't really care for but is still good for you
2 - go bowling and have to knock down a total of 100 pins
3 - if you have a wilderness trails near you, you can make them choose one to take to a certain place to get a clue. if one is longer, even better since I choice would then have to be made.
4 - Do the shopping list thing and have to donate the food to a local food pantry - like 1 can of soup, 2 cans of tuna, only make the kids go and get them without running
5 - Give the GPS coordinates of a location and place the clues there, but make people find that location using only a compass and a map
6 - Find X amount of people to pose in a funny hat/outfit and get their pictures taken
7 - The weight thing from the last episode was funny - maybe you could make them do that at the mall?
8 - Parents on trikes/little kids bikes having to a cone course in a parking lot.
9 - If you have any famous people in the cemetary, you could find the grave and do a rubbing of the headstone, or better yet, use less famous people like a relative and have to deliver flowers to the site

I had more, but they were more show specific and really not to be done on a small budget, more involving the families travelling the US similar to Road Rules and doing the missions that way

 

[SeeDisney]

This one you could do in your backyard.....how about how long you could stand on one foot?

I'll post some more when I think of some ideas.


It's sounds like a great idea themed party. Have fun!

 

[WDWNewbie]

I am so excited! Thank you for the ideas!
Food, cameras, library, receipts, photos, shopping for the food bank, picking up trash--the 'weight thing'-- all great ideas!

 

[WDWNewbie]

Last call--any more creative ideas--I gotta start putting it all together!

Thanks!

PS The library said they would be happy to cooperate and if I give everyone a few tasks to perform in the library (eg hide a clue in a book or give a dewey decimal number and they have to find the book) the librarian will check the answer and hand out the next clue!

 

[bobcat]

Cool ideas! How about having a timed activity. Maybe they have to complete an obstacle course or complete a puzzle within a certain time limit. You could also do a building event. Set up a pup tent/canopy with or without directions. Or even have a box of recycleables and haand basic supplies and have them create a bird feeder or other small simple item.

I can remember going to a scavenger hunt birthday party when I was a kid and we had so much fun going around town finding the clues.

 

[MinnieM3]

Bump! this sounds like so much fun! we have no birthdays coming up but I may have to have a party anyway!

 

[debabe]

I did an Amazing Race theme for my son's 13th birthday. We went to 13 different places and I had 13ish items waiting at each stop (a Target gift card for $13, a trip to the bank and $13, etc. though not all things were 13). I went to a stationary store and bought bright yellow letter size envelopes, drew red lines on them and wrote the words Amazing Race across the top (similar to the envelopes they get on the show). I put the bag of clues under my car seat and every time he came back to the car after doing a task, he had a new clue sitting on his seat, and he really liked that. Each clue was in the form of a poem and the last phrase would be the place we were going to next. The race took us longer than I planned so you might want to think about the time element of getting the race done (some things took a lot longer than I anticipated).
Deb

 

[donnajon]

If you can round up enough video camera, it might be fun to have each team video them doing the tasks and then watch the tapes when everyone gets back. That way, you have proof that the tasks were done. I remember doing a scavenger hunt 30 years ago and we used tape recorders - we had to find different sounds like a lawn mower, a trumpet playing etc..

 

[WDWNewbie]

More great ideas--thank you!

I like the idea of including a puzzle--also, MinnieM3, if you like this party idea but don't have any birthdays ahead perhaps you could do it as a fundraiser for an important cause in your community. You could charge everyone a certain amount like $5 and then donate the money to the cause afterward--what a fun way to fundraise. Hey, if this is a big success maybe I'll do this as a fundraiser next year!

I think I'll require each team take a digital camera in their kit. For some of the tasks I'll ask them to have a photo taken of the entire team infront of X.

Thanks again!

 

[Claudia1]

Can you make one of the stops at a friends house and have them decorate a cupcake, candle & all? Or wrap a present (that could be a hoot for some guys!) They would need to bring these things back to the "mat" to prove they did it.



Maybe they could stop by a public basketball court and make one basket for each year (i.e. if he/she is 32, one person needs to make 32 baskets). Some team members would be better than others on this roadblock.

Go to a local store and buy a birthday card, then have the cashier sign it.

That is a GREAT idea for a party!

 

[WDWNewbie]

Thank you Claudia1. I especially think the basketball idea will work!

I came up with one that I'll share in case anyone wants to try this.

As part of the pre-race instructions they'll need to have at least one library card /car.

Then while at the library they'll need to log on the public computer and try this test.


http://www.njagyouth.org/colortest.swf

In order to get their next clue, in addition to the other tasks I'll have them do at the library, one member of their team must get 100% on this test and take a photo of the screen saying 100% to prove it.

If the first person does not get 100%, the next person on the team will try and they will keep going until they get someone on their team with a perfect score. Only then can they move on!