I would have loved to title this post “How to score major cool mom points” but that wouldn’t be good for SEO, so I stuck with this…
My oldest son turned 10 this summer and for his birthday he wanted an awesome Nerf gun party.
I think my most favorite project was the forts we made out of boxes.
I started to save our boxes earlier in the year and our great room looked like this.
My son and I started by separating the boxes into three piles, making sure each group had a few large boxes to keep the bases sturdy.
Then we made arrangements of the boxes, using Gorilla tape to hold them together. He wanted to make sure him and his friends could sit behind and still shoot their Nerf guns, and be protected from the enemy fire.
Make sure you have a lot of tape!! I went thru 2 large rolls of Gorilla tape by the time I was done. A good test to make sure they are sturdy enough is to pick it up by yourself. If any of the boxes move, use more tape, and tape the fronts and backs for the best support.
After we made our forts, next they needed some paint. I had some black, grey and metallic paint in my stash, and I purchased camouflage paint and some cheap green spray-paint to make the camouflage colors. My goal was to cover the brown as much as possible, so I used the lighter colors first just act like a primer, then did the majority of the painting with the black, green and camo. paint.
We placed one at each end of the property and one in the middle, and the boys played capture the flag.
The blue team’s fort.
The orange team’s fort.
To make sure the forts didn’t fall over during the party, I used some fire bricks we had to stabilize the bases.
I am happy to report that all three forts did their duty and we didn’t have one causality!!
I kept the food to a minimum, just snacks and homemade ice cream cake. I raided the snack isle at Costco and bought orange snacks and used painters tape to cover up the labels.
We served Sunny D, everyone loved it!
How cute is he?!
My son picked out some blue candy from Amazon.com, I think the kids liked the candy over the ice cream cake.
Most of the kids had blue teeth the majority of the day.
And the ice cream cake…..so yummy!!! I used store bought ice cream and added Oreo, kitkats and made a gram-cracker crust.
My son had no care for decorations really, but you can’t have a party without some decorating!! So I made some tassels for the food table.
I started by cutting some poster board into squares.
Cutting some strips, keeping about an inch uncut at the top.
Rolled and stapled them together.
Punched a hole on each side.
Then threaded yarn thru each one, making one long tassel garland.
I hung it on the front of the food table. This only cost me $2.00 people!!!
I didn’t plan any other activities because kids are kids and they like to just run around and play. The adults got to sit around and enjoy their ice cream.
All the boys were sweaty and smiling!
And my son got his awesome Nerf gun party.
I love this!! Especially the box forts. What a great party.
Thank you so much! The forts were my favorite part too!
WOW!!!! What a party & what a great job you did. what kid would not love this. so creative. will share this today on my fb page and other social media. you are sure a cool mom
Thanks Pamela!
WOW! What a fun party! I am totally sharing this on FB for my sisters! They would LOVE it! Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks Mandee! I had fun putting it together.
You are such a great mom! My two boys would have loved your party, I am so jealous that you did something so cool 🙂 Nerf guns are huge in my house, my two boys absolutely love them (and hitting each other with the darts).
Thank you! I am forever finding Nerf darts in all the cracks and crevices and I am sure I have sucked one up in the vacuum!
Great ideas! In two week’s time my grandson isaac will be hosting a Nerf pool party! I will definetely use some of your ideas here in Rio – Brasil
Andrea fogas
I have two boys. My soon to be 10 year old wants a nerf party. I am happy to do all the work. However, as a teacher i am always concerned about what the parents will say. Did you just have family or friends as guests? How did the parents feel about their son being shot at even though it was with a soft nerf pellet? I do plan to give safety goggles.
Hi Heather! I think safety glasses are a great idea! I didn’t use them due to the cost but we took other precautions….We split up the teams evenly by age and size, we told the boys before the party began to not shoot anyone in the face, but with about 20 kids running around, there might have been a few accidents, although we didn’t hear about it. We typically stick to close family and friends when hosting big parties, and ask the parents to attend. This also helps if any problems arise. It can be hard to throw a successful party and babysit at the same time, right? I hope this helps when planning your party, best of luck!!
What a great party!! I love the fort idea too!! Also, did you just ask the kids to bring a nerf gun from home? Or did you supply them? If so, did you find them at a good cost? Thanks!!
Thank You! As far as the Nerf guns, some of the kids brought their own and we supplied the others. My son has a big collection, so there was plenty to go around. We did however stock up on Nerf darts, and had a big cleanup afterwards. Also, the boys that brought their own guns put their names on their guns and darts. I hope this helps!
Did you need to have parents sign a waiver of any type?