When You Were My Age Giveaway

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We’re so excited about our new and updated version of “When You Were My Age Party” that we’re giving away a free copy to one of our subscribers.  Just tell us what celebration you might  use this party  for in the comments section of this blog and we will randomly select one person to receive a free copy on December 1st, 2013.

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Our new version of “When You Were My Age” includes a fill in the blank invitation and gives you 37 pages of information for the years 1921- 2010.

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This is such a fun program, fashioned after a Bill Cosby Show episode and was called, "When Mom Was my Age." We have done variations of the program for 70th and 80th birthdays and 50th wedding anniversaries. Each time we do "When You Were My Age" everyone is thrilled and excited to be a part of the celebration. Everyone has a part on the program and an opportunity to highlight world events and significant family happenings throughout the life of your loved one.

This is a great way to honor your Grandma or Grandpa on their special birthday or your Dad or Mom on their 50th anniversary. Celebrating a landmark birthday or anniversary is always going to be a lot of work but with this package you’ll be well on your way to saying "We love you" in a very special way.

When You Were My Age

The Jumping, Running, Throwing Fun of an Obstacle Course

I’m not writing this blog for you, I’m writing it for me.  Every time I need to create an obstacle course I have to rethink every type of course we’ve done in the past.  Next time I have to make an obstacle course I’m just going to search for this blog,hopefully you’ll get some good ideas too.

Kids love obstacle courses and they’re pretty easy to create just using the things you have around your house or party area. 

The easiest way to create a course is to assign each person one obstacle or if it is for a family reunion, assign several families to each bring an obstacle.  You  can do this with little or no advance notice using just the things you have in the course area.

If you have a committee that is putting the course together spend some time brainstorming ideas for your course layout. If you will be at a campground you may be able to take advantage of a water hazard, large rocks and logs.

Eight to ten challenges is a good number for most people.  Here’s some tried and true obstacles that have proved to be fun  over the years.

Jumping Obstacles

Bales of straw or hay make a fun obstacle.  Other jumping obstacles can be logs, laundry baskets or rolled up sleeping bags.  Instead of jumping you can crawl under or over a row of chairs.

obstical course (2)

Running Obstacles

Lay a ladder on the ground and children run through the ladder making sure they step in the hole between each rung on the ladder.

Every obstacle course needs a tire challenge of some sort.  When runners reach the tires, they have to run through them, placing one foot in each of the tires. The more tires you have the harder it becomes.

Swinging Obstacles

Everybody likes a good old rope swing and it’s a fun addition to any obstacle course. If you aren’t near a natural water hazard fill up a kiddy wading pool to provide an extra challenge. Several big knots tied in the rope’s end makes it easier to grab.

Balancing Obstacles

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Using logs, 2x4s or wooden planks makes for a fun balancing portion of your course.

Throwing Obstacles

Throw beanbags into a bucket or basket.  If you have access to a basketball hoop, require participants to make a basket before moving to the next challenge.  If football is your sport of choice throw a ball through a goal post made of PVC pipe.

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Silly Obstacles

Purchase some old couch cushions from the thrift store, mattress or foam pad and set out for participants to run through. This challenge will really slow runners down- just be sure to tell them there is no jumping allowed.

And don’t forget cones (good for zig zagging) and hula hoops (good substitute for tires).

A stopwatch (or the stopwatch on your cellphone) is essential for keeping track of their course times.  You can keep times individually or run your obstacle course as a team relay event.

Setting up an obstacle course is a wonderful way for adults and children to get some fun physical activity. Kids will do it as  part of an organized activity but when the “official” activity is over they’ll continue to play and be entertained making their own kind of fun.

Silly Getting to Know You Game

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When planning your next family reunion or party you will want to plan some fun “getting to know you” games. Here’s a fun idea to get to know a little more about your relative.

Wrap a gift of some kind that would be fun for any family member at your reunion or party. preferably something that goes along with your family reunion theme.

You don’t need to sit in a circle or in any organized order. In fact, you can play this game as you are eating a meal or waiting for an activity to begin. The important thing is that everyone can hear the poem as you read it so they can pass the gift around as directed.

The following verses are just ideas to use for your poem. You can easily write your own verses and even target specific members at your family reunion.

Getting To Know You Poem

Take this gift-now don’t be shy!
Give it to someone with blue eyes.

Yes, you are the lucky one
But give the gift to someone who has a teenage son!

Look around from seat to seat
And give it to one whose cooking can’t be beat.

Some of us are tiny and small
but give the gift to the one most tall!

Next look for someone that has the newest wife
and give it to the love of his life.

Birthdays come and birthdays go
Give this gift to the oldest person you know.

Don’t let the gift get out of sight
Give it to the person sitting on your right.

The longest hair will win it now
If you have long hair, step up and bow

The gift goes to someone with a college degree
a good education pays off we can all agree.

The one with the most buttons of any kind
Will get passed the gift right now, this time.

We should stop now, it’s really time
The gift is yours to keep and everything is fine!

You’ll find lots of fun ice breaker games here

Aunt MO

“The grass isn’t greener on the ‘other side’, the grass isn’t greener on your side. It’s Greener where you water it.”

More Family Birthday Party Ideas

When my Dad turned 70 we wanted to have a special  celebration.  He didn’t want anything elaborate for this milestone birthday so we decided to have an intimate family party.  My Dad loves M&M’s so that became the theme for our family birthday party. 

m & M M & M’s are a fun party theme- the colors are bright and the shape is simple so it’s easy to make party decorations.  Here’s some ideas:

Use all different M&M colors for party ware. Mix the colors for plates, napkins, cups, table covers, etc.  We put containers of mini  M & M’s on each person’s plate.

We made a huge poster imitating a bag of M & M’s.    It was a fun idea and easy to make because- M & M’s are CIRCLES!! Use colored paper plates, write an "M" on them and attach to the wall or glue two plates together;flat sides touching. When dry, punch a hole at the top edge of the plates. Use fishing line to hang them from the ceiling or use coordinating colors of curling ribbon.

Use any M&M decorations you can find. We found fun M & M helium balloons.  M&M makes tons of fun things  to decorate with.  A great idea that was fun for our family party was the little plush M & M guys that you can see sitting on the table in the picture.  We used them as prizes for the games and activities we had.  Other fun prize ideas are small packages of  M & M candy.

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A simple idea for dessert is a large M & M cake.  (There’s that simple circle thing again!) Bake a cake in a round pan and frost in a bright M & M color.  Using a “star” tip  put a large “m” on the cake.  We served ours with M & M ice cream.  Cupcakes decorated as M & M’s is another fun idea.

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Fun Activity Ideas:

Have a jar full of M&Ms and the guests must guess the correct number. Whoever is closest, win the jar!

You can find free printable M & M coloring pages for the younger ones in your family at Coloring Pages.

If you play games with teams have “red” vs “green” or “plain” vs “peanuts” etc.

M & M Scattergories: This is a great word-type game idea.  To play give guests a minute or two to name as many things in a certain category as possible (2 minutes to write down animals beginning with the letter M, things with wheels that begin with the letter M or flowers that begin with the letter M etc.  (You get the idea) You can divide your family into teams. The team with the most answers in a category wins a point. The team with the most over-all points wins the game.

M & M Dice Game: You will need a straw and paper plate for everyone that is participating, M&M’s, a large bowl, and a pair of dice. Everyone sits in a circle.

Fill the bowl with M&M’s. Pick a person to start and hand them the bowl. To the person on their left, hand the dice and the box top. On your mark, the person with the dice starts rolling. The person with the M&M’s starts sucking up M&M’s with the straw as quickly as they can and setting them on their plate. As soon as the dice roller hits doubles, the M&M’s get passed to them, and the dice are passed to the next person. Continue around the circle until all the M&M’s are gone or for an allotted time.

When we have played this game at family reunions we split into groups of about 8 players and have several games going on at a time.

For more great birthday party ideas for your family reunion or family get together check out our latest product “When You Were My Age”. at Family Reunion Helper.

Aunt MO

Why did the teenager get fired from the M&M factory?
She threw away all the candy with W’s on them. 🙂