We had an Indiana Jones adventure for Cobian's birthday party and used all the grounds of our new property: the front yard, the macademia nut trees, the little pool...Here is a recap - didn't explain in too much detail for the sake of time.
At the beginning, I read to the kids the start of the adventure, each child got a hat and satchel.
Indiana Cobian has been searching for the crystals of youth his ENTIRE life. Help him find this very valuable treasure. Be careful: there are many hazards along the way.
There was a map at each place to tell them where to go next.
#1 Swing on the rope across crocodile creek (slip n slide) and crawl through the tunnel of doom.(filled with fake bugs) Search for the treasure in the bucket of monkey brains (spaghetti). Inside were "gummy spiders" for each child.
#3 INDY's camp: dig site. (In the grove) Have some lemonade to cool off. Here there were many old artifacts: old canteen, water pitcher, camp gear, bbq, shower, shovels, etc. My dad brought over antiques from his garage. The kids had to search for a geode "a crystal rock". After they found the rock, they split it open to see the inside. This got a little dangerous with the amount of kids sticking their heads by the table so we stopped it.
#4 The Temple of DOOM - 1st there was a golden idol statue. There was also a couple of buckets of macademia nuts (in the shell) and they had to dig through the "Dead Mans Eyeballs" and find a ring pop.
Then, they read the sign after picking up the statue that said, You moved the Golden Idol from its pedastal...(aka coconut monkey painted gold) watch out for falling boulders and poison darts. Then in groups of 2-4 the kids ran down between a row of trees while be chased by a big ball and being shot at by nerf guns and silly spray.
#5 Area 51. A big mail bag was hanging from a tree on an old pulley. They had to figure how to get it down. Once they got it down, it was locked so they had to find a key. They key was at the base of the tree inside of an animal trap. They opened the bag and inside was a "golden idol" necklace. (aka tiki necklace) There was also a key. They had to use the key to go into the "cave" (under the trampoline covered with tarps) where there was a golden chest (the ark of the covenent). They unlocked the chest and inside were the "crystals of youth". (old fashioned crystal lollipops)
#6 There was one more adventure
if they chose to do it: the SNAKE PIT. They had to get on their suits and SWIM ACROSS THE SNAKE PIT(pool) IF they wanted to receive the "ANTETODE". This was an old fashioned soda shaped candy with flavored syrup. Most of the kids chose to do this. I had quite a few snakes, but they sank in the water and the pool was too big for the number of snakes I had.
It was a lot of fun. A little chaotic when they were going into the buckets for things because there were 22 children... tried to get them to line up but they always had to be reminded of this. This part frustrated me a little mostly because
my 2 year old kept screaming to have her turn. I would say their favorite part was swinging on the rope.
I made the kids "satchels" out of felt. I also got hats at the dollar store. Most of them were kids cowboy hats made of foam. I had to paint some of them because I couldn't find enough brown ones. I also made them journals made out of vinyl that covered a thicker scrapbook paper and cut up white sheets of paper. I used a ribbon to tie the papers together and hot glue for the outside.
Dessert: Made dirt and worms for the kids: oreos crumbled, chocolate pudding, cool whip and gummy worms. (Cobian's idea)
Made 2 cakes, 1 was decorated with indiana jones toys (which I already had), 1 was shaped like Indy's hat and hat fondant frosting.
I had a table set up for Indy's office in the house. An old typewriter and wooden holders.
I had signs up of quotes from Jones, like "Snakes, I hate snakes." I had a sign by the drinks with various glasses on a pedestal that said "Choose wisely" like the holy grail. I decorated the kitchen with paper "vines", hanging monkeys, and a bridge made of bamboo like placemats.
I used gold paper plates and napkins. I also used gold mugs and platter I found on clearance at the party store.
We had Indiana jones movies playing during the party. We also had a demo dvd they watched before the adventure began.
