Operation Nerf War

This past weekend, we celebrated the J-man's 11th birthday with a highly anticipated nerf war.  It was quite the event.  A few days after the invitations went out, the questions started, "Can my dad come too?" or "Would it be okay if my husband stopped by?"  So of course, I sent a message saying, "Dads are invited too," because we all know they are all just big kids at heart.  I don't know who was more excited, J or his friends and their dads.  Anyway, we started at the house with "Nerf Bootcamp" where they practiced their skills (many of my ideas where thanks too blackberryvine.blogspot.com and a few other nerf parties blogs).  After Bootcamp was complete, we headed up to the school playground (it's in our neighborhood) for the epic battle.  They had a great time and I'm sure they all slept incredibly well that night.  The J-man had a fantastic time= Mission Accomplished!



 

 

First year of the non-theme cake.  He just wanted homemade fudge cake with oreo cookie crumbles.

Check out the supply bags:  I didn't have to make any of the dart holders I saw online so I  bought Home Depot tool aprons for 77 cents a piece, printed our Nerf war logo on iron-on sheets, and ironed the logo over the Home Depot label.  It turned out pretty awesome because it gave them kind-of a cool camo look.

Stations were:  Moving Target Balloon Challenge (shoot hanging balloons...very challenging due to the windy day), Knock Out Challenge (shoot army men off the swing set ladder), Tin Can Callenge (see how many tin cans they could shoot off a ledge) and their favorite....

Target Practice:  Normally I don't condone this type of behavior, but when J saw that somebody had done something like this online, he just had to have it.  He and his friends are what you call the anti- Biebs.  Not fans at all...he kind-of makes them want to throw-up according to J.

The Party Goers (Teams were based on the safety glasses they chose.)

Gearing up for battle.

J's look for the day.  Don't you love the flashing mohawk.

And the battle begins...

 

They played capture the flag.  This was one team's base.  No one won because they hid the flags too well, but they had great time just the same.

Even Ladybug got into the action.  J's friends were not one bit hesitant to put her in charge of flag protection.  For a long time she sat under this bush with the biggest nerf gun I've ever seen, shooting anyone who got close.  Here she is after one of the dads.  She was sitting next to me when all of a sudden she yelled, "Oh, no you don't!" and took off after him.

Happy Birthday, to my favorite 11 year old!  It was a great day!