Host a fun Indiana Jones Party for your kids birthday. It will be a party full of adventure and daring!
Invitations:
Make a map with details included as part of the map legend. Tear or burn the edges, to make it look worn and well-used.
Indiana Jones Party Decorations:
Lots of green and brown balloons, streamers, etc.
If inside, hang sheets of green butcher paper on the walls, Make vines out of twisted brown kraft paper or brown grocery sacks, and attach large green construction paper-shaped leaves.
If inside, hang maps on the walls
If you can, create some nook and crannies in your party space, such as creating a “cave” out of some old giant cardboard boxes
Mix some rubber snakes, spiders and bugs into your décor
Indiana Jones Party Arrival Activity (Something for guests to do as you are waiting on everyone to arrive):
Decorate a wooden treasure box
Wrap a mummy – take a wooden spoon and wrap with strips of linen. Glue on eyes.
Make snakes out of play dough
Open Treasure Stones - Wrap your “treasure” inside tissue paper, then aluminum foil, then coat it with plaster of Paris and allow to dry on wax paper. After dry, paint as you wish.
Color a map or picture of a snake
Decorate binoculars with stickers
Make binoculars (if you have adult helpers who can oversee this) by decorating toilet paper rolls and taping them together. Punch holes in the sides for yarn so the binoculars can hang around their necks
Favorite Indiana Jones Party Games:
HINT: An Indiana Jones party is all about adventure and daring. Create an Indiana Jones Style Treasure Hunt by giving your guests tasks to do either as a group or in teams. Receive the next clue after each game has been completed. If playing in teams, have each team do the games in a different order so they won’t all be doing the same things at the same time.
In addition to getting a clue after each activity to lead you to the next thing, you may want to also get a piece of a puzzle after each task. To do this, write the final clue on a piece of thin cardboard or posterboard, then cut into a puzzle shape. At the end of the tasks, the puzzle can be assembled to lead the kids to an ultimate treasure – perhaps the cake, a piñata, or their goody bags!
Ring Toss - Do a ring toss over a Tiki Type Head Statue.
Hot Potato with a toy spider, lizard or snake - While music is playing, pass the item around. Whoever is caught with the item with the music stops is either “out", or if you want to keep everyone in the game (that is what we like to do!) instead of being “out”, have the person who is holding the item do a silly stunt.
Spider, Spider, who’s got the spider? played like Button, Button, Who’s got the button. Select one player to be “It”. “It” hides his eyes as the spider is given to a child to hide in his hands behind his back. All other players put their hands behind their back as well. “It” uncovers his eyes and then has three chances to guess which child has the spider.
Mummy Game – Players team up to race to wrap a teammate like a mummy with toilet paper.
Thread the Snake – Get an extra long rope. The rope will be the “snake”. Have the players line up and the first player will thread the snake inside his shirt and pass it to the next person, who threads it through their shirt, and on to the next person, etc. An Indiana Jones party has to have snakes, right?
Hunt - Find a clue, gold coins or jewels in a bucket of snakes or in a sandbox. If this is a
Golden Birthday,
you'll have to go on a hunt for golden treasure!
Crazy Catch – You’ll need a small ball for every two kids and a fedora type hat for each. Have kids divide into teams of 2 people. Have the teams play catch with the ball, but they can’t catch with their hands. They must catch with the fedora type hats.
Balloon Clues - Hide clues in balloons, blow up the balloons along with a bunch of extra balloons. Have the kids pop the balloons by stepping on them, sitting on them, etc. until they find the clue. If playing with teams, have different colored balloons for each team.
Obstacle Course - Create an obstacle course to test their skills of escaping the bad guys!
Sweeping Relays and Races – To play this as a race you’ll need a broom and a balloon for each player. Make sure you have extra blown up balloons available in case any pop. Have the kids sweep the balloon toward a finish line. Variation: If playing this game as a relay, divide the kids into two teams with a broom and a balloon for each team. Have the kids sweep a balloon towards a certain point and back again. If the balloon pops, have them get a new balloon and continue with the race.
Tug of War - You’ll need a rope with a ribbon tied to its center. Divide the players into 2 teams. Make 2 lines on the ground with masking tape to mark a line where the ribbon must be tugged to. On “Go” the team that pulls the other team over the line is the winner.
