How to party like a 5 year old?

May 19, 2008 1:04 AM

Public pillow fight... public water balloon fight... I need more ideas for silly, childish fun to organize in my city!

So, I'm turning 23 next month and would like to celebrate by putting together some kind of open-to-the-public event that's silly and fun. This March, about 60 random people showed up with pillows at a local park and beat each other senseless for a few hours. It was awesome, and without even mentioning that it's my birthday, I wanted to create and advertise something similar. But what would it be?

My first thought was that a water balloon/gun fight would be perfect, but I'm in Atlanta and we're in the middle of a serious drought, so I think that would be irresponsible even though we're unlikely to waste all that much water on this. I need your ideas.

(And if you live in Atlanta, you're invited!)

posted by inactivist to sports, hobbies, & recreation (22 comments total)

Well -- and I hate to say it -- in our litigious society, anything that involves anyone hitting anyone else with anything is a recipe for trouble. I don't know who organized the pillow fight thing, but I wonder if there were waivers involved.

What's your budget? Are you planning on supplying Activity Item X, or will people have to bring their own X?

More or less random ideas:

Colouring
Improvised Instrument Musical Jam
Jumprope contest
Make and fly kites
Tag
Hide & Go Seek
Kick the Can
A monumentally huge game of duck, duck, goose
posted by Shepherd at 2:27 AM on May 19

Paper planes!
posted by divabat at 2:34 AM on May 19

Shaving cream fight is a personal favorite.
posted by magikker at 3:13 AM on May 19

Some years ago while drunk we used to play Hide & Seek late in the Night, with motos and scooters. You can't hide inside buildings and your vehicle must hide with you.
You obviously need to establish an area covered by the game (not too large and not too small). It's a cool way to explore the city in new ways, finding places you never know existed. May be quite risky or boring in some cities, so results may vary.
posted by darkripper at 3:14 AM on May 19

Marco polo? Capture the flag?

Sardines! The opposite of tag - where the one "it" person hides, and -everyone- else tries to find them. When one person finds the "it," they then stay and hide with them, until everybody but one person is squeezed into one hiding place. Last person to stumble upon the mass of hidden people is the next "it."
posted by po at 3:22 AM on May 19 [3 favorites]

Duck, duck, goose sounds like an awesome idea.

Get a flag, a bass drum, and a bucket of kazoos and start a parade. See how many people you can get to join.

There's some people here in Austin who passed out those foam toy swords to the folks waiting at either side of a crosswalk, and led each side in a thirty-second infantry charge when the light changed. That was fun.

In Ann Arbor I knew a guy who held a public election on whether he should shave his beard, complete with campaign fliers both pro and con. If I remember right, about fifty people showed up to vote.
posted by nebulawindphone at 3:24 AM on May 19

Whatever you organize, try to think it through: here's a recent public water-fight that made the news.
posted by ghost of a past number at 3:42 AM on May 19

Some years ago one of my best friends had the same idea. She just had to have a water fight for her birthday. So she did. Something like 30 people with water-guns ranging from small ones to super-soakers... It was done in a part of town (Lisbon, Portugal) with loads of space, close to the river, on a very hot day. I was pretty oh-hum about it, pretty much only went because, well, she's my best friend. So as the thing was going on, with me to the side not even using the soaker, kinda just waiting for it all to just be done with, this marroquin guy *kicks me in the back* because he apparently didn't like the idea - I cant' quite remember what he said, it was like 10 years ago and he spoke a mix of arabic and french, plus I was totally in chock - which lead to a fight (not physical, just verbal).
It goes to show that even when you're not getting in anybody's way, it can still go wrong.

As for water being wasted, it's really not that much - it's just a one filling per water-gun. This also means it doesn't last all that long either.

As for other ideas, sorry :S I'm really the "let's all go hit the margaritas" kinda gal...
posted by neblina_matinal at 4:29 AM on May 19

How about:

an impromptu choir practice
a city-wide treasure hunt
a tug-of-war competition
a circus skills training day - juggling, monocylcling etc.
posted by baggymp at 4:33 AM on May 19

Check out sf0.org - they might just be what you didn't know what you were looking for.
posted by LSK at 4:59 AM on May 19

The group that had the pillowfight might have been the Atlanta Improv Everywhere group. They've got some interesting ideas and maybe you could invite them to your birthday :-)
posted by trig at 5:46 AM on May 19

Giant capture the flag games. If you're ever been to Athens, we'd play on the north campus quads. Same goes for sardines that po mentioned.
posted by jmd82 at 6:21 AM on May 19

Big sidewalk chalk party?
posted by pearlybob at 7:00 AM on May 19 [1 favorite]

Bubbles!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:14 AM on May 19 [1 favorite]

I would be absolutely enraged if anyone hit me with a water gun or water balloon. You'd owe me $5000 if it got me in the head because that's how much my hearing aids would cost to replace. It's water, how can you make certain that it won't splash onto some innocent passerby?
posted by desjardins at 7:28 AM on May 19

Scavenger hunt
posted by hungrysquirrels at 8:03 AM on May 19

Seconding TPS! Bubbles! Cheap, non-violent (no physical contact), and completely fun!
posted by fuzzbean at 8:10 AM on May 19

One of the most intense minutes of my life was spent in a pie fight in New York City's Central Park ten years ago, organized by my friend Al (who sometimes is also part of a tuba-playing KISS-look-alike combo). Anyone could participate, but the price of admittance was ten pies. Many people just bought pie crusts and cans of whipped cream. We put out some big tarps, lined the pies around the edges, and everyone stood inside of the circle of pies until the "go" signal. Mayhem! Glorious.
posted by Mo Nickels at 8:15 AM on May 19

What a fun idea! :)

Bubbles or scavenger/treasure hunt sounds fun. The improv jam idea sounds fun, too. Maybe a giant game of "Red Rover, Red Rover" or "Red Light Green Light" or "Duck Duck Goose"? Or "King of the Hill" on the big lump on the playground in Piedmont Park? A Frisbee relay race? A sack race or three-legged race? Heck, how about a big picnic with all of the above?

As bad as our drought's been, we definitely don't need any large-scale water balloon or water gun fights.
posted by notashroom at 8:40 AM on May 19

Red Rover? Loved that game as a kid until the schools stopped us from playing :-(.

http://www.gameskidsplay.net/games/strength_games/redrover.htm (link to a description of the game)
posted by Sgt.Grumbless at 10:23 AM on May 19

Portland, Maine closes off the road around Back Cove, making it pedestrian, bike, stroller, etc. only for Father's Day. They have a festival, and the Fire Dept cordons off an area, fills it with firefighting foam, and then lets kids wade into it. In 10 minutes, it's all gone, and there are a bunch of wet, happy kids.

They usually have a cardboard canoe race, where each team gets a set of materials - sheet cardboard, duct tape, a reinforcing bar, and makes a canoe, then tries to paddle it to a finish line. Usually local radio hosts, who end up in the water.

Sidewalk painting with chalk or washable poster paints.

Get foam bats, or foam pool noodles, and go nuts.

Do everything dressed as zombies, of course.
posted by theora55 at 11:31 AM on May 19

If you have the spare cash, rent a Moonwalk. The University of Florida sets these up in one of the quads during the last few weeks of school. Good way to get rid of some stress. You could try to find a ball pit too.
posted by inconsequentialist at 12:45 PM on May 19