Today is my daughter’s 12th birthday, and we’ve had 12 years of fun, frugal & festive parties!
It’s hard to pick a favorite, but my daughter loved last year’s Amazing Race birthday party…perfect for a pre-teen! Here’s a quick how-to along with plenty of Amazing Race Birthday Party clues that you can customize for your party:
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* Send the invitations in a yellow envelope, and word the invitation like a clue!
* Choose a pedestrian friendly shopping center like a town square or a mall.
* When each child arrives at the party, they will reach into a hat to find out which team they are on. We had 2 teams of 4, so my husband and I could each chaperone a team.
* My two teenage boys sat in a central location and gave out the Amazing Race challenges. Each team had to return to this central location, prove they had completed the challenge, and then they would receive the next challenge. We made sure that each team received the challenges in a different order, so it was impossible to tell which team was in the lead until the very end! The first team to complete all the challenges wins!
Now…you’ll have to tailor your Amazing Race challenges to your shopping center, but I’ve given you the ones I came up with just to get your creative juices flowing!
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#1.
The invitation itself was worded like a challenge…
Meet at the birthday girls’ house at 1600 hours, 3 days after April Fools’ Day. It will be an amazing party with an optional sleepover ending at 1000 hours on Sunday. Required gear: comfy shoes for the race + sleeping bag & pillow for the sleepover.
#2.
* Put the party hats on.
* Find a stranger & give them a hat
* Sing “Happy Birthday to Ashley Kate” with the stranger!
* Have your leader record it.
* Note: The party hats were included in the challenge envelope.
#3.
* Count the number of chairs outside of Starbucks.
#4.
* Go to Japaneiros restaurant & order one of the following: ika frita (fried squid), chuka (seaweed salad) or kappamaki (cucumber roll).
* Split it 4 ways & eat every bite!
* Note: The challenge envelope had enough money to cover the cost of the food.
#5.
* Go to Jamba Juice & order a double shot of wheatgrass, split between 4 tiny cups
* Drink up!
* Note: The challenge envelope had enough money to cover the cost of the food.
#6.
* Go to Sweet & Sassy and each person on your team must get a free glitter star on the tip of their nose.
#7.
* Buy something with a smiley face on it that costs less than $2.
* Note: The challenge envelope included $2.
#8.
* Choose one member of your team to put a blindfold on and reach into the “special bowl” to get out exactly $2. (This was a bowl full of cold spaghetti and change!)
* Use the $2 to buy an edible Easter treat for me!
#9.
* Go to Fuzzywigs & pick out your 3 favorite colors of M & M’s.
* Use 3 separate bags & buy exactly $1 worth (before tax) of each color.
* Don’t eat the candy.
* Make sure to bring back the receipt.
* Note: The challenge envelope included enough money to cover the cost of the M & M’s.
#10.
* It’s party favor time!
* Go spend $20 on party favors for the other team.
* Remember, there are 4 people on the team.
* Note: The challenge envelope included $20.
#11.
* Find a store that will give you a free sample.
* You must bring the sample back to me!
#12.
* Unscramble this word: OSIWEOZS
* Now…go to that store & come back and tell me what color the door knobs are.
#13.
* Walk up the stairs to the top of the city parking garage & shout “Happy Birthday Ashley Kate” when you reach the top. I must be able to hear you!
#14.
* Put on the silly glasses & go ask a store clerk to give you a big shopping bag.
* Note: 4 pairs of silly glasses were included in the envelope with this challenge.
#15.
* Find a red telephone booth & have your leader take a picture of your group next to it.
* Note: Make sure each team chaperone has a camera or cell phone camera.
#16.
* Find the following words: Imperial Sugar, Houston, New York City somewhere in Town Square.
* Take a picture of each word.
The team that finished these 16 challenges first won a prize. Next, we returned home for pizza and a couple more challenges!
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#1.
* Use the M & M’s that you bought earlier + the items in the basket to decorate a birthday cake. We’ll vote for the best looking cake, and then we’ll sing Happy Birthday to Ashley Kate and enjoy both cakes…yummy!
#2.
* This challenge is not a team challenge…it’s for anyone who wants to give it a try.
* Find the piece of bubble gum hiding in the pile of whipped cream on your plate. Once you find the bubble gum…be the first one to blow a bubble! P.S. – your hands must stay behind your back!
* Note: We had a small prize for the winner.
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This party requires a lot of advanced preparation, but I promise it’s FUN, FRUGAL (about $100 including prizes, food & favors), and FESTIVE! Please click on the title of this article and share your Amazing Race Party ideas.
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this sounds like so much fun!
[...] The Amazing Race Party – one of our all time favorite parties! [...]
What a great idea! I am stashing this away for a couple years from now!
Stumbling! ; )
What a great party idea! I love actually planning birthday parties and being creative. I have only done a few, since my kids are little and my boys have (rainy) Spring birthdays. I always like to have an arsenal of ideas in my back pocket though, especially since baby girl’s birthday is in the summer! Wonder if they will still have the Amazing Race when she gets old enough for a party like this?
How neat! What a clever idea, and something I’m sure the kids would love!
Brenna…check out all my party ideas! The Carnival Party might just be what you’re looking for! It works for toddlers to preteens, indoors or out!
Love it! We love Amazing Race. I will be coming back to this post in the future to get lots of fantastic ideas!
This is SUCH a great idea! Forget pre-teens – I think I want to do MY next birthday party like this (I’ll be 35!!
) The kids must have loved it!
This is great! We have a local homeschooling group that’s doing something similar once a week. The kids are having a blast.
The possibilities are endless! You may also want to look into my Minute to Win It party ideas!
Thank You so much…this party sounds like so much fun!!
You have awaken my creative mind!!! We live on a golf course, and I’m planning my 11yr old daughter’s party for this weekend!!
I will post my ideas after this weekend!! x
Can’t wait to hear how it goes! Make sure to check out the Minute to Win It Party and Mall Scavenger Hunt for future birthday parties! For future reference, all my parties can be found via the Party Index…see the column on the left. Thanks for being a Budget Diet reader!
this is so crazy! I was looking for ideas for an amazing race party and i read this one first then i realized that this is my town!
What a small world! The good news is that this party will be really easy for you to recreate!
What an absolutely amazing idea! So creative.
I am fresh out of ideas myself after 13 years of parties…3 kids…
I may steal this idea.
Visiting from voiceboks! xo
Wow! That is such a fantastic idea! I am sure I will channel a version of this for a party someday. LOVE! I am going to pin this : )
This sounds like so much fun! Can I come to your next party, pretty please?
What great ideas!!! I’m sure they had a blast. How creative you are!
This is AWESOME! What a great birthday party! I just might have to do this one.
I have 3 teenage children, and in all our years of doing birthday parties…this one was THE BEST!
It’s yours for the taking! I also have 3 teenagers, and this party is everyone’s favorite!
Thanks for pinning!
Actully, The Amazing Race party would be fun for adults too!
Great idea want to do it in 5 days time for my 13 yr old daughter.I am in South Africa and sure if I will be able to get hold of chase game in time.
Good luck! Let me know how it goes!