Amazing Race Birthday Party Ideas

If you plan to throw a unique and fun Amazing Race party for teenagers, then you've come to the right place!

Pick and choose ideas from this page, and come up with your own creative Amazing Race theme party.

Resources:

Invitations

Decorations

Even though you'll have out-and-about party, it's still a good idea to decorate the area where you intend to serve food.

Scatter around flags of various countries, travel brochures, and other theme-related items. Create signs that say Detour, Roadblock, U-Turn, and Fast-Forward. (Use images from the show for reference.)

Cover your Amazing Race party table with a colorful tablecloth. Spread out postcards of different world destinations on the table.

Favors

Give out such Amazing Race party favors as tote bags, travel wallets, miniature globes, travel money belts, multicultural music CDs, luggage tags, guide books to world famous cities.

Amazing Race Party Activities

Before the party, think about who on your guest list better relate to other people in the group. Pre-arrange teams of 2 based on their relationships and closeness to one another. That way the guests will feel more comfortable during the challenges.

When the guests arrive, explain in detail the format of the race. Be sure that everyone is aware of the rules and safety issues.

Here is a list of "legs" of the race that I think would be really cool to implement. Organize them in any order you like.

*Friend's House: Begin the journey with a bang!

Take the group to a friend's house. Have your guests choose between two tasks: eat raw broccoli (which many find disgusting) or carry a heavy load (bricks, heavy bags, cement blocks, etc.) from one side of the backyard to the other.

*Amusement Park: If you have some sort of a theme park with rides, then include it as one of the legs of the journey.

The teams must go on a roller coaster ride, and then receive a clue to find an adult helper in the parking lot who tells them where to go next. (Get ride operators at the park to give out clues.)

*Library: Have the teams solve a riddle using first letters of several book titles.

Get them to locate the books using their bar codes. (Write book bar codes on a sheet of paper before the party.) When participants find the books and write down letters from the titles, then they must unscramble a mystery word.

For example, you can get the participants to find 5 books which titles start with "B", "G", "I", "N", "O". When they find the books, they must come up with a word "Bingo" to get the next clue.

*Mall: Get the teams to find a small store in the mall and take a team picture inside the store. Next, they must sing a silly song to a cashier to receive the next clue.

The clue will bring them to a clothing store inside the mall where they have to find a ribbon planted among clothing items on the rack. (Place the ribbon and arrange with store manager in advance.)

*Pool: The players must change into swim suits. (Ask them to bring swimsuits and towels to the party.)

At the pool, they have an option to complete either of the 2 tasks: ask a lifeguard on a date or fill kids' bucket with pool water using a tiny shovel.

*Park: Here the teams encounter a roadblock, a task that only one team member may perform. She must count the number of benches in the park.

As a variation, if there is a basketball court in the park, have her demonstrate her basketball skills. She has to make an easy lay-up, then shoot one free throw and one 3-point shot.

*Final Leg - At Your House: For the final challenge, get the teams to find a plastic egg hidden in the backyard. Then they must run and step on the "Check-in Mat" to finish the race. Have a prize for the team that finishes first.

Guidelines and Tips

• Organize games and activities in similar fashion as it's done on the Amazing Race game show. Invite enough guests so that you can divide them in groups of 2 or 3.


• There are several legs for the race. Each team must complete one or several activities at each leg. After they finish, they proceed to a "pit stop" where they receive an envelope with Route Info about the next leg with clues of what to expect. There are no eliminations.


• Have family members or friends act as judges to make sure that challenges are completed properly.


• Ask help from friends to drive teams from one location of the "race" to the next, in case these are spread out around town. Ideally, you should have a car for each team.


• If you can't find enough cars with drivers to transport the teams separately, then carpool together from one location to the next. In this case, use stopwatch at the end of each leg to determine trailing time of teams behind the leading team.
  
  Then at the next leg have the teams wait according to their time behind the leaders, before they can depart.


• Make sure that every team has a cell phone, so they can communicate with you if they have questions.


• Involve people at each location (e.i. librarians, cashiers, pool lifeguards, clerks, etc.) to help out distributing clues. Arrange this in advance.

Food and Drink

Amazing Race Party Food Ideas:

Serve food from all around the world.

*Japanese Sushi
*Italian Pizza
*Russian Borscht
*American Burgers
*Mexican Burritos
*Spanish Paella (rice dish with meat or seafood)
*German Sausages
*Popcorn
*Ice cream

Amazing Race Party Drink Ideas:

*Fruit punch
*Lemonade

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