Active Ideas for an End-of-the-School-Year Class Party

Near the end of every school year, I get calls from various anxious moms from my neighborhood. The situation is always the same: They’ve been assigned to organize their child’s end-of-the-school-year class party and they’re intimidated by the task. The party has to somehow be fun, memorable, unique, appealing to both boys and girls, and done on the cheap. I usually jump at the opportunity to help out because I have such fond memories of my end-of-the-school-year class parties. There’s no better place to be than on an elementary school campus during the final days of the school year. Rules are relaxed, homework is ditched, spirits are high, and summer vacation is right around the corner.

If you’re on the party-planning committee this year, you’ll want to take note of the following activities. They’re inexpensive and proven crowd-pleasers. If you haven’t been given this enviable assignment, try hosting an end-of-the-school-year party for your child’s classmates in your backyard or park after school. Enlist some of your favorite mom (or dad) pals to help out.

Weather permitting, use an outdoor area for the activity portion of your party. You won’t have to worry about a room getting messy or battle for use of the busy school auditorium. For best results, bring a battery-operated boom box or portable MP3 player. All the activities should be accompanied by fun, high-energy music. You can refer to my column on kids’ fitness music for song ideas.

Fire Hose Relay
You’ll need (for a class of 30 kids): 5 foam noodles, 5 cones, squirt bottles for parents or teachers
Create five lines of six kids. When the music starts, the line leaders run up around their cone while carrying their “fire hose.” To simulate leaky hoses, parents and teachers are stationed on the course, squirting water at the runners. For the next round, all six kids hold the hose at once and travel together to the cone and back, all while being squirted. You can either play to see which line is the fastest, or eliminate competition by requiring all lines to finish both tasks before the song is over.

Food Fight!
You’ll need: one long rope, 100+ ping pong balls (about $20), 3 small baskets
Place the rope on the ground to divide the group in half. Tell them you brought a bucket of meatballs for a food fight. Which side of the line will end up less messy? The rules are that they can’t cross the line or hurl a meatball after the music stops. Start the music, yell, “Food Fight” toss the balls up in the air, and get out of the way! After about 30 seconds, stop the music and say, “Freeze!” Make a quick assessment of which side is messier, then start the music again for a few more rounds. To wrap up, give baskets to 3 adults and challenge the kids to work together to clean up all the balls before the song is over. The kids will have fun watching the adults scrambling to catch the balls with their baskets.

Water Balloon Blast
You’ll need: one water balloon for each child and teacher, plus a few for breakage, jump rope, 6 hula hoops, 4 cones
A water balloon obstacle course beats the old-fashioned water balloon toss by eliminating “outs” and ensuring every child gets to pop a water balloon. While carrying a water balloon, each child balances along the rope, hops into a succession of five hoops, runs through the cones, then jumps into the target hula hoop. While in the target hoop, the kids can decide to break the balloon by stomping on it, sitting on it, squeezing it between their knees, or for the more adventurous, on their head. Save the biggest water balloon for the teacher. For the grand finale, the teacher braves the course, kids cheering. When in the target, the teacher calls all the students to gather around while he/she breaks the water balloon over all their heads.

The goal for the class party is to create lasting memories. So whatever activities you choose, make sure they present opportunities for plenty of laughter and loud cheering for all.