Stefanie's 13th Birthday party

I'm very happy that's over and done with! Stefanie, in her typical style, made me do the invites over 2 months ago and had been nagging me non-stop since then that I had to finish the plans for the event. Sounds like a military campaign, doesn't it? Well, almost...Stefanie is a big fan of American reality shows like Amazing Race and Fear Factor, and she wanted to her birthday party to imitate those shows (as you can see from her invitation).
We started off with the Fear Factor portion of the party: I switched labels from a tin of dog food and beef stew (amazing how alike both products looked!) and told the girls that the first one to finish off their bowl of "dog food" would win their team 5 extra minutes for the race portion of the party. One girl claimed she was a vegetarian, so it was left to the fearless (or those with a penchant for Pedigree) to step up and take one for the team. It was only after they had all finished that I told them that I had switched the labels. One team insisted that dog food would have tasted better.
Next, we had them try and find a piece of bubble gum from a plate full of whipped cream. The first one to not only find the gun but make a respectable bubble from it would also win their team an extra 5 minutes for the race. Not especially hard, but it was fun to watch them get covered in cream!
Now, the race...I had gone around some of my local shops earlier in the day and asked for their help with this one. First I made them go to the Library and find a specific book with their next clue in it (Nancy Drew, of course - America's Favourite Girl Detective), then off to my hair salon, where they were required to present a shorn lock of hair (theirs or someone else's) to the receptionist to get their next clue. They were then given a pound coin each to purchase as many items as possible at the corner shop to get their next clue. They then had to get up to the local park as quickly as possible to where Orest would be waiting with Jessie (our dog) and the next clue was strapped to her collar. Their task was to catch her and get the clue. I know it sounds easy, but if you know our dog, she's not the type to get close enough for you to grab anything off her (balls, sticks or otherwise). Plus I advised Orest that he was to make it as difficult as possible by calling her to him every time she got close to one of the racers. I wasn't there to see it, but I was told the sight was similar to that of a greasy pig-catching contest.


Anyway, the last clue told them to leg it home as quickly as possible. It was amazing how quickly they finished, because I had scheduled enough time to get from one to clue to the next, thinking the race itself would take 1 and a half hours, only to have the first team cross the Finish line within 35 minutes. Luckily these were 13-year olds able to entertain themselves for the rest of the time with trampolining, Playstation, DVDs and pizza.