Saturday, April 9, 2011

Pin the Mustache on Bieber

Materials:
3-5 fake mustaches
3-5 blindfolds
projector/screen/laptop

Directions:
Project an image of Justin Bieber on the wall or screen. One at a time, blindfold a kid, spin the kid around, and let the crowd guide the kid in his or her attempt to place the mustache on Justin Beiber's upper lip! Repeat for 3-5 total kids. Closest mustache wins!

Notes:
  1. It goes without saying that Bieber music should be played during this game.
  2. This can be part of a mustache-themed club, obviously!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Clubble!

Clubble (club in a bubble) was just posted by our good friends over at YLhelp.com. It's easily brilliant enough to get reposted here. The basic premise is to create a plastic bubble to host club inside, which will amp up the music and the opportunities for messy games!

Clubble at the 50-yard line of your high school's football field? Awesome! Make it happen!

Send us pictures of your Clubble!

Materials:
1 roll of 20' x 100' 6 mil plastic sheeting
1 roll of 10' x 100' 6 mil plastic sheeting
about 5 rolls of duct tape
1 powerful fan (this or this, borrow or rent)
extension cords to power fans & stereo

Directions:
The bubble dimensions are 40' long x 20' wide x 10' tall. The floor, ceiling, and ends all come from a single, uncut loop of 20' wide plastic sheeting. The two 10' x 40' sides are cut from the 10' wide sheeting and close off the bubble.

Here are the words of the Clubble creator:
"We used 20X100ft 6mil poly running a 40 ft floor, up 10 feet, 40 foot ceiling, and finally a 10 foot wall. No cuts needed here; just duct tape the ends (you'll need about 5 rolls) to make one giant circle. Then use a 10ftX100ft 6mil poly for the sides. Cut it at 40 feet, then 40 feet, again. Use the pieces for the sides. You will need to tape them all around to make a cube.

Add a strong fan. There is likely one in the kitchen at camp. A box fan from a home will do. Ours was strong; we had to cut extra slits in each of the sides to let out the extra wind as follows: one had the fan, another a slit for a 6 foot door, and the final two for 3 foot slits for the front which served as stage entrances. We added an amplifier and speaks.

This example yields a 800 sq foot room 10 feet tall for about 120 people. You can find all kids of different sizes of poly at Home Depot to adjust for more kids. I would keep the room 10 feet tall unless you get above 300 people, when you might go 12 feet. I created the entire bubble in 2 hours with four campaigner helpers.

We used the side of the poly to shine the words to songs from our projector, but it only worked at night. This required us to run extension cords inside the stage entrances. We always keep kids outside until the last minute, wondering what it will be about. Once inside, some are always uneasy--will it collapse? Is it too small? Where are my friends? Crank up the music. It roars and the kids love it.

At the end of Clubble, somehow it has evolved into a Gallagher-style Smash-a-thon (warning: language). A strong, tested hammer is important. And a stump or STRONG table. We usually dress up a strong guy for the deed. The beauty of doing this in the bubble is there is nowhere to run. Here are some items we have used for smashing: chocolate milk, cat food, watermelon, a chicken (anything left over from the dining hall), old peaches, cheese, cantaloupe.... See the picture from last month. If you do Smash-a-thon in a bubble, it is NOT reusable. :)

A bubble costs about the same as buying each kid a canned coke--but will be a huge hit if done correctly. Call me at my number below should you want to discuss building it--the key is to know how many kids. Clubble is a great place for leaders to get crazy, and kids to have fun, which breaks down walls and allows them to be ready to hear the Good News."