How To Throw The Best Food Fight Ever

Last year our youth group decided to end our summer with a food fight. My youth pastor said he had a tremendous success doing a food fight with his youth group that it became an annual event, so we decided to try it for ourselves, too! We also had a great turnout from our regular students and we also had a bunch of kids come to youth group for the first time. Last year was such a success, we decided to do it again, but instead of ending our summer with a food fight, we're ending the school year with a food fight when all the kids are dealing with end-of-the-school-year stress. Nothing like throwing a handful of spaghetti in someone's face to help you forget those finals, am I right? ;)

*Our next food fight will be June 3rd, so I hope to get some new awesome pics up! Stay tuned!*

**Update: Catch the results HERE!**

So you must be wondering, "Sam, how on earth did you control the chaos? I mean, it's a food fight amongst a bunch of teens, didn't it get out of hand?" Those are good questions. Keep reading to see how we organized our food fight for all the hints and tips you'll need for your own!

Step 1: Find your location
This is not something you're going to want to do inside. Some places on the internet have suggested garages and sheds that are covered in tarps, but let's be honest now, having it outside is easier and all the food can be rinsed away into the grass. We had our food fight in our church's field.

Step 2: Send out invitations
Make sure it is no secret that is is an actual food fight. Tell your participants to wear old clothes and bring a change of clothes as well as towels. For our food fight, to help alleviate people's thoughts on food waste, we also included a giving opportunity. We told everyone to bring some canned food to participate and that will all be donated to the local food pantry. Doing good, and not being completely wasteful.

Step 3: Set Up
Gather your food. Keep your food in large buckets and trays.
Set up the tables and the area you will be using for the food fight. You'll want to have a specific amount of space or else the fight will lose momentum if people are just chasing each other in a huge field. Square off a section you want to use and that you feel is large or small enough to keep the play fun. Make different rounds for the fight to make it last longer and so all the food isn't used up at once. Round one can be condiments, then round two could be flour, etc. Part of set-up is also informing the participants to be mindful of peoples' eyes and any other rules you wish to implement.

Step 4: FOOD FIGHT!
We divided up our fight into rounds. We had corn, spaghetti, cake, flour, gelatin, pudding, and condiments. We divided up into two teams (boys vs. girls) and each round we let one of the teams draw a piece of paper deciding what the food that round would be. One round we squirted each other with ketchup and mustard. Another round we threw cake. The flour was another round and was quite fun to watch and run through because the field just became this huge cloud of flour! Just bring out the next round of food and go crazy!

Step 5: Clean Up
To get cleaned up, we thought a round of water balloons, squirt guns, and a slip n' slide with some dish soap on it will help make it a little easier and more fun to clean up everyone. We then had a hose hooked up to rinse everyone off in the grass and rinse the grass off a bit, too, diluting chunks of food, etc. Knowing that people will forget towels, ALWAYS have extra towels on hand. Also, while everyone will be clean(er) after getting rinsed off, they'll still be wet and may still be a little gooey. If the kids are to use specific bathrooms in the church or wherever you are hosting this, make a clear path with tarps/dropcloths to the bathrooms. Wipe down all the tables you used, too, before putting them away. Buckets, containers, and leftover food (if there is any) will also need to be cleaned up.

That's pretty much it. Have you ever participated in a food fight, planned or otherwise? Have any questions or comments, reply in the comment section below! :)