Putting Together a Food Fight

1. It would be great to host this party outdoors, but if you are willing to have the food fight indoors, it would be good to have it in a space that you don't mind getting messy, like a garage or a basement or perhaps a shed if there is enough room inside. You may want to cover the space with plastic so that clean up is very easy afterward.

2. When the kids arrive at the party, for both safety and easy clean up, provide kids with shower caps, plastic goggles, and a rain poncho to wear. These will keep the kids safe and relatively clean through the food fight.

3. After they have their outfits on, give the kids a bag of marshmallows and slingshots, and they can start the fun of slinging marshmallows at one another as they wait for everyone to arrive. Make sure the kids are supervised in the designated party area.

3. On a table, put out lots of foods that are perfect for a food fight, spaghetti, whipped cream, mashed potatoes, chocolate pudding, Jell-O, Cereal, hard boiled eggs, popcorn, oatmeal, bananas, etc. Whatever you like, and you can make it even more interesting by putting food dye into the different foods, for example, green mashed potatoes.

4. You may want to announce a few "rules" to the kids before the food fight breaks out: some suggestions include: they must keep their goggles on, they must stop throwing if they hear the sound of a whistle or something else you find appropriate, and that the food fight must stay within the space you have designated.

5. If there are kids who do not feel comfortable participating, let them have fun watching on the sidelines.

6. Make sure to have your video camera out to capture this fun!

7. You can also have the kids play some organized "food games," including blindfolding the kids and having them eat donuts that have been strung on a string. First kid finished eating his donut wins! Have the kids partner up and feed each other pudding standing 5 ft. away from one another using a plastic spoon. Afterward, the kids can use squirt guns to clean themselves up.

8. Your party menu can be very simple, as they will be playing with the food at this party, more than eating any of it! Serve ice cream and cake to top the party off.

9. Send the kids home with a splattered brown paper bag filled with good food: a piece of fruit, a veggie, pudding pack, etc. as a reminder of their foodie fun!

Lisa Kothari is the founder and president of Peppers and Pollywogs, a kids' party planning company that provides parents with ideas, entertainers, and interesting web-based tools (customized rhymes and cards for your invitations!) to make kids' party planning easy.