Hunger Games--Peeta's Cupcake Challenge

We had a cupcake decorating challenge at our Hunger Games Lock-In!  Everyone had to decorate a cupcake that was in some way related to the Hunger Games.  Of course, that could really be anything if you have a creative mind!  To represent Peeta's skills, we not only had cans of icing and sprinkles and stuff, we had actual decorator icing in bags with special tips.  It was an activity...it was a snack...it was a snacktivity!!  Everyone had 15 minutes to make their best cupcake, then they had to get a Gamemaker to photograph it.  The pictures ended up on three different cameras, but it helped us determine the winners without making everyone wait to eat!

Everyone working to decorate their cupcakes:

Some cupcake love:

Some completed cupcakes:

"Obey" (representing the Capitol)

 "Me" (representing the Capitol)

 A flower

This person creatively pulled the wrapper out and made a turtle.  (Rotate it 90 degrees in your head.) 

 A building from the Capitol

 A leaf

A fiery sunflower

Hunger Games--Capitol Costume Challenge

One of the activities at our Hunger Games Lock-In was to design a costume fit for a tribute to enter the Capitol!  Each district got identical materials:  duct tape, masking tape, four trash bags (two black, two white), one entire New York Times newspaper, and scissors.  They had 20 minutes to dress up one team member and plan his or her entry into the capitol.  It was hilarious!  Most groups followed the tradition stated in the book, of dressing the tribute to represent the main specialty of their district.  But, how they went about it was so funny.  I mean, we had a mermaid and a cow along with some really crazy-looking outfits!  We had everyone walk down the steps and pose in their costume while other members of their district provided music and commentary.  I wish I had video!

Working on the costumes:

Preparing to enter the Capitol:

Some tributes making their entries:

A publicity shot of all of the tributes:

Nintendo Night

Last Friday, 24 teens showed up for Nintendo Night.  We hooked up my old NES and people spent some time playing the old Super Mario games.  Of course, everyone entered the one-on-one Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament, and I tried to mix up the brackets a little bit to make it more interesting.  We ended up with a three-way final, in which Morgan and Manus beat back reigning champion David J.  It was a dramatic finish to an intense tournament!  Morgan won a $25 gift card to Game Stop for his first-place finish, while Manus had to settle for the $10 second prize.

Something new for this event was our attempt at a Pokemon Stadium 2 tournament.  Since this was an old game, we didn't want people to have to use their own Pokemon.  So, the idea was that everyone would pick a team from stock Pokemon and then they would do two-on-two battles.  However, picking the teams took FOREVER and we didn't even get halfway through the bracket during Nintendo Night.  We'll be spending some time at Monday gaming club meetings to finish it up! 

Look for more gaming events on the spring schedule, including a Pokemon Black and White tournament, a Yu-Gi-Oh tournament, and another Nintendo Night.

iPod Party

Last Wednesday, 17 teens came by after school for our first-ever iPod event!  Actually, any mp3 player or phone was welcome, so no one was excluded.  About half the people who came didn't even bring any music; they just wanted to listen!  Everyone had the opportunity to play three songs of their choice over the speakers during the program, and we heard a variety of genres and decades of music. 

While listening, people did some playlist games and made some crafts.  The most popular playlist game involved putting the iPod on random, asking a question, pressing "next," and taking that song title as the answer.  It was way more fun than asking a magic eight ball...some of the answers were really hilarious!  We also made personalized iPod cozies out of felt and decorated them with ribbon and puffy paint.  (It was modified from this cute idea for a Toaster Pastry iPod Cozy.)  I also had out the duct tape, so a lot of random stuff got made.

This event was suggested by TAB member Laurel...I never would have thought of it myself!  Thanks to my husband for figuring out how to make his Zune speakers work with any mp3 player and to Teferi for testing it out before the program.  We'll definitely do it again sometime.  It was fun to hear everyone's music!

Playlist games

Some of the craft projects 

This was the most beautiful iPod cozy! 

Random-A-Thon, 2011 Edition!

On Saturday, 31 teens showed up for our second annual Random-A-Thon fundraiser!  Everyon had to raise at least $10 in donations, then attended the event for as long as they wanted.  Most people stayed for several hours, and thirteen people were there all day!  We had a general outline of activities planned, but (of course) it was adaptable.  There were three or four things going on at once all day long and it was crazy. 

In the morning, we watched people's VHS tapes of their favorite cartoons, played board and card games, did bookswap, had a Connect Four tournament (David won), and played Dance Dance Revolution.  We took a lunch break with cup noodles, PB&J (or fluff), carrots and celery with dip, chips, and snack cakes.  (Special thanks to Laurel for making a random pie and to Maranda for randomly running home to get something to cut it!)  In the afternoon, we played WarioWare:  Smooth Moves, Just Dance, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and various editions of Rock Band.  There were also crafts, more board and card games, and an ice cream sundae break. 

Interspersed among all of that were activities from the Jar of Randomness.  We did everything from dancing the YMCA to all wearing peace sign necklaces to singing TV show theme songs to coloring pictures made from library teen photos!  Some of the activities earned people prizes from the Prize Box of Randomness, which was hilarious.  I filled a paper box with an assortment of stuff and people had to just reach in blindly and grab a prize.  The only rule was that they had to keep what they got, which made for some pretty funny combinations of people and prizes!

So far, we have raised $761 in cash and checks, with about $200 more in pledges due.  This puts us VERY CLOSE to the $1000 goal!  If we reach the goal, I will be putting colored streaks in my hair.  People got a vote on the color for every ten dollars they raised.   Right now, blue is in the lead, but not by much.  Other people still have to vote when they turn in their money, so that might change.  In addition to the money raised by teens, we've had a few anonymous donations from my coworkers.  They want to see me dye my hair as much as you do!!  All donations are due by March 12, so I'll update you as the money comes in.

Want to know more about the Random-A-Thon?  Check out the posts from last year's event!

Playing cards

 Connect Four tournament

Duct tape crafts included a woven wallet, a ninja animal pencil case, and a crown.

I found some random masks in the attic for the girls to decoupage.

People showing off their random crafts:  duct tape projects, a giant flip flop, and library photo coloring sheets!

Beach Party Drop-In

On Wednesday, 22 people stopped by during our Deach Party Drop-In!  We played Wii games, ate snacks, and made crafts.  The sand art and giant flip flops were really popular, and everyone liked decorating their own cupcakes (of course).  If you missed it, all of the crafts will be available on Saturday at the Random-A-Thon.  Look for more drop-in days on the spring teen schedule!

Book Crush

Last night, 11 teen showed up for our rescheduled Book Crush party.  It wasn't as many people as we would have had on the original night, but we had a great time!  We played "How Well Do You Know Your Book Crush" and book character bingo, ate candy, and did a really random decoupage craft.  It sounds weird, but everyone decoupaged several smooth rocks with hearts, tissue paper, and book character names.  They're great for paperweights or decorations.  It was really popular and took up more time than I thought, so we didn't get to play Marry, Date, Dump.  We'll do that at our next Book Grub meeting!  We also had a cupcake-decorating contest with a book crush theme.  Check out our pictures: 

 

These girls came dressed as Audrey from Audrey, Wait! and Jackie from Bloody Jack.

Teferi's cupcake represented Alice from The Twilight Saga.

Christa's cupcake used gummy bears to reinact the death scene from Romeo and Juliet!

Laurel made Russia from Hetalia.

Some high schoolers in height order!

Today's DDR

Today, 15 people showed up after school to enjoy DDR, snacks, and board/card games.  We had an unplanned boys vs. girls tournament after I randomly assigned the brackets and they all ended up that way.  The entire second round and the final ended up as boys vs. girls, as well. Thirteen people entered the tournament, which was for a $13 gift card to Wawa...it's a good thing we're not superstitious!  Anyway, after some tough competition from Ross, Jennifer emerged victorious.  Congratulations, Jennifer!  We'll be doing more DDR in the future, as well as a Just Dance day, so look for them on the spring schedule.

Un-Valentine's Day Party

Last Wednesday, an insane amount of teens (OK, really 36) showed up for our after-school Un-Valentine's Day party.  This event was supposed to be last year, but got snowed out and we weren't able to do it until now!  We defaced candy hearts, watched the Monty Python "Crunchy Frog" sketch and invented gross chocolates, made Valentine's Day survival kits, had a read-aloud of "Annabel Lee," and did the infamous candy heart catapult competition.

Actually, the catapults were not very successful this year.  I hope no one's planning to be an architect or engineer!  There were some unique designs, so at least you're experimental.  Amidst the fails, the green team was victorious with only two points!  They won packs of gum for their efforts.

The gross chocolate names were pretty awesome.  Kelliann won a Cruella de Vil mug of candy and hot chocolate for having the most consistenly creatively gross selections.  Caramel-covered leather, spiced ants, saliva ripples, pig pralines, and chocolate-covered pre-chewed cherries were just a few of her suggestions.  My favorite gross candy was actually from Genni, who invented chocolate-covered weave.

They may look cute, but they are actually cynically defacing candy hearts.   

One catapult team discusses their options. 

 Another catapult team at work.

Fire away! 

Some candy heart graffiti.

Want a blast from the past?  Check out these posts from our previous Un-Valentine's Day events in 2008 and 2006! 

Brain Break 2011

Today, 27 teens stopped in for Brain Break!  Everyone indulged their child-like (childish?) sides with activities like cupcake decorating, making playdough, and constructing with Legos.  We borrowed my four-year-old's board games, and people got gum if they won a game of Candy Land, Hi Ho! Cherry-O, Chutes and Ladders, or Memory.  We played Just Dance for the first time at the library, and it was hilarious!  Later, we switched to Rock Band.  At the end, Laurel was the winner of a study and snack prize basket.

 We made our own playdough.

 A cute playdough snowman and dog

 Chutes and Ladders

  Legos

Yes, that is a playdough skull.  I said she was like Hamlet, and then Jamie proceeded to quote 15 lines of Hamlet's speech to the skull.  Who knew?! 

 A very nice playdough TARDIS (it had windows and everything, but you can't see them in the pic)

Brainiacs!

Just Dance!!!