Nerf Party: How To Plan the Ultimate Birthday
My son is what you might call OBSESSED with Nerf everything. He’s in that stage where I’m not ready for paintball or airsoft but I’m cool with Nerf guns. My son’s birthday is always in December so we decided to do an indoor nerf party but my friend also modified her party with some of my supplies and made it an outdoor nerf party. As you scroll through the ideas below, I hope you find some perfect Nerf Party Ideas for your own shindig.
Nerf Party Supply List
To prep for this nerf birthday party I purchased the following items and will break them down in the rest of the post so you can see the pictures of how I used them. Each bullet item in the list is linked to Amazon where I purchased them.
- Nerf Party Invitations
- Nerf Plates & Napkins
- Nerf Dart Wrist Holders
- Nerf Gun Darts
- Tactical Eye & Mouth Cover Mask – Full Mask Option
- Option 2- Kids Protective Safety Goggles For Eyes
- Nerf War Inflateble Barricades
- Nerf Party Target Practice Banner
- Happy Birthday Fabric Backdrop
- Nerf Birthday Bunting
- Blaster Toys/Guns For Guests
- Nerf Disrupter Elite Guns on Table
- Balloon Arch
- Blue Table Cloth (Walmart)
- Orange Plastic Disposable Cutlery (Walmart)
- Blue Solo Cups
- Orange Twinkle Party Lights
Nerf Party Location & Venue Ideas
This type of Nerf party can be held practically anywhere including inside, outside, at your house, in your backyard, a park, or even in a rented space.
In our case, my sister had a children’s therapy clinic that we used which was a perfect spot. The key is that no matter where you have it, you want to be able to create spaces where kids can hide and hunker.
The clinic space had some great areas built-in for this but I want to create even more hide and hunker spots so I ordered some of these cool inflatables barricades. My friend even borrowed them to use for her outdoor Nerf party that she had at the local park.
They are nice because the base is able to be filled with water to make it sturdy and stand upright. I put them in some of the open areas of the space to give kids a way to hide and hunker faster and be less of an open moving target in some areas of the really open space we had. I also set them up in the practice zone which I’ll talk more about later.
Do not enter…
If you are having it at home decide what rooms will be open to party guests to play and which ones are off-limits. You may want to buy some party caution tape for the doors you want kids to stay out of. We have locks on our doors that allow you to lock them and then use a thin metal rod to pop them back option which also works. The caution tape is just for fun!
Nerf Party Table Decoration Ideas
The nice thing about this nerf party theme is that the 2 main colors are extremely simple. Therefore, I was able to go to overlooked party supply stores like Dollar Tree or Walmart and get cups, forks, spoons, knives, and table cloths on the cheap by sticking with blue or orange solid colors.
For the plates and napkins, I ordered these fun Nerf branded ones on Amazon. I feel like this combination was festive without being overwhelming.
Nerf Party Cupcakes
We had this party in the middle of Covid so I decided to go with individual cupcakes instead of a cake. I ordered these from my local grocery store. The cupcakes had a really bright blue and orange theme with the icing. If you want to replicate this idea, be sure to save this article on your phone or pin this to Pinterest and take it to the baker at your local grocery store or bakery.
If they see this, they can easily replicate the colors and design. I opted not to have cupcake toppers because these were visually amazing and I didn’t have to run around picking up the toppers off the floor after the party.
Notice that I also had them vary the type of cake for the cupcakes between vanilla and chocolate. That way most of the kids and adults could enjoy the cake of their preference.
Nerf Party Menu Ideas:
For starters, I want to note that I’m a woman with diagnosed ADHD so for me, keeping things really simple, especially at a chaotic kids’ party, or having someone else do the food is extremely important to my ability to enjoy the party that I’m planning.
So if you are looking for cute food pictures with cutesy-themed labels on the food, that’s not how I roll. I’m a practical food gal and with kids, I want the food to be eaten. So in this party post, I keep things simple.
Main Meal
When it comes to the food, I recommend keeping it as simple as possible as the kids really just want to play at these Nerf war parties. For me, I wanted to keep my stress levels low and the mess to a minimum so we ordered pizza.
It may not be fancy but it’s my son’s favorite food and most kids will devour it! Note that most pizza chains like PapaJohns now have gluten-free crust options if you have kids with sensitivity.
Side Options For Picky Eaters
With these types of parties, I also always have a bowl of goldfish and a fruit platter or tray just for good measure. If you want to try to keep the sides to single servings without having to break the snacks into zip-lock bags yourself, consider buying those school lunch box single-serve snacks. I find that kids really love the pre-made apple packs.
Drinks
A nerf party theme is going to have the kids running, climbing, rolling, ducking, and hiding for several hours. Therefore you want to have some drink options on hand. As for me, I tend to go with the following based on the age group:
- For little kids – Lemonade, Gatorade & Water Bottles
- For tweens or teens- Gatorade, Soda, & Water Bottles
Nerf Party Activity Planning
When I decided to go with this theme shopping for the supplies was the fun and easy part. The harder part that I would find was organizing the logistics of the activity at our party for a group of kids of varying ages. Plus there are safety things to keep in mind since kids are shooting foam darts at high speeds at one another.
If your group is full of kids who are the same age, you may be able to gear them up and let them free range at the party on their own.
Here’s how I organized my son’s nerf gun party:
Step 1: Sit for show, tell, and nerf party rules!
With this most likely being a group of kids that you are going to let into the wild with semi-high powered devices that shoot soft-ish projectiles at other kids it’s a good idea to emphasize safety and require that kids follow the rules to participate in the fun.
- At the beginning of the party we gathered the kids and had them sit on the floor in the “practice” area.
- Once everyone was settled, we covered the rules (Click here to download and print my FREE Nerf War Party Rules PDF).
- Take a moment to show the kids how to load the bullets, cock the blaster, and fire.
Quick Safety Note: When ordering your darts for the games take a look at the details related to the tips. Some darts have hard tips while others have soft tips.
Step 2: Give Out Supplies & Practice.
- Then we gave each person a mask, a Nerf blaster, and a sleeve of bullets.
- Take about 10 minutes letting the kids take turns shooting the practice banner/target so they can get used to loading, cocking, and shooting the blasters they have.
Step 3: Let the kids play.
When it comes to letting the kids play you have a few options.
If the kids are all around the same age and want free-range play you can let them go and let their imaginations (or the most authoritative kid) lead the imagination battle.
If you don’t really trust that process or you let them play for a while and they get bored without structure there are a few ways that we played and I’ll break them down below:
Extra Nerf Party Decoration Ideas
Now that I’ve covered the basics for the party from the decorations, to menus, to games I want to throw in a few extra ideas that worked out well for our party.
- Orange Twinkle Lights- I just so happened to have some orange Halloween lights in storage so I grabbed those and hung them behind the food table above the backdrop party banner we snagged.
- Nerf Party Backdrops- I love these backdrops because they are HUGE, cover a lot of space, and make the space feel more cohesive for usually between $10-$15.
- Nerf Guns & Blasters- For the party table you could decorate with darts and/or guns. You notice that I put a few blasters on the table in the image below.
- Target Bunting- At the top of the picture below you can see where I took the cardboard circle targets that came with the plates and napkins from Amazon and put them along the top of the backdrop with the orange lights.
Nerf Party Favors:
Most party hosts or hostesses give away some kind of goody bag or party favor for guests. As a mom who kind of hates junky take-home bags I decided that each child’s party favor would be their safety mask, wrist strap, enough darts to fill the wrist strap, and the party blaster gun they played with. It keeps it simple, it gives the kids something to do at the party, and makes a really nice party favor!
In doing research for your own event consider checking out the following resources:
- The history of Nerf
- Nerf Terminonogly for invite or cutesy food name inspiration
As a person who loves to throw parties myself, always remember that the more details and prep you need for an event, the more stress you create. So if you plan to DIY this party, try to keep things simple so that you can keep stress in check and actually enjoy the moments instead of feeling overwhelmed or defeated by them.
Hope you have found this post to be helpful as you plan your Nerf party for a friend or family member of your own!
Before you go, check out my thrifty PDF Stress-Free Kid’s Birthday Bash Printable Planner!
Kim Anderson is the organized chaos loving author behind the Thrifty Little Mom Blog. She helps other people who thrive in organized chaos to stress less, remember more and feel in control of their time, money, and home. Kim is the author of: Live, Save, Spend, Repeat: The Life You Want with the Money You Have. She’s been featured on Time.com, Money.com, Good Housekeeping, Women’s Day, and more!
