This year it’s especially difficult for me to answer letters and calls from parents who want to book a holiday for children over 10 years old.
I hear a lot of disappointment related to the small selection of interesting teenage programs, the low level of training of presenters in some companies, the primitiveness of entertainment moments, the same plot of science shows and the “adult” cost of a teenage birthday party.
By the age of 10, Moscow children have really seen a lot. On average, they go to 2-3 holidays a month, and there is really nothing to surprise such guests with.
Nowadays, teenagers are most often gathered in quest rooms, of which there are more and more in every city in Russia. The downside of such holidays is that you can play in one room in very small groups of 4-5 people. If there are 10-15 guests, you need to divide into teams and meet in the room for tea after an hour. Here are examples of such quests on Sukhorevskaya, Shabolovskaya, Belorusskaya. This offer is not suitable for everyone. Most often this is due to transport difficulties, but not everyone likes dividing guests into teams.
Now we will talk about outdoor programs that can be held at home, in a cafe-restaurant, in a school hall, a loft, etc.
Shouldn't offer
We reserve all programs with animators dressed as characters from cartoon films for children. Alas, children of 10 years old can, just for the sake of decency, guess riddles, pull a rope and crawl into holes in stretching fabric. They do all this with a doomed sigh: “Mom paid the money,” they must participate.
Teenagers, who are often taller than the animators, are embarrassed to dance to children's songs and put together foam puzzles with mushrooms. You should not provoke them into cynical statements and familiar jokes.
Bodymaster.ru recommends Training Plans:
We will tell you about the initial level of the training program for teenagers from Yuri Spasokukotsky. These exercises are designed to prepare the body for physical activity, which is why they are called basic or simply “base”. Gradually increasing the complexity of the exercises, you will properly develop your muscles, joints and ligaments without harm to your health.
The Level 1 workout program below can be done in the gym or even at home.
A look into the future
I’ll say right away that this is my personal assumption, based on the results of daily communication with clients. Some offers already exist (descriptions can be found via the links on my website), while some my clients and I only dream about during long telephone conversations and daily correspondence on social networks.
• Creative programs
These are programs during which teenagers create their own works. Such a hip-hop party is a success (children compose a rap for the birthday boy), often people order the shooting of a video for their favorite musical composition, a master class on freezelight (creating light paintings using different light sources) or a master class on graffiti.
There are also lessons on “Oil Painting” and “Right Hemisphere Drawing”. In one lesson, all participants, repeating the artist’s step-by-step actions, get interesting paintings on canvas.
Teenagers like to participate in the creation of a unique artistic object or piece of music, because they are sure that no one else can have the EXACT SUCH birthday. This is a creative process, the success of which depends only on themselves.
• Culinary battles
This is a very popular topic, and I hope that the organizers of culinary master classes will develop in the future rich and effective programs for teenagers who will learn to prepare original snacks, hot dishes and desserts in 2-3 hours.
Nowadays there are also such master classes, but they are held in a very adult way in all respects. Adult jokes from chefs, adult music playing in the background, too complicated recipes with a lot of ingredients, and the price, accordingly, is adult.
If you prepare food in advance, a small set of dishes and several portable electric stoves for one burner, disposable gloves, aprons, chef's caps, it is quite possible to organize an interesting outdoor culinary master class at an affordable price.
You can prepare salads, pates, pasta, sauces, dumplings, pancakes, fruit desserts, candies and pop cakes.
The pleasure with which teenagers prepare a holiday treat for themselves is difficult to convey. Boys, by the way, also really love such parties. Interest in such programs is fueled by television cooking shows featuring children.
• Field quests
This is the case when the presenter comes with props to an apartment, cafe, loft or open area in good weather and creates several gaming locations on tables, window sills, benches, and in small folding tents.
Customers are often surprised by the high cost of programs, but if you choose a truly high-quality away quest, it cannot be otherwise. Games use expensive props; it is often necessary to print out game materials (maps, instructions) for each event; an actor must be located near the game locations (he spins the plot and charges the props for each team), etc. Here is a description of away quests.
Teenagers love such programs very much. There is a place to rack your brains, to be surprised and touched by your own ingenuity, choose boldly, don’t hesitate.
If you don’t have the opportunity to order such a game, I wrote quest scripts with simple household props. Of course, this is primitive compared to professional quests, but if they help someone out, I will be glad.
• “And it’s all about him, about him, about him”
About whom? Yes about the birthday boy! In principle, adults also like the increased attention, but for teenagers, the emphasis on his person during the holiday always causes a sea of emotions.
In scenarios for kids, a lot of time is given to birthday people. He has a special costume, a special mission at competitions, the best props in his hands, and he most often assists the leader in scientific experiments. Teenage events assume equal roles for all participants, but in vain.
You can devote the entire quest to finding a gift for the birthday boy. In his honor, come up with a rap and shoot a video on the theme of his dreams. For him, you can jointly draw an overall picture, paint a huge anti-stress coloring book and put it in a frame, make a memorable collage or order a flip-flop portrait, organize a drum party with a solo part for the birthday boy.
You can create a culinary masterpiece and name a new dish or cake after him, come up with a photo presentation of funny photos with his participation, create a funny musical cartoon where he will be the main character.
It's a tough road for event planners. No two adults are the same, no children are the same. In order to come up with individual “tricks” for each birthday, you need a lot of time, an inexhaustible source of creativity, close acquaintance with the teenager and studying his hobbies, but customers are waiting for just such holidays.
• Use of gadgets, virtual and augmented reality technologies
On the one hand, parents want their children to take a little break from their smartphones and communicate in reality. On the other hand, programs using augmented and virtual reality are increasingly gaining the attention of event organizers due to their absolutely magical effect. In other words, the same quest in virtual reality glasses makes such an amazing impression that teenagers spend a long time discussing their very real adventures in the land of hobbits or adventures on another planet.
There are still very few such developments, but there are more and more quests with applications for mobile devices. I can’t help but agree with the teenagers – it’s very interesting!
You can start small - use QR codes in the program with reference to virtual guides, text tips or pictures.
• Lots of interesting shots for social networks
Oh, this is definitely very, very important. The more interesting you come up with a photo zone and accessories, the more teenagers will appreciate the holiday itself. Why? There will be a long “aftertaste” with a lot of likes on social network pages. If you can help us come up with funny scenes for photos, there will be no price! Something unusual with a play of mirrors, for example.
We have a cool photo party for girls that takes place in the photo studio. This is where you can turn around, take a hundred frames and choose the best. Teenagers especially like working with a makeup artist who helps hide skin imperfections in order to feel more confident not only on camera, but also in life.
• Correct presenters
This is the real problem. Teenagers and their parents, while discussing the holiday, tell me something like this mantra 10 times: “Don’t be a clown with childish jokes and a stupid voice.”
They ask for a young presenter under 30-35 years old, similar to a KVN player, who improvises effectively, finds a common language with teenagers, but at the same time does not allow familiarity and is in complete control of the situation. Alas, you won’t find such presenters at the cost of a children’s animator... I always warn that the hour of work of such a presenter will be several thousand rubles higher.
Scenarios, games and competitions for teenagers for the holiday
Revive . The participants' task is to depict the picture that they received in the envelope. To do this, print out paintings by famous and little-known artists. For example, Petrov-Vodkin’s bathing of the red horse or the constancy of Dali’s memory, Barge Haulers on the Volga by Repin, Serov’s Girl with Peaches or Malevich’s Red Square
Guess the meow melody. The participants' task is to sing a given song using only the vowels of the alphabet. You can also try singing a song, replacing all the words with animal sounds. For example, meow or woof. Choose modern compositions that young people are listening to now. These can be songs by famous rappers and pop artists.
You're into dancing. Participants are divided into two teams. Each team lines up in a single column behind each other, so that the first one does not see who is behind him or what he is doing. The presenter shows a complex dance routine to the last participant in the column. This participant must memorize the composition and show it to the person standing in front of him so that he also remembers it correctly. The last player needs to show the initial dance.
While you're spinning the curlers. The participants’ task is to curl the curlers for their partner. The main thing is that only young people can take part in this competition. For the competition, it is better to prepare old plastic curlers, which are secured with elastic bands. The average calculation is 8-10 pieces per pair of participants. For musical accompaniment, the song by Yegor Creed is perfect, in which there are the words: “You wake up, wake up, wake up. While you're twirling the curlers."
Tools. And this competition is intended for the female part of the audience. Each pair of girls needs to correctly select various tools and connect a small structure using nuts and bolts.
Where is the logic. For challenging teams to quickly solve puzzles from the television program of the same name. Each team is given an envelope with several cards in which either words are written or something is depicted. You need to understand what these words or images have in common. For example, the original words are ruler, gymnastics, wedding, speed. They are united by the word ring.
Loud conversation. One of the participants is given headphones with music. And another participant is given the task of explaining a long sentence. The first participant must guess by his lips what is being explained to him.
Total. Various banknotes are displayed on the screen. The task of the teams is to determine how many of which bills. The first team to count all the bills correctly wins.
Bank account. Teams are given one large glass jar filled with money of various signs and values. The team's task is to calculate the total amount without opening the jars.
Card deck. Four players are invited to the main stage and each is given an Ace card. The remaining cards are distributed in a chaotic order to the guests in the hall. The main players must build their entire deck . Guests who have cards can run to the main player of their suit only after the previous card is already next to him. For example, a person with a jack of spades can run up only after a ten of spades appears next to the main player.
News. All guests are invited to listen carefully to a special recording, which they will need to repeat verbatim. This could be a weather report or the main news of the day. Having turned on the recording, the presenter will constantly turn down the volume, because of this, part of the text will disappear from the listeners’ attention. The winner is the one who can name the version closest to the original.
Advertising. The teenagers' task is to continue the text, which should sound after the musical intro. Choose soundtracks from old commercials and be sure to show a video of what the advertisement actually looked like.
Guess the star. The screen will show famous people whose faces are replaced with the muzzle of any animal. The task of the participants is to guess what kind of Star is in front of them.
Burgers. The teams' task is to show the best burger commercial. To do this, they can use any props of the presenter and everything that is in the hall, including real food. The winner is the team that received the loudest applause.
