We did a knock-off of The Amazing Race" for my two boys' (twins) 7th birthday party last year.    INVITATIONS:  We took a world map and imitated "The Amazing Race" look & feel on our invitations which instructed all participants that the starting line was at our neighborhood park and although no auditions were required everyone must bring their bikes.   SET-UP: We live in a small sub-division with lots of winding streets and trails running through it and a park at the entrance so we had the party start at the park and split the kids into 5 teams of 4 each (Red Yellow Purple Green Blue). We enlisted the help of 5 other parents to act as the "Camera Crew"/chaperones for each team and some friends to assist with some of the challenges at each station.  FAVORS: The camera crew parents were asked to bring their cameras and digital video recorders if they had them or we furnished a couple with some still cameras and an extra digital camera of ours - so they could capture as much of the race as possible from a variety of different viewpoints. While the "Finish" party was going on another friend downloaded all the content from the cameras and over the course of the next week compiled a DVD show of the race -- which was sent out to all participants with the Thank You letters so all parents could see their children in the race.  We got lots of comments on these as we had my dad grandpa interview each of the kids before the race to get some background on each child & all the parents were really involved in getting great "footage" throughout the race!   We also did colored T-shirts in each of the team colors (so we could keep the teams straight) which each kid got to keep and we also provided everyone with a cheap drawstring backpak (to keep the clues and other items needed in the race) and the first 3 teams also got an extra prize (puzzle or something small).    "THE RACE" ACTIVITIES -- We had 8 different challenges road blocks or detours -- all spaced around the sub-division which entailed these activities: 1.  Challenge "Can You Hear me Now?" - teams had to find a ball in the park where the team members are blind-folded except for 1 member who was on the top of the play-set yelling directions to their team mates.  This 1st challenge was done with all teams on the playground at the same time from here on the teams went in different directions around the sub-division. 2. Challenge "Can you Keep it Down" - all team members had to eat a small un-marked jar of baby food through a straw  3.  Challenge "Are your Brains Scrambled Yet?" teams had to unscramble a set of letters to make a 7-letter word ("Mountain" "Baseball" or "Birthday") and then singing a song as a team using that word. 4. Road Block "Who's Got an Eye for Detail?" - 1 team member had to find 1 of 3 number "7" blocks in a huge tub full of blocks the other members could only watch.  5.  Detour "Hoops or Ooops" - teams could either shoot & make 7 baskets using a soaking wet nerf-ball or run a series of 7 relay type races. 6. Challenge "How do You Add Up?" - teams had to complete a math puzzle and make the answer equal "7" - we had various numbers & math symbles for them to use (3+4=7 5-2+7 etc).  7.  Detour "Ride It or Toss It" - teams could either ride around our small lake or fill up a bucket by tossing a wet sponge back & forth.   8.  Challenge "Don't Have a Melt Down" - The Last challenge entailed us hiding the final clues in blocks of ice which the teams had to break into to retrieve the final clue. All of the challenges took about the same amount of time and we had all the teams heading in different directions through the series of challenges and throughout the sub-division (we had several challenges take place at two parks in the area and several neighborhood houses - all outside). Since each of the teams were on a  different course through the area none of the teams knew exactly where the other teams were which helped them focus on performing their challenges and not to get too anxious or pushy with the other teams. Everything culminated at our house for the 8th challenge and final clue which sent the teams on a footrace around the block to end up back at our house on the opposite side where we had the finish mat set-up. I had downloaded the race music and had that blaring on a boombox at the end of the race.    All of the kids were proficient enough at riding bikes that they could handle getting to the various locations but we had planned it so that even if they couldn't ride (or didn't have a bike) all activities were within easy walking/running distance and could have been done on foot if needed. In fact the "Red" team with one of my kids and a couple of younger and less-physically active kids were the team to actually WIN!!! And my kid was the first team member on the mat -- it made the ending very exciting!! Then we all tripped inside for cake and the "Awards Party".  All in all I got a big kick out of planning and putting together the clues challenges and "routes" through the neighborhood the party was cheaper than if we took everyone to some kind of themed activity center and everyone was still talking about the events and activities when the boys started school in the fall.  The parents that were involved also had a great time and mentioned to me that it was a blast for them to be a part of things. "