Nerf Wars

I was very lucky to grow up with a very close, large family that also likes to have fun. My Grandfather is one of nine kids who most of which have large families. My Dad is one of six kids and all of his siblings (my Aunts and Uncles) have at least one kid accept for one. Ever since I can remember my extended family have gotten together at least on two major occasions a year; at Christmas and during the summer in Lake Tahoe. The immediate family gets together as often as possible for Holidays, kids Birthdays, etc... Anyways, the point is there are a lot of us, many different age groups and we all like to have fun together!

I always go out of my way to make sure that during these meetings all the kids are having a good time. That was something my Uncles did (and still do) and I want to make sure their Family experience is as good as mine was at their age. There are some things we all go and do together like bowling, eating or amusement parks, but it's always a challenge to find something fun for everyone to do, that's kid focused, while we are just at the house. Weather permitting we try to get them outside and do something sporty, but sometimes we don't have the room or it's later in the afternoon or evening and we can't. So the focus was on trying to find something indoors that everyone can participate in without spending too much money and the answer was a nerf war!!

When I was younger on one of those trips to Lake Tahoe we rented a house where all the kids stayed together. There was this long narrow loft that we all lined up in our sleeping bags and slept at night. During the day we would build a fort on each side of the loft and shoot each other with nerf bow and arrows and arrowstorms. It was so much fun that although we had a blast going to the lake, horseback riding, etc... that we couldn't wait to get back home to have our mini wars.

We started recreating these wars and what was great was that the kids already had the guns. Nerf guns seem to be very popular presents. I glanced through my niece and nephews toys and they had about 5 to 8 different guns already. If you don't have them, they are cheap. You can get a two-pack of Nerf Nightfinders for $10.00 (5.00 each) at Big Lots. There are always sales on Nerf or other foam launchers and what's great is most of the time the non-Nerf guns are made to mimmick their Nerf counterparts so the ammunition is the same size. If they are not you can always mod it to shoot the more popular Nerf ammo (more on that in another post).

We have kids as young as two and adults in their sixties who partake in these mini battles. Basically before or after we eat someone starts pulling out the guns. A room is found where there is enough space for two sides and we start splitting up. Chairs, boxes, pillows, etc.. are found for protection and it's on! We put glasses on all the kids, because in our experience the only time people were getting hurt was a shot in the eye. A few of the Nerf guns now come packaged with goggles.

We pretty much do everything the box tells you not to. It says not to aim for the face or head--we do (usually that's the only thing that's sticking out of their protected fort area). The adults aim for head shots, but try not to do that to the kids. They say not to modify the guns--we do (the newer guns just don't have the pop that we had when I was kid so we modify them). Modified, even at close range, the eyes are the only part of the body that's really going to do some damage. Use goggles or glasses!! We don't keep an actual score, but play for the fun of hearing "Ouch, good shot!" and making sure the kids have a good time! It's a blast and here's an example of a mini war...