Hunger Games Party, The Sequel

Last year, my friends and I played the roles of Gamemakers and hosted our very own Hunger Games (party). Don’t worry, no one died. Our version of the game substitutes water balloons and super soakers in for serious weaponry, and we drink and eat and have fun. Holding a second round of the games – our Quarter Quell if you will – seemed like an inevitability. Thanks to our generous host, the arena for this match even had a pool. Yes, it was perfect.

We took a few themes from the second book, Catching Fire. There was the water element obviously, we pulled a list of food and drink from the book (thanks Fictional Food!), and justJENN used the recurring theme of yellow flowers and chocolate mentioned in the desserts to come up with fabulous and delicious cupcakes. She even served them in tiny flower pots.

Gamemaker Autumn came across some football flags that made for a much sturdier tag than the streamers from last year. Gamemaker Sarah brought the booze, and our white sangria was far superior to Haymitch’s white liquor. I think it was just as strong though. And I wrangled some food. I baked some kabobs, brought fresh bread, made a salad, and put out platters of cheese, fruit, and nuts. It was light fare but that worked since it was  such a warm day.

Tributes volunteered and put their names in the reaping bowl. We drew everyone’s name (hey, you’re allowed to include stuff just for the sake of show), and one of the party attendees did a heck of an Effie imitation. We fired up the fog machine in the back and the tributes stood at the ready around the pool. They had to dodge other contestants, flying water balloons, “acid rain” from the hose, and they had to be careful not to slip on the wet ground.

I watched from the sidelines with my sangria. I’m such a resident of the Capitol.

The pool provided a challenge because the final tributes ended up in there, and it was hard to even see how many flags were left on their belts. One eventually emerged victorious and we gave him wealth, a house, and food for life. Actually, no, we just rewarded him with a tiny Hunger Games toy. It’s almost the same.

Now we just have to figure out how to top it next year.