Color Fight: a DIY

Several weeks ago we did a Color Fight at CYM.  Since then I've gotten quite a few people ask me what we did, how much it cost, etc.  When they found out how easy it was and how little it cost, they got pretty excited and began planning one for their ministry or event. So, in the name of "sharing and sharing alike" I thought I would post this blog about what we did and what work/did not work.  

Leading up to the Color Fight. 

For those who don't know, a Color Fight is simply throwing color powder on each other.  
Our Color Fight was inspired by all of those 5k color-type runs that are so popular.  But we didn't want to deal with the hassle of having to run a 5k. 
In the weeks leading up to our Color Fight we launched team competitions among the students of CYM, thus making the Color Fight the pinnacle of a 6 week push.  

We were going to call the competitions, Tribe Wars, which is a popular branding nowadays...however, living in OKC we decided to stay away from the "tribe" phrasing.  If you've never done a Team Competition, it can be either amazing for your ministry, or it can be very lame and very bad for your ministry.  As far as the logistics of a Team Competition, that's a matter for another blog.  But what I will say is that Team Competitions rises and falls on the team captain.  

The Prep Work

I did a lot of initial internet research on purchasing some color powder.  What I found was that color powder is expensive.  Even the cheapest stuff I found had to be shipped from overseas with high shipping charges.  So, we set out to try to make some of our own powder.  Here's what we did:

1) Researched and found some Color Tempura Paint Powder on Amazon.  I looked for it at various craft stores and could not find any.  So just resign yourself to getting it online.  The powder normally comes in 1 lb. jars.  

2) The next thing we did was buy a bunch of flour.  We got it in 5lb. bags from Walmart. 

3) We mixed in the Tempura Paint Powder with the flour in plastic tubs.  We found that 1 jar of paint powder could mix well with 2 bags of flour.  Now, that's as diluted as you want your paint powder.  You may actually want to mix the powder a little stronger, as to get a richer color. 

4) We put scoops of the powder in small 2 oz. ziplock snack bags.  This allows the fight to last a little bit longer.  Do not set the powder out in the tubs for your fight!  If you do, someone will pick up the whole tub and try to dump it on someone, thus making your fight last all of 30 seconds. 

5) If you want to make the fight last even longer you can buy women's pantyhose and make powder balls by cutting off the legs, putting a soop down the leg, tying a knot right above the powder, tying a second knot, then cutting in between the knots.  Each leg will yield about 6-7 powder balls. 

How much was used. 

We used 1 case of 12 Tempura Paint Powder Jars  and about 120 lbs. of flour.  This was enough for 130 participants.  

Cost

All in all we spent almost $100...Which is pretty good considering it factors out to less than a dollar per participant. 

The Night of the Color Fight 

1) We encouraged all students to wear white that night.  We also encourage students to wear goggles.  

2) As you've probably thought by now, a Color Fight is only going to last your group 15-20 minutes max.  In our planning, we realized we need another game to help fill up time.  So we came up with paint tag.  

     - We split our group into teams (which was easy because of the Team Competitions)

     - We bought craft paint in large tubes

     - We had each player put paint on their hands

     - Each member tried to tag members of the other team during the game

     - At the end of 5 minutes, each team counted up the hand prints on their team members

     - The team with the fewest marks, won

This game ended up being as much of a hit as the Color Fight.  

3) For the Color Fight we placed the boxes of Color Powder at various locations on our property, turned on some music, and let the students get after it.  

Wrap Up

This event was a big win for us and a boost going into summer.  I highly recommend you trying a Color Fight of your own.  If you have any additional questions, leave me a comment and I'll respond.