Thus, my coworker and I hosted a Fandom Party for teens at the library this summer. We chose 5 different fandoms (Sherlock, Supernatural, Doctor Who, Divergent, and The Walking Dead) and created self-directed activities based around each one.
1. Salt Bottle Necklaces (Supernatural)
You Need:
- Glass charm bottles with corks
- Cotton cording
- Salt
- Angel wing/feather charms
- Chain mail jump rings
Teens fill the bottle with salt, then close the top with a cork. They attach a jump ring/angel wing charm to the cork, then thread a piece of cotton cording through it. Knot off the cord and that's it! They now have a necklace capable of warding off evil spirits a la Sam and Dean.
2. Temporary Tattoos (Divergent)
You Need:
- Tracing paper
- Gel pens
- Pencils
- Containers of warm water
- Sponges/paper towels/wash cloths
Teens cut a piece of tracing paper. Then they sketched out a design using the pencil and traced over it using the gel pens (making sure to press firmly and using a LOT of gel ink). They placed the design ink side down where they wanted their tattoo to be and used a sponge/paper towel/wash cloth dipped in warm water to transfer the ink to their skin. The teens pressed firmly for 30 seconds, then lifted a corner of the paper to see if the tattoo transferred correctly. If not, they continued to press on the tattoo, then checked again. This was a pretty popular activity and I'm sure Tris would have been proud of their designs!
3. Edible Sonic Screwdrivers (Doctor Who)
You Need:
- Pretzel rods
- Melting chocolate (we had chocolate and vanilla and melted each in a crockpot)
- Sprinkles/candy decorations
- Wax paper
- Baggies in case the teens wanted to eat theirs later
The teens dipped a pretzel rod in chocolate, then used the sprinkles/candy to decorate. They then set the pretzels on a paper plate covered in wax paper to harden.
4. Pin the Mustache on Watson/Tea (Sherlock)
My coworker found a photo of John Watson on Google and printed it out in Publisher. We made it large enough so that we could just glue it to a piece of poster board. We then cut out mustaches and provided a blindfold so that the teens could play this Sherlockian version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.
We also provided tea with milk. I didn't have the budget for it this year, but I've seen these awesome Fandom Teas that I want to purchase next time.
5. Zombie Survival Challenge (The Walking Dead)
For this activity, I set a bunch of random items on a table along with an empty cardboard box. I explained to the teens that for this activity, they must:
- Choose 7 items from the table that they think would best help them survive a zombie apocalypse and place them into the cardboard box.
- Bring the box to me and I will score them based on what they chose. Each item is worth a secret number of points.
- At the end of the program, I will announce who had the most points and that person/team would win a box of brain gummy candy.
Most items were worth anywhere from 1 point (fashion magazine, mirror) to 5 points (plastic tarp/first aid kit). I had a package of Twinkies that were secretly worth 10 points. Only one team put that into their kit, which made them the obvious victors.
6. Trivia Musical Chairs (All 5 Fandoms)
Near the end of the program, we gathered the teens together to test their fandom knowledge with a fun trivia game. We did it similarly to the trivia game we played at our Doctor Who Party.
More Helpful Stuff
Here are a some sites we used to help plan our program:
