We were in a Children’s Ministries meeting when the idea first arose.
“Did you hear about Loren’s birthday party,” one mom told another. “They had a food fight as part of the party!”
Loren’s mom, sitting quietly across the table, piped in. “You know it’s really easy to do and it’s a bunch of fun. Maybe we should do one for the children?”
“Cool!” I said. “It sounds like a lot of fun!”
It was great in theory six months ago in that conference room laughing over the possibilities. However, at 4 p.m. yesterday, when I was facing a pie pan filled with whipped cream destined for my face, and big tubs of colored oatmeal, mashed potatoes, and spaghetti noodles, I wondered if I had lost my mind.
Of course, some will bemoan the idea as poor stewardship, a misuse of food needed by the hungry of the world, and in fact there is some truth for consideration. However our concept was to use this to promote a food drive for the local hunger agency, and I can assure you that we brought in more food than we used in the food fight. We also tried to use outdated food, and limited ourselves to three basic items. The goal was to get kids to think about helping to feed others while also providing some messy fun that they never would get to engage in at home or at school.
I can say safely that I doubt any of the participants in the fight will do it again anytime soon, for frankly globs of oatmeal in the ears or spaghetti in your hair isn’t much fun. What was worse though was the hosing down each of us got after the food fight, as the ice cold water attempted to rinse off the food clinging to our bodies.
I’m not sure that I can recommend this as an activity for your community (I don’t think we will be sending it to the “It Worked for Us” section of the Interpreter Magazine) but I’m glad we did it at least once.
Only Wonder Understands 
It was worth it for me to get to see the picture! 🙂 That’s so funny!