Ah, the Nerf Party. Good fun, yes? I wouldn’t know. I’d have no idea.

I’ve never had a party, Nerf Party or otherwise. Yup, I’ve never had a party thrown for me. I’ve never had any kind of party, ever. Not a real one anyway. Sure, my grandmother would come over on my birthday. And, along with my parents, we’d cut a cake. But, that was all. Does that really count?No. No, it doesn’t. But anyway, enough about my terrible childhood. I have a child of my own now and things are going to change. A lot.

It’s about to be a Nerf Party!

My son has a birthday coming up. He’s about to turn 2. That’s a few years short of his first Nerf Party, but that won’t stop me from planning ahead! So, here we go. I will travel across the web, searching far and wide. Research party ideas, to understand the power that’s inside. Nerf Party! Gotta tag ’em all. They teach me and I teach you. Nerf Paaaarty! Ahem, yeah. Uh, anyway. Moving on. There are many different aspects to consider when throwing the perfect Nerf Party, true. But the first thing to consider when you decide to throw a Nerf Party is the location.

Location, Location, Location.

Where do you throw your Nerf Party? You don’t want it in a cramped apartment or inside a small house. You need an open area, preferably. A good backyard, a large field or park, etc. In New York, Eisenhower Park is a go-to location for Nerf related events. Or, for what can possibly offer the best experience, you might want to think about renting a place. It’s not only laser tag and paintball that have dedicated arenas built for them anymore. And although you can use those laser tag, paintball, and airsoft arenas for Nerf, I’m starting to see Nerf Arena’s popping up here and there. In New York for instance, there is the NY Dart Zone. It’s a cool Nerf facility in Long Island, NY with a 2,000 square foot arena. But that isn’t a necessity. Whatever you have, wherever you go, can work for you. Okay, great you found a location. It’s your backyard, or maybe you rented a place. Either way, now you should spruce up the place a little bit, huh? Let’s see what we can come up with. First, head over to the Hello My Sweet Etsy Shop. They have a great assortment of Nerf Party related decoration items. The featured image at the top of this post is a creation by the Hello My Sweet team. They are fantastic. Signs, targets, labels, invitations, they’ve got it all. The FeelsLikeAParty Etsy shop is a good place to look, too. Check them out. If you’re not satisfied by what these guys offer, just do a general search for “Nerf Party” on Etsy.com. They are the arts and crafts kings afterall. If you take a look on my Pinterest page, I’ve put together a board full of fun Nerf Party ideas.

Nerf Party Blaster Selection.

The next big decision you have to make is about the Nerf blasters themselves. Will you supply all of the blasters for the party? Will you allow other kids to bring in their own? Will you rent them? A lot of things to go over. For a birthday party, I’d lean more towards supplying everything myself. That way you have more control over things. So let’s go over which blasters would be the best for a Nerf Party. For the younger crowd especially, I’d stick to smaller, spring-powered blasters. But let’s give it the full rundown.:

• The Nerf Sidestrike/FireStrike.

These two blasters are pretty much the same. They are both single shot sidearm blaster pistols. They both have built in dart holders that store 2 extra darts. They both have Elite-class power ranges, so they shoot the same. They’re even about the same size. Now for the differences. They have different color schemes. The Firestrike has the traditional Elite Blues paint job. While the Sidestrike has Zombie Green paint. Also, the Firestrike has an external priming mechanism, and the Sidestrike has an internal mechanism. Finally, the Firestrike comes with an underbarrel laser light beam. The Sidestrike comes with a holster that has even more onboard dart storage. The Firestrike is available in an Elite Precision Target Set, which includes the blaster, some suction darts, and a pretty nice target. The Sidestrike can also be purchased in an alternate color 2-pack blaster set. This is an awesome set and would be perfect for the Nerf Party.

• The Nerf Jolt/Triad.

The Nerf Jolt and it’s mutant brother, the Nerf Triad are two of the most basic one-shot, backup blasters available. They are the last resort, tucked in the sock blasters of the Nerf world. They would also make a great addition to any Nerf Party. There are so many different variations and color schemes and sets and packages. I won’t even begin to try to go over all of them, but here are a few.: You’ve got your basic Nerf Jolt and Nerf Triad. Then you’ve got the Nerf Jolt Fire and Ice Team Pack, which includes 4 blasters and 12 darts. There is also a cool Zombie Strike Target Set for the Jolt, which sees the Jolt donning a tiny little sight/dart holder. And how could I forget the roided up Jolt, the Nerf Mega BigShock?

• The Nerf Elite Rhino Fire.

I just went from small single-shot blasters to the big bad Rhino. I know. But imagine the Rhino is used how it’s supposed to be used, as a turret. There’s one kid at the end of the field set up in a makeshift bunker, blasting a near limitless supply of foam darts down range. The other kids have to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge behind cover, from obstacle to obstacle. They would fight their way to the end of the field with whatever blasters they had, trying to overtake the turret position. How cool is that? You’re welcome.

• Other Nerf Party Gear.:

Blasters won’t be enough to seal the deal. It’s true that Nerf guns are pretty much harmless all around. However there does exist one area which can be susceptible to a foam dart: the human eye. That’s right, folks. While taking a Nerf dart to the eye is unlikely to cause permanent damage, it will hurt. And even worse, it will cause you to tear up and “cry” in front of your friends. Kids will be teased. How embarrassing, huh? So to avoid that, we wear safety goggles. And like always, I’ve got you covered. Nerf makes an official package called the Nerf Elite Vision Gear. They are very cool. They are sturdy and durable. The Vision Gear also comes with 5 Elite darts, which is enough to fill up your Hammershot or another 5-shot revolver. This is a great set and one that I think is decently priced. However I’ve found the perfect set of glasses on Amazon to quell all safety concerns at your Nerf Party.  Check them out: Safety Glasses Intruder Multi Color Clear Lens. The lenses are clear, but the frames come in a bunch of fun colors. And there are 12 of them in each order. The price of these is less than twice of the Nerf Elite Vision Gear, but it comes with 12 pairs of glasses. One box of these may cover your whole event. No darts are included, though. But I told you to get a lot of darts, right? I meant it. Get at least two orders of the 100 Elite Dart bundles from Amazon.  I also like to throw a tactical spin on things to spice a Nerf Party up. And what’s more tactical than the Nerf Tactical Vest? This is the perfect thing to hand out to all the kids at the party. You can store extra Nerf blasters, extra clips and ammo. And whatever else you need. This is also a fun way to keep things more organized. This vest is fun, practical, and encourages organizational skills. Sounds good, yes? Adding to the tactical flair will be these Camouflage Drawstring Bags. They can hold a tiny Nerf blaster and some ammo, or other nicknacks. In other words, they can make for great Nerf party/favor gift bags.

Blaster Selection Summary.

Well that about does it for my Nerf Party blaster selection guide. These are all just suggestions and obviously any blasters would work in these situations. They’re all fun! So break out those Strongarms, Stryfes, Demolishers, etc. The Demolisher in particular would work very well. Its under-barrel foam grenade launcher is top notch fun. Whatever you decide to do, just make sure you get a bunch of blasters and a huge amount of darts. For more blaster selection ideas, browse around the reviews on my site, Nerf Gun Attachments. For more ideas on Nerf Party Games, check out my article on Nerf War Game Types.