Hunger Games Camp: Remake Center and Opening Ceremonies

If you're just tuning in, I'm recapping the fantastically awesome week-long Hunger Games Camp that I created and ran last week.  I've already described the Reaping, and the Training Center (obstacle course and target practice). Now it's time to head to the Remake Center and prepare for Opening Ceremonies!

Disclaimer: I danced ballet, tap and jazz from the time I was 5 until I was 18, performed in school plays starting at age 11 and had some fairly awesome Halloween costumes - all of which were stored in my parents attic.  Those costumes, plus some face paint, body glitter and colored hairspray that I picked up at a party store made this activity work.

Remake Center and Opening Ceremonies

Just as Katniss was made up for her first televised appearance in front of the citizens of Panem at the Opening Ceremonies, campers will have the opportunity to restyle and put on costumes.  Campers will style hair, makeup and dress in ways befitting their district’s primary industries.  Campers will be judged by the Gamemakers in each of the three categories, basing their rankings on the quality and appropriateness of the costume, given the tribute’s district.

Materials:

• wide variety of costume clothing
• face paint
• body glitter
• temporary tattoos
• sponges
• cups of water
• colored hair spray

Set Up:

• Three stations should be arranged: hair, makeup and costume.
• All materials available for each station should be out on display.
• One counselor should be assigned to each station and assist campers with the items available for use.

Procedure:

• Read the following excerpt from the Hunger Games:

(page 66 – Remake Center) “for the opening ceremonies, you're supposed to wear something that suggests your district's principal industry. District 11, agriculture. District 4, fishing. District 3, factories. This means that coming from District 12, Peeta and I will be in some kind of coal miner's getup. Since the baggy miner's jumpsuits are not particularly becoming, our tributes usually end up in skimpy outfits and hats with headlamps. One year, our tributes were stark naked and covered in black powder to represent coal dust. It's always dreadful and does nothing to win favor with the crowd...A few hours later, I am dressed in what will either be the most sensational or the deadliest costume in the opening ceremonies. I'm in a simple black unitard that covers me from ankle to neck. Shiny leather boots lace up to my knees. But it's the fluttering cape made of streams of orange, yellow and red and the matching headpiece that define this costume. Cinna plans to light them on fire just before our chariot rolls into the streets...My face is relatively clear of makeup, just a bit of highlighting here and there. My hair has been brushed out and then braided down my back in my usual style.”

• Divide campers into three groups.
• Send one group to each station.
• Have counselors assist campers with putting up makeup, hairspray, temporary tattoos and costumes. Tributes should dress in attire that represents their home districts.
• If more than one camper wants to wear a specific costume piece, that is okay.  Campers will be judged one at a time and can hand off costume pieces if necessary.
• Gamemakers will judge the tributes on a scale of 1-10, looking for both creativity and appropriateness, given the home district's major industry.

Opening Ceremonies

• If time allows, tributes may be interviewed by Caesar Flickerman. 
• Begin the activity by reading this excerpt from the Hunger Games:

(page 119) “The team works on me until late afternoon, turning my skin to glowing satin, stenciling patterns on my arms, painting flame designs on my twenty perfect nails. Then Venia goes to work on my hair, weaving strands of red into a pattern that begins at my left ear, wraps around my head and then falls in one braid down my right shoulder. They erase my face with a layer of pale makeup and draw my features back out. Huge dark eyes, full red lips, lashes that throw off bits of light when I blink. Finally, they cover my entire body in a powder that makes me shimmer in gold dust...The creature standing before me in the full-length mirror has come from another world. Where skin shimmers and eyes flash and apparently they make their clothes from jewels.  Because my dress, oh, my dress is entirely covered in reflective precious gems, red and yellow and white with bits of blue that accent the tips of the flame design. The slightest movement gives the impression I am engulfed in tongues of fire.”

• Have “Caesar” interview tributes, asking them questions about their strategy for the games and their home districts. No points awarded.  This is just for fun!

And I know that these activities will be a whole lot cooler with pictures, so I'm going to work on going through the hundreds (literally) that I took during the week and edit the posts to add visuals. Gimme a few days!

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