10593

Egyptian Party -7yr- Archaeological Dig

March 2005

Erika in Woodinville, WA   USA

Special Mention

This was for a my daughter's 7th birthday party with boys and girls aged 4-11 attending.

I bought "aged vellum finish" paper that basically looked like old parchment paper(Costco), printed the invitation on the computer using Papyrus font, tore the edges and burned them carefully to get an ancient look.  I also found colored hieroglyphics in my daughter's name on the internet and just copied and pasted it into the invitation.  I found a website that had a cute script for the invitation which included exploring ancient Egypt as archaeologists. We rolled the paper into scrolls, tied them with a thin gold ribbon and looped a pearlescent dark blue Scarab beetle bead around one end(bead store on ebay).  We hand delivered the invitations and the kids just loved receiving a scroll.

My family dressed as archaeologists wearing khaki's and Indiana Jones type hats. We got most of our inexpensive gear from a military supply store. Some kids dressed up as archaeologists and one as Cleopatra. As the kids arrived, they were greeted at the front door by a 5 foot blow up mummy(ebay). We also rented a jumper toy which was in the shape of an "Egyptian Pyramid" which kept the kids busy until all the kids arrived and was also used at the end of the party.

After everyone arrived, I laid out a bunch of "Jewels", gold coins(belly dance coins from ebay), and sequins on the table. I pre-cut a bunch of Egyptian collars out of felt squares in various colors. Then the kids just glued their decorations on the collars. I thought only the girls would like this but found that the boys loved it just as much! Then we proceeded with an "Archaeological Dig".  Because this was indoors, I put chicken feed in four 12" by 16" by 5" high toy bins and filled each bin with "goodies" appropriate for girls or boys.  I put all "goodies" in a small gold paper bag ahead of time and then poured each bag in one bin as each child came to "dig" for their treasures. 

The kids put their names on the bag as they came into the "Dig Site". The kids found jeweled rings, necklaces, gold and red bubble gum coins, Jeweled ring pops, candy necklaces, candy snakes(all candy in wrappers), frogs, snakes, various real polished rocks and crystals(neighbor belongs to the rock and gem club).  This had to be done in shifts as there were only 4 bins and kids took their time...they really liked the texture of the cracked corn and wanted to make sure they got every treasure! 

Then the bags and collars were put away to take home with them.  We then went on our scavenger hunt.  My husband led the group of kids around the yard in the dark with a red lens flashlight(military store) looking for historical egyptian clues that would lead them to the "Egyptian Tomb".  So, the kids got a little education in at the same time!

The final clue led them to "Egyptian Tomb" which was in our daylight basement.  I used a great idea from this website and covered the room including the windows with brown paper(Home Depot) so it would appear to be the inside of a pyramid. I went overboard and spent about a week painting hieroglypics and gluing sequins, painting happy birthday, and painted many of the gods and goddesses on the wall with glow in the dark craft paint on top of the colors. 

I had my daughter 7, painting all week too. It was very time consuming but turned out beautiful.  My friend helped me paint various hieroglypics with liquid Tide which shows up with the black light. So, when the kids entered the tomb, we had 4 blacklights(Home Depot) lighting up the paintings in the room and a borrowed smoke machine running and it was fabulous! 

I borrowed some "Egyptian" music from the library and the kids were dancing, laughing at their clothes in the black light and just having a crazy time! I also took an old tall cardboard box the size of a 7 year old (Target had them in the back ready to be recycled), stood it up and cut a face out. I painted the the box exactly like King Tut's sarcophagus.  I used glitter paint in many colors and glued sequins and gold coins on the sarcophagus.  It looked amazing! I meant to take pictures of each kids' face in the sarcophagus but I was too busy and crazy…! 

For the cake, I asked a grocery store to take a full sheet of cake (inexpensive) and cut it into a triangle to appear as a pyramid.  They were able to make 2 triangles (pyramids) out of a full sheet.  A big one and a small one.  They airbrushed a golden color and then airbrushed the stone blocks.  I put some palm trees on the side and it just looked adorable! I used tall gold candles that really looked elegant. 

For the cake and presents, my daughter dressed up as Cleopatra. My mom made her a Cleopatra outfit and she was definitely the queen for the day.  

All the kids enjoyed themselves….one 9 year old boy said that it was the best day of his life! He loved the archaeological dig the best.

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