20551

Spy Party -7yr- Pass Through the Laser Wall

October 2009

Brianna in North Las Vegas, NV, USA

Special Mention

This Spy Party was for my 7yo son, with both boys and girls invited.

INVITATIONS: After downloading a backwards font to be deciphered in the mirror, I used MS Publisher (MS Word is fine) to create invites, with a magnifying glass clip art picture as border, using the magnifying glass as the theme of our party. It had all the party-specific info on it, along with RSVP with your secret code 'Spy Party' ask for Agent Austin" (my son) to encourage responses. I then placed them into sealed manila folders and after printing and cutting out the words 'Top Secret' and 'Confidential' I stuck the words on the envelopes. 

DECORATIONS: Not big with decorations this year I stuck with balloons and I Spy books scattered throughout the house. Boring I know but realistically my son couldn't care less. 

ACTIVITIES/GAMES: 
=1= When the children first arrived they filled out their "Passport" which I used MS Word and decorated with a downloaded clip of a real US Passport (and also some magnifying glasses for our theme). Inside they had spaces for info such as their spy name spy number real name etc. and also their thumbprints using a washable inkpad. I HAD printed out the passports in a way that saved a space for their pictures but my son invited some 'out of control' kids and I never had time to take their pictures and print them out to stick inside! (ugh! Lol) 

=2= While passports are drying from thumbprints they went outside for their Spy Training. Their first test was to pass through a "Laser Wall". Using red yarn I strung it across my back patio in a way that somewhat resembled a messy flat spider web and the children had to climb through it without touching any part of the 'laser'. When they wanted to go through a second time I made the rule that once an opening was used it was no longer available to use again making them have to decide on a different way of passing through it. 

=3= Next was their "Gun Practice". I drew an outline of a person onto the outside glass of a window using window markers and drew an outline of a heart in the center of the chest. The children then had to use Nerf guns to try to shoot foam bullets at the targets heart. 

=4= Thankful for a hot sunny day we had the children use water bombs to play "Dodge the Bomb" they pretty much just ran around the yard with each other making any 'team' win or loss irrelevant! 

=5= Next was the "Laser Tag". Using cans of red and blue silly string the same 'running around' chaos ensued! 

=6= Finished with outside for now we ate snacks described later and then continued to play the party's main game the "Clue Hunt Mission". (This section is long I apologize!) I handed each team (they had to stick to them this time) their 1st Clue with instructions that this was their mission should they choose to accept it etc etc in order to be inducted into being a Spy. Each team had the same rhyme with the last stanza altered which went as follows: 'While you were outside/Something got lost./Hurry and find it/Above all the costs./Do you know what it is?/It's something you need/To have 'smashing' fun/At this birthday party!' The last stanza for each team lead them to a different part of the house for their second clue- 'Here's your first clue/Don't let anyone hear!/You need to go where/The keys dangle near.' and 'Don't let anyone hear!/It's your very first clue./You need to go where/The balloons are all blue.'

Obviously the 2nd Clues were at the keys and the bunch of blue balloons hung on the wall respectively. This is where the planning got tedious. In sealed envelopes marked Clue #234 etc. the children had to decipher a clue with their team which lead them to their next clue throughout the entire house. My husband went with one team I with the other taking with them their passports to mark off each clue# they deciphered. This took a lot of thought placing clues in places where children not used to our house could find like the vacuum baby's crib 'fish' shower curtain fireplace pantry cat food balcony fridge etc. and also so that they would not be too near each other while deciphering clues.

Examples of clues I used were: (a)Morse Code- with printed out key code from online (b)Sign Language- we have an ASL alphabet book and I printed out finger spelled letters ©Braille- again we have a book (d)Magnifying Glass to read extra-small print €Backwards Font- conveniently placed in bathrooms (f)Invisible Markers (g) Magnifying Glass to see an extra-small partial-only picture of Motts Apple Juice or Heinz ketchup obviously next clues were in the fridge (h)Puzzle- small 55pc. And on the back were directions to rearrange some letters LPNTA for 'plant' etc. I had to have 2 puzzles though 1 for each team (i)Picture Code- I made these up using clip art and MS Word. First line was a picture of a gold bar with "minus LD" so that would mean the word 'Go'. Next line was a hand holding up 5 fingers the word 'minus' and a hand holding up 3 fingers so that would mean the word 'two' or 'to' (yes I had issues with the incorrect spelling but it's a kids party they didn't care!).

Next line was the word 'Father' with the words 'minus Fa' and 'minus R' so that would mean the word 'The'. Last lines were different for each team one being 2 pictures of coffee and a table the other being an oven (j)A=1 B=2 Chart- self explanatory (k)Easter Eggs- I made this the last clue for each team. They had to open up the eggs and reveal printed out words which they had to rearrange to find what was 'missing while they were outside'- remember the very first poem clue? =) I printed out the sentence 'Go outside/with the/other team/to find/what you/are missing!' and cut them into 2 word sections to make the sentence easier to figure out. I also inserted some blank papers and the different clue for each team 'P I N _ _ _' and '_ _ _ A T A' (which I didn't cut up I left looking just like that) so they had to take that particular section of paper to the other team to figure out the word 'PINATA'.  =7= Naturally the Pinata was next! I had a parent sneak outside and tie it up while we were working on clues. It was a magnifying glass to continue the theme. 

PARTY SNACKS: To move away from boring old pizza on one side of the table I did a huge fruit tray with 3 fruit dips and Nilla wafers and the other side a smaller veggie tray with 3 veg dips and plain chips. Of course the fruit went fast and the veggies stayed but at least they had the option! I also made up a huge bowl of party punch to drink and some Rotel and Velveeta cheese dip for the parents. 

CAKE: Continuing my theme of the magnifying glass I made a double layer cake in that shape using 9" round pans for the glass part and a rectangle pan for the handle. I cut a notch into the circle cake so I could layer the rectangle strips for the handle and it would fit nicely. Colored frosting was brown for the handle light blue for the inner glass section and grey for the outside 'metal' section around the glass. I also put 3 or 4 diagonal lines made with a toothpick onto the blue section to resemble glass. 

FAVORS: After presents which the birthday boy played 5 Questions (not 20 that would take too long) to try to figure out what the present was the party was ending. Favor boxes included a premade kit including a pencil notepad flashlight compass magnifying glass (of course!) sunglasses and a fake moustache/nose/glasses. I added a rubber band fake money and coins some printouts of morse code braille sign language etc (just trying to encourage some learning!) a small puzzle toy (the ones you need to figure out how the pieces fit together ugh) their passport a crossword puzzle I made with clues like "_____ Impossible" and "Old cartoon ______ Gadget" and a Certificate of Agent Training made using MS Publisher (again MS Word is fine too) that had a magnifying glass border and the US Seal to look 'official' and spaces at the bottom for signatures. My husband signed James Bond and I signed Austin Powers =]. (For thank-you cards I printed out the same magnifying glass border that my son could fill in. We always fill these out before we're allowed to play with the toys).

DONE! The kids played upstairs until it was time to leave which took about 3 hours. I had a lot of help with my ideas using this website so hopefully this will help you too. Don't forget to plan a nap in when the party is over! =] ~Brianna D."

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