9033

Secret Agent -6yr- Disguise Center

June 2004

Jennifer in Houston, TX  USA

Special Mention

Secret Agent Party for 6 year old.  My son really loves secret agent movies like Spy Kids and Agent Cody Banks so he chose that for his theme for his 6th birthday.  I looked at all of the spy party ideas on this site and used a few ideas and added some of my own.  This is what we did. 

INVITATIONS:  I went to a CIA website.  They actually sell manilla folders that have Top Secret written on them with a CIA logo.  I right clicked on the image and made my own - except smaller.   I printed each small manilla folder on ivory colored cardstock and cut them out.  I printed the invitation information on a separate piece of white paper inviting everyone to our "Secret Agent Training Academy".  I printed the words using the "reverse" option on our printer settings so you would have to hold it up to a mirror to actually read the words.  I put the paper inside the miniature manilla folder and secured it with an actual file folder fastener sold at the office supply store.  We wrote the child's name on the file tab and put these in 6X9" brown kraft envelopes and mailed them.  They were a huge success. 

DECORATIONS:  My son wanted black and yellow balloons, plates, forks, etc.  He thought those were spy colors - so we went with that.  I covered the tables with black plastic covers and instead of confetti - we put our fingers in a gold stamp pad and pressed fingerprints all over the black cover.  It was really fun looking.  We also printed signs and attached these to wooden stakes and put them by all the training centers and outside along our walk way to welcome the secret agent trainees to the training session. 

AS THE KIDS ARRIVED:  As each child arrived, they came to the check in station.  I took two pictures of them.  One with a polaroid i-zone camera to take a small instant sticker picture.  The other with the digital camera.  I had made up business card size "id's" for each kids - half were printed in red and the other half in blue.  I asked the kids what they wanted their Alias name to be - some said "Flash", "Spiderman", "Star", etc.  I wrote their real name, their Alias name and placed their sticker picture on their i.d. card.  Then I ran them through a laminator and made a real looking i.d. badge with a metal clip for each child. 

As each child got their pictures made and told me their Alias name, I sent them to the Welcome Center where all the kids gathered until all the trainees arrived (and I finished making the id badges).  I had a friend volunteer to run the welcome center.  The kids played "I Spy" and "Telephone" at the welcome center.  I also made Secret Agent Mission Guides for each child as well.  Inside these booklets were several pages of "spy" puzzles, mazes, crossword puzzles, etc, that I got from an fbi kids website.  There were also two pages that pertained to our training activities.  Once all the kids arrived, I gathered all the id badges and mission guides and joined the trainees in the welcome center.  I passed out these items to each child using their Alias names.  They loved this.  Now the training began. 

TRAINING CENTERS:  I had three training centers.  We sent the "red" group to the Physical Training Center, while the "blue" group went to the Mental Training Center.  After they completed these, they switched centers, then did the third center, The Disguise Center, together.  First the Physical Training Center was an obstacle course.   Every secret agent has to do be able to show their strength and speed.   This was to test the kids speed and skill during a physical challenge.   We used our playfort and created the obstacle course.  We had put a small video tape inside the top of the playfort. 

The kids were given a small nylon bag with a clip on it to attach to their belt buckle.  They ran up the back of the ramp into enemy headquarters (the top of the playfort) recovered the tape with the important data, escaped through the laundry chute (the slide), over the moat (the rope on the playfort), over the mountain pass (a homemade balance beam), through the sewers (a blue nylon tunnel and rope attached to wooden stakes), then unclip the bag with the tape and place in the "secret drop" (a bucket at the end of the course). 

We timed each child's attempt and recorded it in their mission guides.  They loved this and wanted to run the course again - some had a second chance.   I had several friends volunteering at this center to help guide the kids which direction they should go and make sure no one got hurt.   The Mental Training Center focused on decoding secret messages.  I purchased a kit that had several different decoders.  I had put a scrambled message inside each of the mission guides that the kids tried to use their thinking skills to decode.    I had a friend volunteering at this center to help the kids with this.  The secret message said "Thanks for coming to Matt's Birthday Party".  The kids learned about different codes and had a lot of fun. 

Well while the kids were busy doing this, I went inside and downloaded the pictures from the digital camera.  I printed each child on a full sheet of cardstock in black and white.  It was now time for the Disguise Center.  All the kids did both centers and came together to the last station where they learned that every secret agent must have a good disguise.  I placed all the kids pictures at a long table.  They were directed to find their "face" and stand in front of it.  On the table I had self sticking fun foam shapes, feathers, markers, pom poms and glue.  The kids proceeded to "decorate" their faces with their own disguise - recolor their hair - draw on sunglasses, or whatever.  Some were so decorated I couldn't even recognize them.  They had a lot of fun with this.  Now the kids had been trained in three areas.  It was time for food. 

FOOD:  We had sodas, bottled water and juice boxes for everyone.  The cake was a large hexagonal chocolate cake frosted yellow and black (those "spy" colors again).  We had a huge magnifying glass that we put on top of the cake.  I iced "Happy Birthday Matt" on the top of the cake, but where the magnifying glass was, I made the letters really big under it so it really looked magnifyed.  I also iced "fingerprints" all over the cake as well.  On the side, I printed "Who is turning 6?"  It was simple, but fun.  We served ice cream, cotton candy, sno cones and popcorn as well.  My son opened his presents and it was time to go. 

GOODY BAGS:  I bought brown kraft bags with handles for the goody bags.  I printed some stickers on the computer with spy graphics and put these on the outside of the bag.  Inside the goody bags, each child received a "spy ear" (plastic device that amplifies sound from far away so you can hear conversations in another room), funny nose and glasses for a disguise, mentos candy (just like in Agent Cody Banks) and "Matt's Elastic Wonder" (the favorite spy gadget used in the Spy Kids movies - a rubberband).  The kids also took home their mission guide books and the laminated id badges.  I think everyone had a blast…I know my son did.  This party was definitely age appropriate for 6 year olds - and for both boys and girls.  Have fun!

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