Our little twinners recently turned SEVEN!! We decided to throw a little Secret Agent Detective Party for the 007 agents.
We asked them to dress in black and we included a puzzle with a secret password.
The prospective agents were met at the door with this sign and were required to give the secret password that they had to decode from the invitation. (The password was "Twin Trouble")
Once they got inside, we had our "Secret Agent Check-in". They checked their name off our roster and then we made their secret agent badges. I fingerprinted them, and then they had to choose their secret identity.
The secret identities were hilarious and I was so surprised at how much my kids loved
this. They played with it for hours before and hours after, choosing
different names and laughing at themselves.
I had two jars with different colored papers inside. On the papers were a bunch of different words. They picked one from each jar and that became their name. (I let them choose again if they didn't like their first choice.)
Then they picked out their secret disguise and then we took a picture of each of them with Abby and Zack. I have plans to use these (and their new secret identity name) as thank you notes.
While we were waiting for everyone to show up I had the kids do "Sketch Artist Training" and draw a picture of who they thought the "suspect" was.
When everyone was there the doorbell rang and we found a RANSOM NOTE. Turns out all the presents that the kids had brought were missing too!!
The kids followed clues to different activities around the house. The ransom note talked about footprints which lead downstairs.The next clue was under one of the footprints and it led to the downstairs hallway.
The next challenge was the laser trap. Johnny set up the black light with lasers (string) and the kids had to maneuver through them and deactivate a bomb (unwrap a tootsie roll) at the end. The next clue was inside one of those tootsie rolls. It was tiny and they had to use a magnifying glass to read it. It was really awesome. We had a blackout curtain at the opening of the hallway so the black light really worked well. A couple of the kids were too freaked out to even try it. Most of them (especially the boys) totally loved it!
The miniature clue was a little poem that said:
You’ll
never guess who I am
Just
like in DON’T EAT PETE.
You’ll
always pick the wrong guy
And
never get your treats!!
They all ran up to play the game "Don't Eat Pete". This was a game I'd made for their birthday party two years ago and I forgot to play it. Seemed like a good time to use it. I used pictures of the kids and it was really funny. (You can see a better picture of the board on the picture of the "check-in" table set up).
Once everyone had a turn we discovered a clue under the bowl of treats. It was written in invisible ink and we had to use a secret crayon to make it appear.
We actually ended up skipping a game because I thought we'd run out of time (and then we didn't). I had plans to play hot potato but we just skipped to bomb deactivation. (That clue was a cipher that matched the one in their invitation.)
They each
got a balloon and had to sit on the "bomb" to pop the balloon.
There were clues inside a few
of them that were puzzle pieces to a drawing of the kitchen.
In the kitchen we stopped for cupcakes (which were supposed to look like bombs). And, of course, there was a clue underneath all the cupcakes.
The clue was a note written in mirror image. It was a letter from the suspect to his Granny (our grandma happened to show up in the middle of the party and conveniently read the note in the mirror).
Turns out we found the birthday bandit too. The kids all guessed that it was really the double agent "Red Pickle" (alias Johnny and Daddy.) The kids thought this was so funny that they actually addressed some of his Christmas presents "to Red Pickle from Black Marshmallow". Several of the kids at the party went and drew a new sketch artist picture that accurately depicted the "Red Pickle" culprit.
We ended the party by opening presents and then we let the kids freeze dance to spy music and play "button, button" until their parents came. It was a crazy party. LOUD (one of my friends told me that her son said I had to use my "teacher voice" lots of times, which is hilarious because I totally did!!) It was so much fun though and I think the kids really got into the pretending aspect of it.
Their take home packets were full of spy gear and puzzles to do at home. My kids loved them.
You can't tell in the picture but the "explosives" were a package of pop rocks. The packet of papers had crossword puzzles and word searches and sketch paper. The money was actually a notebook to take spy notes. I think Zack was the most excited about that one.
Overall, it was a crazy, great party and I think our two little "007" year old secret agents had a great time.
Happy 7th Birthday secret agents
"Black Marshmallow" and "Silver Ninja"
I say this every year, but I honestly can't believe these guys are SEVEN!! Here's some of my favorite twin posts... a little walk down memory lane!
Pregnant picture
TWINS!
1st Birthday
Smooches
Sharing
Pebbles & Bam Bam
Hokey Pokey
Mixed up at Midnight
4th Birthday
In the middle of the night
Motherhood Musings
I say this every year, but I honestly can't believe these guys are SEVEN!! Here's some of my favorite twin posts... a little walk down memory lane!
Pregnant picture
TWINS!
1st Birthday
Smooches
Sharing
Pebbles & Bam Bam
Hokey Pokey
Mixed up at Midnight
4th Birthday
In the middle of the night
Motherhood Musings
