This Spy Party was one of the BEST birthday parties we've ever had! Each of the 7 missions were so much fun and the kids were totally into it!
When my middle son turned 7, he requested a "Spy Party", and I knew right away that it was going to be a fun party theme... and I was right. Today I am sharing all the awesome easy and inexpensive details of our DIY Spy Party. To set the mood, I designed a "Top Secret" invite using a photo of my son and photo-editing software (Picmonkey.com). I also made some fun, personalized spy shirts for my boys to wear to the party. You can check out the full tutorial for the t-shirts here. As the guests arrived, I had the "Mission Impossible" theme playing, and the guests had to scan their hands in order to enter. Once inside, the kids were given their spy folders. They made their own spy IDs, filled out some identity information and a surveillance worksheet, and read through their mission. The party mission was: 1) Learn to Handle Dynamite (aka play hot potato with dynamite) 2) Target Practice (aka practice hitting a target using pom pom shooters) 3) Mind Training (aka sharpen recollection skills by identifying missing pieces of spy equipment) 4) Speed Training (aka increase speed by taking part in a spy relay race) 5) Sensory Training (aka sharpen senses when one is taken away... play pin the disguise on the spy while blindfolded) You can find all the tutorials and details for the spy party games here. Of course, we also had a super-fun (and easy to make) spy cake, and you can find the full tutorial for our spy cake here. Finally, at the end of the party, all the guests received their spy kit loot bags. You can read all about the contents of the loot bags and download the free printable tags here. It was a fantastic party, and all the DIY elements made it very special for our little "spy" party guests. Have you ever hosted a DIY Spy Party? I'd love to hear about it! ♥ Gina Bell (aka East Coast Mommy)
Make your spy birthday party amazing with this fun Pull-String Time Bomb Piñata! Kids pull the string to disarm the pinata and get the candy.
For our daughter's 8th birthday this year, the mission (and we did choose to accept it) was a Secret Agent Birthday party. A spy birthday party is such a great theme! What follows is an
Create your own SPY WEEK with these spy and secret code activities for kids! Below, you’ll find activities, crafts, and games with a fun spy theme. This is also a great resource if you’re planning a spy themed camp or birthday party. SECRET CODE ACTIVITIES It’s so fun to send and receive messages in a […]
May 25, 2018 On the hunt for a party theme mysterious and fun?! If so, this Secret Agent Spy Birthday Party by Leitia McHugh, out of Indiana, is the one! Exploding with details classified and cool, this birthday bash is for all secret agents! Details for this fun-filled event, include: * Top Secret Decodable Message Party Invite * Dynamite Stick Bomb Chandelier + Pinata * Secret Agent Themed Birthday Cake * Agent-inspired Signage * Master of Disguise Props * Secret Agent Party Supply B
When you plan a spy party or a spy game for the kids at home you want to add some mystery and a crime solving activity that will get the kids excited. This post is a continuation of my other post about planning and organizing a spy party and the same ideas in this post can be used for a fun spy activity for the kids at home that will keep them busy for at least an hour. You can make the clues harder to crack to get them engaged for longer :) In this spy game, crooks had stolen the kids goodie bags (or any other prize) and hidden them somewhere, for the other members of their gang to collect later. The crooks left behind 10 clues for their mates to help lead them to the loot. Now the secret agents must crack those clues to find the loot before the rest of the gang comes to get it. Hand the kids this secret agent mission file before they go on their mission. You can edit the text easily. Let the kids get into their secret agent roles -- find 'spy' accessories such as hats, sunglasses, black jacket ..etc and let the kids wear them before they go on their mission. Below is a list of 10 spy game clues. You can use them as is, edit them, use only some of them, or add more – it all depends on your preferences and how long you want your spy game to last. Here are more details about each clue and how to prepare them (I promise it's easy!!). You don't have to get the designed printable, you can print or hand-write the clues on a piece of paper as in the example below. Clue 1 Come on, secret agents, let’s waste no time! We have to get busy solving this crime. Put the puzzle pieces together and what will it say? You’ll have the first clue to finding the way. Print out or hand-write a description of the next hiding place (such as “Look under the middle cushion of the sofa” or “Go open the closet door and look on the inside of it”) and cut it into pieces, making a puzzle. The kids put the puzzle pieces together to find the next hiding place. Clue 2 Nice work, secret agents. You found this clue.I'm sure you know the next thing to do. Use the special agent invisible ink pen lightTo read the next hidden clue, which is written in white. For this clue write directions to the next hiding place using an invisible ink pen. The kids need to use the light of the invisible ink pen (or any light) in order to read the clue. If you don't have an invisible ink pen (you can get them on Amazon!) then you can create your own invisible ink and simply edit the wording of clue 2. Clue 3 These nasty criminals may think they have won But you, secret agents, will show them how it’s done!The crooks hid the next clue inside a blue balloonBut use the orange peel juice to pop it, and you’ll move on soon. This clue is quite cool, as it involves some knowledge of science. Explain that only secret agents know that the limonene in an orange peel will pop a balloon. The young secret agents need to find orange peel (make sure you have oranges at home) and squeeze it on the balloon to pop it. They find that inside it was clue number 4. When you prepare this clue you should print out the directions to the next clue, put them inside a blue balloon (or any colour balloon, just change the text in Clue 3 above) and let the kids blow up the balloon. I used this trick many times before. Watch how it's done here: Clue 4 Secret agents, how extremely well done!You now need a mirror to solve this next one. Wow, you’re getting closer, we’re so proud of youUsing a mirror you will find your next hidden clue. You will need to print the the next hiding place in mirror / reverse text and let the kids use a mirror to read the text and find it. Here is a simply explanation how to do so in Word: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/reverse-mirror-text-microsoft-word/ It should look like that (try cracking it with a mirror): I hid Clue 5 in the corridor, but you can change the hiding place to anywhere you’d like. Clue 5 The next clue is hidden under something with 4 legs.To solve it you’ll have to think hard and use your heads. To narrow things down just one tiny bit,This clue is hidden under a place where we sit. This clue was intended to be very general and make the kids search everywhere around the house for a chair that has a clue glued to the underside of the seat. It was quite fun and great team work, as all the kids collaborated to search in different places, in order to find this specific chair with the clue. Clue 6 Secret agents you are almost doneAnswer all the questions one by oneCombine the first letters of each answerTo find your next secret clue faster Ask some questions about your family or general knowledge that they can search on Google, all depends on the kids age. Make the first letter of each answer combined lead to the new clue. Clue 7 Secret agents you must move fast without fearThe criminals’ mates will soon be back hereCompare the 2 photos, have a close lookThe difference will tell you where next to look Clue 7 is also very fun and you can think of many ways of doing it. Take 2 photos of the same thing. The two photos are identical, except for one difference that should give the young agents a clue about the next hiding place. I took 2 identical photos of my kids, except that in one of them the birthday boy’s brother wasn’t wearing a coat. The next clue was hidden in his coat pocket. Clue 8 Secret agents, you guys really rock!You are going to give the bad guys a shockIf you place the postcard decoder on top of this card Finding the next hidden clue shouldn’t be hard Okay, this clue is also very cool. You’ll need to create a word cloud that also contains the hiding place of your next clue. Then create a postcard decoder -- a piece of paper with bits of it cut out in the right places, so that when it is placed on top of the word cloud it reveals the directions to the next hiding place. In the image above, the word cloud is on the right and on the left you see how it looks when the postcard decoder is placed on top of it. This is how they found out that their next clue is under the middle table. Clue 9 You have 10 minutes left till the crooks will appearYou can finish this quickly, secret agents, have no fearUse the secret cipher to find your last clue here: xxxxx xxxx Clue 9 is a sort of a riddle to direct them to the entry (of the hall/your house, this could be change to any other place you wish). They will need the password cipher to decode part of the message (the word 'entry door' encrypted in the message above). Once they decode it, it will be clear that the next hiding place is somewhere on or next to the house's entry door. You can edit the encrypted words in the spy game clues design. The kids will need the password cipher card to decode the encrypted words. Clue 10 You made it secret agents, you have the key!Now wait for your fellow agents a minute or three Because in order to frighten the criminals and scare them awayYou all must shout out loud: Happy Birthday! Hurray! That's it, they did it! You can hand out the goodie bags that they found. Looking for some great ideas for your child's spy party? read this article about fun spy party ideas. Looking for cool spy party decorations? Check out our spy party decoration pack:
Super Spy Training Birthday Party ideas, Laser Beam challenge with streamers and other games
Do your kids or students love to play secret spy agent or detective? Children seem to love sneaking around spying on people or completing secret missions. Whether it be to save the World, stop a criminal or solve a mystery, pretend to be a secret agent is tons of fun! This detective puzzle for kids is a FREE printable
Future secret agents learn how to write in code, make gear and gadgets, crack ciphers and develop detective skills with these super spy activities for kids.
A spy party is a fun birthday party theme or just a great way to keep the kids entertained. Print these 9 spy missions for your secret agents!
Awesome DIY spy party games and secret agent themed activities that you can use to make your child's spy party a blast!
seen: encrypted invitations I still love encrypted messages and think any child would have a party just opening this invitation-- the ...
My son's spy party last year was a TON of work, but so much fun to put together. I knew that I wanted the party to include clues to figure out and solve a mystery, but I wasn't sure exactly how to do it. Some of my earliest ideas were so complicated that my family just stared at me like I was crazy when I tried to explain it to them. I was getting myself confused! So I will skip those ideas, and just tell you about what we did - because it worked. THEME: Our plan was to make our house a Top Secret Spy training center. The Evil Dr. Chaos became our villain trying to ruin our party and blow up the loot (treat bags) if we didn't solve the clues to stop him in time. INVITATIONS: My parties always start with inspiration from other creative party planners out there on the internet. I found an invitation that was a mini file folder, and that's what I duplicated, with my own twist of course. I got the pattern for the mini file folders from here and sized them to be about 1/2 sheet when folded to fit into a 6"x9" envelope. The font I used for the 'TOP SECRET' is Reprise Title found here. They all had another tag on them that read "For ____'s eyes only" so my son would know who to give them to. The invitation included a mason cipher to solve the secret code which was "I love cake and ice cream". The font I used for the cipher was Fam-Code found here. *I have a copy of the spy seal I used in the invites and for the front cover of the handbooks that I can email you. Or get a blank one here. I also have versions of it for Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom that I have made upon request. Click on the links above to download the Spy Seals from Box.com *Update 5/29/18: I'm sorry that the Spy Seals for the above countries are no longer available due to unintentional copyright issues. I will work on changing the name on the seals, re-designing the whole seal, handbook, badges and freebies to be even better and getting new ones available soon! The blank one is still available for now. ACTIVITIES: So MANY activities!!! I'll just go in the order we did them. First we had the boys complete a background check. We asked them the secret password and then they were fingerprinted and received their security passes. These were really fun to make with my NSA symbol on them and their names, code name, and name in bar code. I bought plastic badge holders and clips at Walmart. The fonts I used to make the badges and the training manual cover sheets were: Reprise Stamp, Due Date, and Free 3 of 9 (bar code font). The bar codes actually spelled out everyone's names, so they were all different. The kids got the 'Agent in Training' badges, my older kid helpers got the 'Top Secret Agent' badges and I was the 'Chief Operating Officer'. You can see on these what I did with the Great Seal of the USA. I added the rings and text, the key, the bomb and NSA on the shield and the sunglasses on the eagle to make him cool. I took individual photos of each trainee at the party (in sunglasses), and my plan was to put their photo onto a new Top Secret Agent badge for completion of the program. Unfortunately, my oldest son had his appendix rupture a couple of days after the party and I never got around to it. The most important things must come first. BUT, for all you UK readers, awesome reader Wendy created one for your use. Download it here. Thank you Wendy! If you are from another country and need to change the badges with the above seals, here is the file for you. For all US readers, the badges are contained in the Spy Handbook link below. Fingerprinting: I saw some fingerprinting sheets kind of like these on a website for child safety and made my own version on cards for each guest. I just bought a cheap black ink pad at the dollar store and had my daughter fingerprint the boys and wipe off their fingers on a wet washcloth. While waiting for everyone to get fingerprinted I had them do some stretching exercises to prepare for training, then we went into the back yard where their spy training manuals were set up on a table. I bought big clips to hold in all of the papers, which was very important for an outdoor party with possible wind. Download the Spy Handbook pages here! *Update: The spy handbook had to be removed also (as mentioned above). I've added photos of the printables that don't have the Spy Seal on them for you to save and use. The first page included the activities that we would be doing for the rest of the party and what skills they would develop. Having a plan is SO important for a party with so much happening to keep you on schedule and make sure you remember to do everything. #1 Spy Words. This was a word search that I printed off from a website that creates word searches. There are tons of them out there, you just type in the words and tell it what size you want your puzzle. Since it took me quite a while to come up with the words for the word search, I will include them here since the whole purpose of this blog is to make party planning easier for everyone. If you don't want to know them, just skip down to #2. Intelligence, explosives, character, bribery, security, headquarters, cipher, objective, mystery, training, double agent, combat, laser beam, concealment, escape, evidence, mission, spying, eyewitness, fingerprints, clearance, informants, ammunition, secret, culprits, binoculars, rescue, fugitives, mastermind, observation, cover, badge, operative, disguise, incident, bugging, electronics, climbing, top secret, demolitions, warrant, bomb, footprints, target, investigation, villain, microchips, keys transmission, agency, magnify, undetectable, criminals. We only spent a few minutes working on these and then moved on. They could finish them at home. #2 Code Breaking. There are so many different codes, that I had a hard time deciding what ones to do. I must have been really tired coming up with these, because they totally made me crack up (well, the second one did). I got the Morse code photo last year on here, a site for kids run by the real NSA, but I can't find it on there anymore. If you want to decipher them yourself, then don't read this part because here are the solutions: 'The blue moose left the party' 'That thief is wearing a cheap suit. Wait, that's my suit!' (that one was my favorite) and 'The safe is in the outhouse'. I know, they're stupid, but I was trying to make it fun for 9-year old boys, and if I get a kick out of it, it's just an added bonus. :) #3 Memory Training. We've all played this game before. Bring out a tray of items, view them for 1 minute, write down all you can remember that was on the tray. Went great with this party theme! These are the items on our tray: digital camera, binoculars, cassette tape, air-mail envelope, $10.00 bill, measuring tape, pencil, flashlight, combination lock, Scotch tape, sunglasses, walkie-talkie, cell phone, pen, remote control, post-it notes, and it was all laying on top of the obituaries from the newspaper (nobody got that one). At the bottom of this page is a little spot-the-difference puzzle I got from here. #4 Pass the Dynamite. This was fun to play, and fun to make the dynamite! I love creating props. I found the dynamite idea here, and made mine just using cardboard tubes stuffed with newspaper and wrapped with red tissue paper. The colored wires were from the inside of a piece of electrical wire and they are just hot-glued into the tops. I wrapped them together with black electrical tape. If you want your dynamite to last for more that one party, then I suggest you Mod-Podge over the tissue paper because it tore from being handled so much. I made 5 sticks, and I recommend a digital timer. To play the game, you just set the timer and start passing the dynamite around a big circle like a hot potato. When the timer goes off, whoever is holding it - blows up! They are then out of the game until it gets down to the last person. #5 Gum Shoe Detective. The boys all traced their shoe on a piece of paper and then we mixed them up and gave everybody a tracing. They had to try and find out who the shoe print belonged to. It wasn't that exciting, so I don't recommend it. If nobody seems interested, I quickly move to the next activity. I think it would have been more fun to make a shoe print on a piece of tinfoil and they could have checked the tread pattern on the bottom of everyone's shoes. #6 Target Practice. This activity failed due to Nerf gun failure. I had printed out a target that they were going to take turns shooting at with Nerf guns, but apparently my son's had killed their guns and didn't let me know about it until we tried using them at the party. If I would have known that I would have done something like shooting Dixie cups off of a board with a squirt gun or something. Luckily we had plenty of other activities to fill the time. #7 Laser-beam Avoidance. I got two wooden poles and hooked a red piece of yarn between them. If they got under it, we lowered the string. You know, it was like Limbo, but the boys could go under the yarn any way they wanted to as long as they didn't touch the laser-beam. We got it down to about 6" off the ground and some of those boys could still scoot on their bellies under it. They had a lot of fun with this game. #8 Bomb Squad. We had to move indoors to do this activity since balloons don't agree with grass. We blew up tons of small black water balloons before the party and placed them on the carpet. Each boy had about 30 seconds to pop as many bombs as they could while everyone else counted. Some boys could only do a few and some did a lot. It made a big mess, but boys love making messes (and noise). FOOD: #9 Evidence Destroying. We told them that they had to get rid of any evidence that we had a party by eating all of the food. We had pizza and root beer for the food, nothing fancy, and cupcakes and ice cream cups. The cupcake toppers were just made with clip-art punched into circles and placed on wooden skewers. As they finished eating, the doorbell rang and there was an envelope on the doorstep with an MP3 player in it and a cipher for a secret code. We hooked the MP3 player up to a speaker and it played this message: "Welcome new recruits, I am the NSA President. We are aware that you are here for spy training, but an urgent situation has arisen. The Evil Dr. Chaos has been trying to disrupt this school for years. We have just been informed that he has stolen your loot bags and set a bomb to blow them up! You are the only available agents in the area, and all will be lost if you can't unravel the clues and diffuse the bomb before it goes off. If you complete this assignment you will automatically be promoted and receive your official spy certification. The secret message we discovered is hidden in the mailbox. Be careful - and good luck!" I wanted it to be in my husband's voice, but he was out of town (in the middle of the dessert) with no cell phone service or I would have had him call and say the message over the phone. I had my oldest son record it for me. This photo shows all of the different clues and the ciphers for each one. I thought they would make more sense if you could see them in a photo. Some are also included in the Spy Handbook files. Clue #1 in the mailbox. I got this wording idea from another site, but I can't find where. It was great though and got adapted to fit our party! I wrote the message to include all of the letters I needed to spell out my clue, then those letters were changed to italics. It's hard the tell in this font which is called Ghostwriter. Then I drew little boxes around all of the correct clue letters and changed the font to white and printed it so only the boxes showed up. With an Exacto knife I cut out the little boxes, and when you lay it over the message the next clue is revealed. It says 'The next clue is on the door of the shed'. Clue #2 tied to the door of the shed. This one used a code that was in their training handbooks which they had just used, so they recognized it and rushed over to figure out the code. We tried to make sure that different boys got to work on deciphering one of the codes if they wanted a turn. This clue said, "The hen is in the nest." Clue #3 was in the nesting boxes for our chickens. This clue used the Mason cipher which had come with their birthday invitation and included two ciphers. There is actually a font for this code called FAM-Code so you don't have to draw little pictures, you can just type in what you want it to read. The clue spelled out, "They lay eggs in sand, but in this one you dig!" Clue #4 was in our turtle sandbox. The clue was in a plastic bag which contained a small mirror. I printed out the clue in reverse so they had to use the reflection in the mirror to read it. It read, "So you think you're on my heels? Well, this final clue is on wheels. It doesn't drive you anywhere, but pulls your stuff in there. In a chest shut up tight, but don't search in the back yard or it will take all night. You'll have to stop me soon, because if you're too late then....BOOM!!!" Before the party I lit this paper on fire to try and make it look like someone tried to burn it. Well, I almost had to start over because I barely got the flames put out in time! (Do that part near water!) The bomb and treat bags were hidden in a tool chest on our trailer. The kids all grabbed their loot and the bomb and after getting a photo of them all, I told them that their final task was to de-fuse the bomb by destroying it. They happily tore it to shreds and it was full of candy. It would be fun to do a pinata for the bomb, but we were out of time anyway. The bomb was made out of a cardboard dishwasher tablet canister. You could also use a round oatmeal container. TREAT BAGS: I wanted to get cloth bags made for the loot bags, but it didn't happen. I used white paper sacks instead, and I think they turned out just as cute! The $ labels are in the Spy Handbook. They included: A notebook, magnifying glass, Mentos (if you've seen the Agent Cody Banks movies you know why), 100 Grand candybar, Smarties, Atomic Warhead jawbreakers, a squirt gun, and play money. They also got to take home their training folders, badges and pencils. WHEW! That was exhausting just blogging about the party, you can only imagine how I felt after planning it. It was really a lot of fun though, and now completely ready for you to copy. All you need to do is come up with clues to fit your party, make some cupcakes and go shopping for loot! Yeah, I know there's a little more to it than that, but hopefully I got some good spy party vibes heading your way. Happy party planning!
This Spy Party was one of the BEST birthday parties we've ever had! Each of the 7 missions were so much fun and the kids were totally into it!
Nancy Drew Mystery Party with vintage book page welcome wreath, mystery activity with detective kits and hidden clues, and question mark cookies!
