The Gumshoe experience has placed us in many children parties, and we’ve seen innovative mothers come up with some excellent ideas. We’re passing these winners on to you. Enjoy!
GUMSHOE SPY SCHOOL - SPY SKILL GAMES
Send your party to Spy School! With these simple tools and games you can throw the kind of kid’s event that is the buzz of the playground. We’ve been doing it for awhile now, and the organizers have as much fun as the children.
- Altered Evidence
- Beat the Bomb
- Hot on the Trail
- Mystery Bundle
- Secret Signals
- Silent Snoops
- Sniffing Out Clues
- Snitch
Activities & Mystery Party Games:
We use the word ‘detective’ but you can just as easily say spy or secret agent.
Altered Evidence – Detectives must notice small changes that can happen while working on a case – attention to detail can make the difference between catching the crooks or letting them get away. Detectives will examine evidence and learn to spot the differences if the evidence is altered. This is a variation on the game of ‘memory’.
- Fill a suitcase with items then, hidden from view, remove or add things
- Dress a doll elaborately and then add or remove something
- You can also you a felt board and felt objects, a tray and items, toys in a bathtub, you get the idea
Beat the Bomb – set an alarm clock for five minutes and hide it. It must be found before it goes off. Played by itself or with any of the above games. Adjust time accordingly.
Hot on the Trail – Start off the hunt by giving each Detective a list of items that have been stolen. For kids too young to read, use pictures. You can use items that are naturally around the house or hide things ahead of time. Detectives leave the items where they find them and check them off the list or write the location down. The game could end once everyone has found the items or it could continue. Get a bunch of small locks and keys and put them on bags or boxes with a prize or another clue inside. Each box could contain a sentence that is part of a clue which tells them where the birthday cake or loot bags are hidden. Once a child has found all the items they get a key and whichever box it opens is theirs.
Mystery Bundle: Sometimes Detectives have to identify things without seeing them. Wrap an object in paper or cloth so that its shape is discernible, and have the children guess what it is. For younger kids make it an easy object closely wrapped, eg a doll in paper with string around the neck, waist, and through the legs, and have one child shout out their guess and ask the others if they agree. For older kids make it a harder object and have them write their answers down.
- A variation on this is Blindman’s Bundle, where you blindfold a child and get them to identify objects by feel. You can also just have the items under a black cloth they can put their hands under
Secret Signals - Introduce your Detectives to Charades! Detectives need to be send messages silently. Gather a list of items or actions for a spy or two sending the message to act out and see how quickly the others can guess what they are doing. Everyone gets a turn.
Silent Snoops – This is the classic game of Freeze, with a Spy School slant.
Detectives need to sneak around. The half the kids are secret agents and pretend to search a place looking for clues. Blow a whistle warning them the crooks are returning and to freeze in place. As long as they are frozen they are invisible. The other kids, the crooks, come in and try to get the Detectives to move or make a sound, blink, giggle, smile, etc. – without touching them. Trade places.
Sniffing Out Clues – Detectives are often required to use all their senses when investigating a case. Using their heads, particularly their noses, Detectives will identify smells without being able to see what they are sniffing. Fill empty film canisters or other opaque containers with smelly items or essences and place a cotton ball or something else over the item so it can’t be seen. Be sure to number the containers and make yourself a list of what’s inside each one. The detectives can say or write down what they think each smell is. Try using onions, soap, rose, garlic, bleach, peppermint, fish, vanilla, mouthwash, cinnamon, essential oils, etc.
Snitch – Detectives need to be familiar with both sides of the ‘Snitching’ skill. They need to be able to sneak up on a person and snitch something, and they need to be able to sense when someone is sneaking up to snitch from them. Have the kids sit in a circle or line facing away from the centre of the circle or the person who is it. Place a two inch square piece of felt on each shoulder of the sitting person. The person who is the snitch must remove as many pieces of felt of possible without being caught. If someone feels the fabric being taken they call out “Snitch!” The snitch must be caught ‘in the act’ to be put out.
MYSTERY GAMES (Included in the Kid’s Mystery GUMSHOE DETECTIVE AGENCY Party Kits)
1) Crime Lab Cops
2) Detective in the Dark
3) Riddles & Prints
4) Loads of Codes
5) Sneaky Puzzles
6) Clue Hunt
Other Party Games:
For Ages 1 – 4:
A Colour Party. Ask guests to come dressed in your child’s favourite colour. Get balloons, streamers, wrapping paper, etc in different shades of your colour, and borrow coloured sheets or blankets from your friends to drape over the furniture
The Treasure Hunt. Set up an easy treasure hunt for this age group by wrapping small treasures in different coloured or patterned paper. Give each child a piece of wrapping paper and have them find the matching treasure
For Ages 2 – 5:
Hideouts: Set up ‘hideouts’ by draping blankets and tablecloths over the side of a table. Place something hefty (but not kid-damaging heavy if it falls) on the cloths to hold them in place. Have the blankets touch the floor on three sides, and not quite on the opening side. Populate the fort with pillows, books, toys, etc. Give each kid a small flashlight and send them in.
Animal Party: Get your guests to bring their favourite animal ‘stuffy’. Decorate the party place with animal pictures, have materials on hand for guests to make an animal mask when they arrive, serve animal crackers, play animal charades. You can do this with either a farm, jungle, or zoo animal theme
Try cutting out cardboard shapes of animal food – bones for dogs, mice for cats, carrots for rabbits, etc. Your guests decide which animal they want to be, then run around as that animal looking for their cardboard ‘food’. They can trade it in for real treats later – maybe cookies cut in the same shape!
Music: Play them some upbeat music. Experiment by putting on some songs they know alternating with snappy songs from different ethnic cultures. It is easy to over-stimulate this age group so when they start to get ‘wild’ turn the music off and move on to the next thing
Froot Loop Jewelry: This is a great activity for when children are arriving. Have a couple of bowls of froot loops or cheerios set out and pieces of string, wool or ribbon that can easily fit through the middle of the cereal. Let children make their own necklaces, bracelets or anklets while everyone arrives
For Ages 5 and Up:
Magazine Hunt: This is a great backup activity for a rainy day. Put a stack of picture-rich magazines in the middle of the room, and have scissors for each child. Give them a list of items, or simple pictures if they can’t read yet, and ask them to find similar pictures in the magazines and cut them out. Tailor the list to the magazines on hand. After a set time, depending on age, give ‘prizes’ to everyone – and then let them make their own or a group collage
For Any Age:
Air Balloon: Start with half as many balloons as there are children. The balloons must stay in the air and no one can hit it more than two times in a row. Keep adding balloons and see how many the group can keep in the air. With younger children start with one balloon and let them hit it as many times as they need to.
Alphabet Scavenger Hunt: Give your hunters a paper with the alphabet down one side, and tell them to find one item that begins with each letter. Give them a time limit and a designated area and set them loose
Cards: At the end of the party have decks of cards available for the children to play Fish, crazy eights, or to make card houses with while they wait to be picked up
Gak: Who knew glue could be so much fun without making a mess. This recipe will create a fluid substance that holds its shape. Easy to make, easy to clean.
Mix together: 2 cups white glue & 1½ cups warm water
Combine: 1/3 cup water & 1 teaspoon Borax
Drizzle into glue mixture & stir
Limbo Contest: Remember this one? Place a broom across the backs of two chairs and put on some music from the South Seas. Don’t forget to show them how it’s done!
Magic Eco System: Have a one or two litre clear plastic bottle for each child. Fill them – or let the kids fill them – with oil, vinegar, food colouring, glitter, sequins, small toys, etc. Seal the lids with glue or duct tape and let the kids enjoy shaking and watching them
Nickel Rummage Sale: Have guests bring three to six items that they no longer play with to contribute to the sale. Price the items between 5 and 25 cents. Give each of the guests an envelope or purse with twenty nickels in it and let them go shopping. You’ll get your nickels back when they purchase items, and the players will get to go home with different toys. Have labeled bags ready for them to take their ‘purchases’ home in
Penny Toss: Give each child ten pennies, a line to stand behind, and a bucket with a wide opening to toss the pennies into. You can use small plastic animals from a dollar store rather than pennies if you prefer. If you have a space you can get wet, put water in the bucket. Add some food colouring to the water to spiff it up. Float blocks of wood in the water for the players to hit. At the end of the game divide the tossed objects up between the players to keep.
Invitations
- Backwards Invitation – Write the information backwards so it will have to be read in a mirror. Great for a Spy or Detective Party!
- Jigsaw Invitation – Paste a picture(s) you like to one side of a piece of card stock, put party information of the back, and cut the page into four to ten pieces . Deliver in an envelope. The receiver will have to tape it back together to get the message.
- Balloon Pop Invitation – Stick the invite inside a balloon, then blow it up. They’ll have to pop the balloon to get the invitation.
- Original Invitations – Write or print out the party invites on sticky labels and then attach them to interesting objects:
- plastic shovels for a beach party
- plastic fish for a pool party
- bananas for a jungle party
- boxes of animal crackers for an animal party
- packages of flower seeds for a Spring party
Party Food
First, serve small amounts. Children can always help themselves to more, but party food often goes uneaten, and less on their plates at one time means less wasted
Fruit Kebabs: skewered strawberries, pineapple, grapes, apple or watermelon pieces go great. Tailor them to the season and your kids’ preferences. Blunt the skewers if possible
Freeze small eatables, such as cake decorations, maraschino cherries, gummy bears, grapes, etc. inside ice cubes for the party drinks. Excellent to use if you want the guests to drink fizzy water instead of soda (to keep the sugar intake down)
Ice Cream Soup: Most kids love playing with their ice cream. Give each child a bowl with a scoop of ice cream in it and have sprinkles, chocolate chips, raisins or candies available for garnishing
Serving ice cream cones? Stuff a miniature marshmallow down the cone to keep the end from dripping
Drinks can easily be themed by slipping designs over the straws. Just put your design on squares of paper (magnifying glass for detectives, skull and crossbones for pirates, glittered stars for fairies) and cut two slits in the paper for the straw
Set out plates of cut veggies for kids to ‘graze’ from. Avoid dips for hygienic reasons unless kids get their own cups to dip in.
Decorations, etc
- Balloons: – Balloons make the best decorations!
Make your party easy to find by having balloons visible near the street in front of your place. If it’s a tricky street to find, place balloons on the corner.
Bunches of balloons tied together work better than single balloons. Tie with bright coloured ribbon.
An uneven number looks better than an even number
Hang balloons down from the ceiling, on different lengths of fishing line or dental floss, to give the impression of suspended balloons
Tie ribbons or streamers to the tops of balloons before taping to the ceiling and let the streamers dangle down
- Blow them up the day of the party. If left too long balloons will begin to sag.
- Streamers: - add to the festive atmosphere.
- Gather six to eight streamers together at one end and attach them to the centre of the party room ceiling or some other focal point. Twist them as you move towards the point that you are attaching the opposite end to. Fan streamers out from focal point. For two tone streamers, twist two contrasting colours together.
- A beaded curtain or streamers over the entrance.
Spooky Party – freeze water in a plastic surgical glove to create a floating hand in the punch bow. Remove glove before putting in drink.
Loot Bags: – Reuse, reduce and recycle.
Party expenses can be daunting. Rather than buying new, inexpensive toys that have a short amusement span, buy clean second hand toys from garage sales and thrift stores – this is a great way to get quality items for a small budget and is good for the environment. Get a variety of gifts, wrap them and put a number on them. As guests leave, have them draw a number from a hat. They get the gift with the matching number to open when they get home
Party bags can be plain brown bags or boxes that cereal, granola bars, and other miscellaneous stuff comes in, covered or decorated ahead of time. Easy to theme. Mystery loot ‘bags’ can be made black and covered with questions marks. Cowboy loot ‘bags’ can be covered with horses and lined with ‘hay’ on the inside.
Party favours or prize suggestions: Magnets, bubbles, cookie cutters, notebooks, sea shells, marbles, sponges, pipe cleaners, fancy shoelaces, bicycle spoke decorations
Thank you’s: Have your child write out thank you notes – Thank you for coming to my party – ahead of time and insert them in the loot bags that the guests take home.
Presents Alternative: Request that guests bring a wrapped, gently-used paperback book that they have enjoyed reading and are ready to pass on. The presents are exchanged, and everyone goes home with a new book.
- The above idea can be used with dolls, cars, board games and many other items.
Common Sense:
- If you are having a treasure hunt, play that first or the items might be found before they should be
- Have a balance of quiet and active games planned. Kids have a rhythm of 20 minutes or so, which is a good time to go from one type of activity to another
- Allow some free time for the children to just play or be with each other. Have some dress-up clothes or cars and trucks or building or art materials available for them to create with, but allow their play to come from inside them rather than structuring them full-time
- Make sure young guests can’t lock themselves in the bathroom
- Put valuables and breakables out of the party area
- Be sure you can reach the parents if you need to
Always have a first aid kit and emergency numbers within easy reach