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I found an awesome spy party idea on Pinterest and pretty much copied it verbatim. Here's the link to the blog post from that creative mom. Why "reinvent the wheel", right??
The invites.
Andrew and his buds from church like to play spies so it was perfect for them. He had friends six friends over counting his cousin, Jeremiah. Everyone came that was invited. I hope it was because they liked Andrew (and I'm sure they do) but I really think those super cool invites made them want to come!
Wade drove the 3.5 hours to pick his dad up to bring him and drove home after eating dinner with this dad another 3.5 hours to get back home. I hate that he has to do this for his dad to come visit but his dad cannot drive that distance anymore. It was Tom's first time seeing our house. He was in awe. He loved it. He especially liked his "guest suite" downstairs and said, "I may not want to leave." Ha ha.
The party activities took place on our west porch (aka, side porch). It was the perfect day - weather wise - and the porch was the perfect spot - out of the sun, not inside, etc. When the boys arrived, Elizabeth fingerprinted them and we passed out their NSA badges with their agent IDs and gave them their folders with the plans for their time at the National Spy Academy.
The boys played for a few minutes while everyone arrived. Then I corralled them in, had them open their folders explaining our order of events briefly and we got started.
Their first "activity" was a word search but I had included the answers in the back of their folders and told them we would skip that and go on to the next. I had included it in case it was needed for while the boys arrived and we were fingerprinting but things went differently and that was okay. (All these activities can be found here.)
CODE BREAKING
So our true first activity was a page of codes with ciphers that they set out as a group decoding. I have to say it was interesting to see how the boys did at this.
MEMORY TRAINING
We played this game at a friend's house last year. I was amazed at how simple it is but how fun it is. I put several items on a tray and had them covered with a towel before we started. I told them they would be given 30 seconds to see what was on the tray and remember what they could. It would then be covered and they would see how many things they could remember. I don't have any photos of this because I was holding the tray (and running the party) and we all know that if the photographer doesn't ask someone to take a photo of them then they rarely get a photo of them. ;) No one got them all.
PASS THE DYNAMITE
A very simple game that is a spin on Hot Potato, but the boys loved it. I thought for sure they'd catch on that it was a spin on the "childish" game but if one of them did, no one said anything. I had collected some paper towel rolls over the last few weeks, wrapped them in red tissue paper and then wrapped black cardstock around them attaching a kitchen timer to that. I had planned on using electrical tape like the blogger mom had but at the time all of Wade's workshop items were still boxed and covered because of us awaiting some sheet-rocking that needed to be done in the basement (a whole other story). You make due with what you got. I did buy the kitchen timer at Dollar Tree for a buck. The cheapest I could find at Walmart (that was a small one that would fit on the "dynamite") was $5. The photos I took of this activity make me smile when I look at them. :)
The "dynamite" was falling apart by the time we finished our last round. I think they would have liked playing a few more times if it wasn't. It was good to keep things moving though.
LASER-BEAM AVOIDANCE
Aka, limbo. ;) They had to see how low they could go under a laser beam which was red yarn. My brother-in-law, Jon, helped Wade out in holding the line for them to go under. It started out easy...
But got lower...
And even lower... (hee hee)
BOMB SQUAD
The blogger who had this on her site did this activity inside. Wade assured me that we could do it outside on the porch. I think he was all for keeping these rowdy boys outside as much as possible. ;) So we did and it worked. Except we didn't have enough "bombs". I had bought only one pack of black water balloons for $3 that included only 35 balloons. I didn't want to buy more because they were on the high side. We had the boys count to ten and then someone counted to see how many bombs were diffused. Our fourth to the last boy got a little carried away and didn't stop when we got to 10 which left only one balloon left. Lori, my sister, came up with the idea that the last three close their eyes and see who is the first to pop it. We did it. It worked. I think they were okay with that. I was just glad there were no broken hands with the hammering of their fists on the concrete porch to pop the balloons. (We only allowed them to use their hands because that is the way a secret agent would diffuse a bomb.)
After this game, the boys played some football while we waited on the pizza and other guests to arrive. My parents and some other adult friends were coming at four after all the games. I don't think they know all the fun they missed out on. ;)
Side Note: Do you notice the beauty of our surroundings when you look at these pictures? I know the Lord has blessed us with a beautiful home, but I am daily inspired by the amazing creation I see out my window. For us it is truly our own little slice of heaven. I love the fields, woods and mountains that are "our view". I love watching the wildlife and how excited I get when I see a deer or turkey (or skunk or squirrel, etc). (Now back to the party....)
EVIDENCE DESTROYING
This "activity" was the eating of food and cupcakes. Andrew and Elizabeth made the cupcakes. He wanted lemon cupcakes and we made the recipe from Tasty Kitchen for "That's the Best Frosting I've Ever Had!" (Yes, it's called that! LOL) I have made it once before and it's very good. Because I was afraid we'd run out of cupcakes (a box of Duncan Hines lemon cake mix made 24) and because I was afraid some of the boys wouldn't like lemon cake, I picked up a six pack of chocolate cupcakes from Walmart's bakery.
During the dessert "destruction" our doorbell rang. At the foot of the front door was an MP3 player with a post-it stuck to it that said, "urgent - listen to message immediately". It also had a folder that said "confidential"on it. Inside was a paper with little squares and rectangles cut out on it. It confused the boys but they soon realized what it was for. We hooked the MP3 player to our sound system and Wade's voice came on saying (if not exact this is almost exact to what the other blogger had on hers):
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 on a table on the back patio.
Be careful - and good luck!
When they ran out to our back porch, they found a folded paper on the table that said:
The italicized letters spelled out "The cow is in the graveyard." I also had cut out a cipher where when they laid it over the letter only the italicized letters were shown. (I followed the other blogger's instructions on making this.) Really, the other boys had no clue what this meant and it took Andrew two seconds to realize what it meant and then he shouted, "the bovine graveyard!". This was his crazy, scared face when he told the boys they had to go to the bovine graveyard. LOL
They all went running toward the back right corner of our field where on the neighboring property a farmer in many years past (and really quite recent) would take his dead cows to decay. There are LOTS of bones so we have dubbed it "the bovine graveyard".
After some looking they found the next clue nailed to a fence post (I had fun doing all this and my dear son was engrossed on the computer that morning oblivious to his mother's doings!)
One of the boys picked up a large bone from our field while they were deciphering the clue. He asked, "what's this?" I replied, "a cow's bone". He quickly dropped it. It was so funny.
The paper was inside the bag along with a pencil for them to write it out. It said, "the fire is in the pit". They took off again running to our "ring of fire" in the woods.
For this clue I type it up, and then pasted it in Microsoft Paint so I could turn it backwards and print it out that way. I probably could have done it in Photoshop but this was a very simple way. I burned the edges a bit for effect. A mirror was put with the clue. After I had placed it there earlier that day, Wade had finished working outside, came in for a shower, and soon wanted to know where his mirror was. LOL I told him it was being used.
Andrew's face cracks me up here. He looks so worried.
The boys quickly figured out that meant the grill. I had hidden their treat bags there. They got them and started digging inside to see what goodies were in there (magnifying glass, Airheads, 100 Grand bars, play money, and a lot of other goodies - I always get carried away with treat bags). At this point we came back inside and opened gifts. The boys played until their parents showed up. They all had a great time and I heard from several parents how much fun they did have. I was happy, of course, but I knew Andrew had a great time and I think I had as much fun or more putting it all together.
Thanks to "Lunar Daughter" who took the time and energy to plan this party for her son and then share it with the world for us to use!!
So you think you can outsmart me but I have ruined many a birthday party and other celebrations (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, you name it!). I steal candles, party hats, cups and presents whenever I wish. I will continue to fight every dreadful attempt of yours to have fun. Children like you should not have parties so I will ruin every birthday and YOU can NOT stop me!
Dr. Chaos
They all went running toward the back right corner of our field where on the neighboring property a farmer in many years past (and really quite recent) would take his dead cows to decay. There are LOTS of bones so we have dubbed it "the bovine graveyard".
After some looking they found the next clue nailed to a fence post (I had fun doing all this and my dear son was engrossed on the computer that morning oblivious to his mother's doings!)
Here's that clue:
One of the boys picked up a large bone from our field while they were deciphering the clue. He asked, "what's this?" I replied, "a cow's bone". He quickly dropped it. It was so funny.
The paper was inside the bag along with a pencil for them to write it out. It said, "the fire is in the pit". They took off again running to our "ring of fire" in the woods.
For this clue I type it up, and then pasted it in Microsoft Paint so I could turn it backwards and print it out that way. I probably could have done it in Photoshop but this was a very simple way. I burned the edges a bit for effect. A mirror was put with the clue. After I had placed it there earlier that day, Wade had finished working outside, came in for a shower, and soon wanted to know where his mirror was. LOL I told him it was being used.
This clue read:
So you think you’re on my heels?
This final clue has only two wheels.
This final clue has only two wheels.
Put your burgers and chicken in it
After you add charcoal and it’s lit.
If you don’t find your goodies soon
The TNT is going to go…
BOOM!
Andrew's face cracks me up here. He looks so worried.
The boys quickly figured out that meant the grill. I had hidden their treat bags there. They got them and started digging inside to see what goodies were in there (magnifying glass, Airheads, 100 Grand bars, play money, and a lot of other goodies - I always get carried away with treat bags). At this point we came back inside and opened gifts. The boys played until their parents showed up. They all had a great time and I heard from several parents how much fun they did have. I was happy, of course, but I knew Andrew had a great time and I think I had as much fun or more putting it all together.
Thanks to "Lunar Daughter" who took the time and energy to plan this party for her son and then share it with the world for us to use!!
