Whew! The past few weeks have just flown by! As of late, my ability to post all that’s happening in our lives (and in my mind) has been nearly impossible, but I couldn’t let another week pass without sharing how we were wonderfully catapulted into our busy December… by none other than our adventurous Boy Number Three, Levi.
This year, he was all about undercover spy stuff.
Because I agreed with my husband that I would not go overboard, I did not spend all of my time making a piñata, birthday cake, and other food stuff. Instead, I spent all of my time planning party activities and creating printables to go with them. (Note: Husband did not define “overboard.” My excuse is that I just couldn’t resist. I’ve always secretly wanted to be a spy, so it was natural for me to go a little nuts with planning this party.)
As with all super-secret agent gadgets, we delivered our invitations incognito…
Well… maybe we only delivered about five like this. The rest we invited via Facebook.
This is the first party in which I have actually planned and implemented activities that required facilitation. This whole thing was sort of an immersion environment, so let’s just take a trip through it, shall we?
Upon arrival, all agents were to report to Security Checkpoint for fingerprinting and to obtain their secret codename and spy gear.
David insisted on having guests randomly draw for their names, so he numbered the agent codename adjective and noun labels I’d made for this very purpose…
With names like Black Light, Basic Lava, and Shocking Cuckoo Clock, this activity ended up a major hit with both kids – and adults!
I originally made fingerprint cards, but instead of using those, we opted to just put one fingerprint on their badges.
The Spy Gear also ended up being their party favors. They each had a magnifying glass, agent notebook, pen, code decryption sheet, and sunglasses. (I purchased a case of real magnifying glasses from Dollar Tree. Did you know you can purchase cases of stuff from Dollar Tree? I didn’t until I was desperately searching for a place to buy real magnifying glasses in bulk quantities!)
Until all agents arrived, the spy training facility was off limits…
…but once agents were debriefed, the barricade was removed. First was the Laser Tripwire Agility Drill, set to the Mission Impossible Theme.
Next, we tested our detective skills at the Spy Five-Senses Station (set to Inspector Gadget Instrumental Version). Using magnifying glasses, agents-in-training attempted to identify six different candy types by sight. Next, they tasted six other types of candy for identification purposes and used their sense of smell to identify ten different types of spices and other items (from Levi’s “smelling exhibit”). We used our sense of touch to identify random items inside the caution box, and then we listened to about 30 different sound effects to identify what they were.
Then it was time to Pass the Dynamite. We found that using the timer did not work because they accidentally kept pressing the buttons as they were frantically passing it. Instead, we used our Secret Agent music (sort of like musical chairs) to pass the fake dynamite. How did we make fake dynamite? Click here to find out!
Our spy music playlist consisted of:
Secret Agent Man
James Bond
Mission Impossible (Theme)
The Pink Panther
Inspector Gadget (Instrumental Version)
Select songs from the Cars 2 Soundtrack
{I really liked a whole bunch of the tracks from the The Essential Movie Soundtracks (40 Tracks), so I got the whole shebang for future super-hero parties and whatnot.}
As the children were eliminated from the Pass-the Dynamite game, they tested their abilities to construct and then demolish towers in the Bomb Squad Demolition area.
Then we enjoyed some Target Practice with nerf guns.
After everyone had a chance to attempt to shoot the red balloons, we had a Bomb Diffusion exercise where they had to pop all the balloons, one of which contained the first clue to our secret spy mission.(The mission had been read to them during debriefing before spy training commenced.)
As the group took off on a mission to find the icing hijacker, I think The Pink Panther Theme was playing in the background. (But the William Tell Overture would have better fit the pace of the stampede which was running through our house.) Finally, they discovered who stole the icing.
It was none other than Betty Crocker herself.
As Ralphie would say, “In the jungles of kid-dom, the mind switches gears rapidly.”
Thus, it was time to demolish the Secret Agent Pull-String Piñata…
…before coming back inside to destroy the evidence by consuming large amounts of junk food.
The Evidence
- Dynamite Sticks: Slim Jims
- Cherry Bombs: Cherries
- Code Crackers: Cheez-Its
- Cryptic Cubes: Cheese Cubes
- Dangerous Darts: Veggie Sticks
- Blazin’ Bullets: Puffy Cheetos
- Mystery Munchies: Crunchy Cheetos
- Hot-on-the-Trail Mix: Trail Mix
- Liquid Adrenaline: Hugs Drinks
My other ideas (that did not make it to our counter in time) were…
- Tied-Up-In Knots: Twist Pretzels
- Right-On Targets: Cheerios
- Disappearing Ink Pens: Pretzel Sticks dipped in chocolate
- Cipherin’ Sweets: M&Ms
- Short Fuses: Pretzel sticks dipped in red candy
The cake? Well… I just bought some pre-made cakes from Walmart and pasted them all together with icing to look a bit like a magnifying glass. We added a bit of Cool Whip and voila! (See? I told you I didn’t spend much time making the cake!)
Happy Birthday to Secret Agent Shocking Cuckoo Clock! You are one dynamite kid!
Secret Agent Party Printables
Eventually I hope to split this very long, picture-heavy post into separate ones, but until then… here are the party printables. We printed them on card stock and attached binder clips to hold them upright.
The fonts used for these party printables are Star Jedi, Google Spies, and OCR-Extended.
Download the Printables
- Secret Agent Codename Adjective and Noun Labels
- Spy Party Printables: Games, Favors, and Food
- Secret Agent Invitation – Postcard Size
- Secret Agent Invitation – Narrow – Full Size
- Secret Agent Invitation – Ink pen size
- Fingerprint Cards – Large
- Fingerprint Cards – Small
Although I ended up custom-making my own signs and labels because I could not find any to match all of what I wanted, much of the inspiration I found for this party can be found on my Spy Party Pinterest Board.
Affiliate links are included in this post so that we can offer our party printables free. When you use these links, it provides a commission to us, which in turn provides an incentive for us to make more party resources for you. Thanks!