Secret Agent Training Birthday Party

Boogs is turning 10 in just a couple of days. How did he get to be in the double-digits so quickly? A couple of weeks ago, Boogs asked if he could have a mystery/spy/secret agent type of theme for his birthday party. He really enjoys coming up with ideas for his parties. We decided to make his party about secret agents training to find the missing treat bags.

He had the party yesterday. Here is the party agenda we settled on:

  

After the kids completed each training session, they had to initial the program sheet to make it "official". 

The Weapons Assembling training was to make marshmallow shooters and decorate them with duct tape. I found this amazing little tool for easily cutting pvc pipe. Each kiddo got a bag with the following pieces of pvc: 2 straight connectors, 2 end caps, 2 tee connectors, 2 elbow connectors, one 5 inch piece, one 4 inch piece, three 3 inch pieces, and three 2 inch pieces. I covered mine with pink sparkly duct tape. 

I made a TNT pinata for Disabling the bomb (Thanks One Creative Mommy for the idea). We had spy and magnifying glasses cupcake toppers. Letters that spelled out a secret code were taped all over the bouncy house for crack the code and physical conditioning. Instead of pin the tail on the donkey, we had pin the sunglasses on the secret agent for disguise work. The laser maze was set up on the side of the house. The missing treat bags were hidden until the party goers completed their training and used the clues to locate them.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much the kids enjoyed assembling their marshmallow shooters.

A couple of kiddos left their marshmallow shooters white, but most of them decorated them with different colors/themes of duct tape. I had marshmallow shooter diagrams available for the kids to use or they could come up with their own design. It was funny listening to them discuss their designs. Many had to make tweaks on airflow issues after they tried a few practice marshmallows. J4 added a scope to his.

After the recruits initialed the completion of their weapons assembly training, they were free to begin target practice. I tied string between two trees and set up a couple of rows of balloons for target practice. The kids shot at the balloons for all of ten seconds before they turned the shooters on each other. Luckily, I had them covered with protective eye wear. Some of the boys laughed and said the sunglasses were almost "too cheesy" to wear.

They had a blast shooting marshmallows at each other. My husband swiped my pink and sparkly marshmallow shooter and played, too.

Before they could initial the completion of their target practice training, the recruits had to collect all the their spent shells. (Hee hee, that was a sneaky way of making sure they picked up all the marshmallows in the yard.)

The next phase of training was navigating through a laser maze while my husband shot marshmallows at each recruit.

I used a clipboard to protect myself from incoming marshmallows. I love that my mom went through the maze, too. She is so much fun!

Once we reached the safety of the backyard it was time for a little physical conditioning, also known as "don't hurt each other in the bouncy house". While the recruits were jumping, they had to retrieve 28 letters that were taped all over the inside of the bouncy house.

I called each recruit out one at a time to write down their secret agent name on a pair of sunglasses for the Disguise Work - Pin the Sunglasses on the Secret Agent. Once everyone had chosen their name, it was time for them to line up for Disguise Work.

The recruits started arguing about where they should be in line. So, I told them they had to line up in alphabetical order by their secret agent name. (Yes, sneaky learning practice!) Axios went first and Wrath was last.

We took a break from training to have pizza, veggies, and fruit for lunch. When they were ready, we continued training with code cracking work. I let them work for a few minutes before I gave the hint that each word was a different color. They did a great job using teamwork to figure it out.

Attached to the key under the table, not this table, was a note written in a teeny tiny 3 point font. Boogs had to use a magnifying glass to read the clue to the group.

The clue said, "Use the key to unlock the fence. Look up to find what you seek. Let the birthday boy take point on this mission." The kids ran around to the front of the house and could not find what they were looking for. They eventually figured out that the key was for the back gate into the greenbelt behind our house.

They searched a couple of trees until they found the one with the missing treat bags. Boogs brought the bags to the backyard and distributed them.

The kids really liked the whoopie cushions, fake noses, and fingertip lasers best.

With bags in hand, it was time to disable the pinata bomb.

I made a strong pinata this year. It took three rounds before it broke enough for the candy to fall out.

Happy Birthday Boogs! Cupcakes for all of the secret agent training graduates.

It was a fun party and Boogs had a great time hanging out with his friends. My husband and I have decided this will be the last year for the bouncy house. The boys are getting too big and too rough to play safely in there. It made me a bit nervous when they were all in there. I had to use my "ugly voice" several times to get them to stop doing things in which people could get hurt. We had a few tears, but no permanent damage. Boogs and his friends didn't seem to mind the sneaky learning activities included in his party - STEM, ABC order, spelling, and deductive reasoning.

Boogs always comes up with great themes for his parties. Click each party word to see past birthday themes: Bug Party (3 yrs), Lego Party (6 yrs), Minecraft Party (7 yrs), Skylander Party (8yrs), and Kirby Party (9 yrs).

This post is linked to:

9th Birthday Kirby Party

Time seems to be flying by so quickly. Boogs recently turned 9-years-old. Where have the years gone? Boogs asked for a Kirby birthday party this year. He always has a few ideas about what should happen at his birthday parties. This year, he asked for a bouncy house, a scavenger hunt, a Kirby Pinata, and Pin the Hammer on King Dedede.

Every year I make Boogs a birthday shirt with his age on it. Kirby was very easy to freezer stencil on a shirt. (HERE is a quick tutorial on freezer stenciling) Boogs thought his birthday shirt was awesome!

Usually, I make the pinatas for Boogs' birthdays but I did not feel like dealing with the mess this year. So I went searching for a pinata I could use for Kirby.  I found this:

... a pink princess pinata. Boogs was not impressed when I brought it home. It was a nice shade of pink and a perfect circle. I bought a roll of pink streamers and cut up a bit of colored paper to turn this into a perfect Kirby pinata.

Boogs liked it and so did the other kids. Unfortunately, there was a light rainy drizzle during quite a bit of the party. We had to smash the pinata in the garage. The kids did not seem to mind. There was plenty of loot to go around.

The tables in the background of the picture of Boogs hitting the pinata, show our craft tables. We had pink shirts and fabric paint out on the tables so the kids could make their own Kirby face shirts. I was surprised how much they enjoyed it. One kiddo even wore his hand painted Kirby shirt to school this week. I forgot to take pictures of them working on their shirts.

Boogs helped me figure out how to make Pin the Hammer on King Dedede.

It was fun watching the kiddos try to place the hammer in King Dedede's hand. We play this classic party game every year with our different themes.

 

I spent quite a bit of time drawing Kirby faces on things for the party. I made these balloons for the kids to play balloon ping pong. Boogs asked if everyone could have their own balloon to hit instead of sharing with someone else.

 

The kids ended up playing a sort of paddle ball with the balloons. It was a good thing I made extras because several balloons went over the fence.  This simple game kept them entertained for a long time. Luckily, we had a break in the drizzle and they stayed dry during this game.

Boogs asked for a scavenger hunt game. In the Kirby games, Kirby has to collect things like stars and rings. So, I grabbed an old shape puzzle and individually wrapped some wooden shapes in pink tissue paper. My plan was for the kids to find each one, feel the shape through the numbered baggie, and use their Kirby notepads to write down their guesses for each shape. I did not hide them before the party because of the rain. Later, we ran out of time. I ended up putting the homemade Kirby notepads in each kiddos pinata favor bag.  The few kiddos who left late, had a chance to guess each shape. They really thought it was fun.

If you saw my post about Boogs' Skylander party last year, you might recognize these cans. I made them for the "Golden Can Shoot". We have played with them off and on during the past year. Last week, I took them out of the garage and taped Kirby villains onto them. One of Boogs' favorite Kirby games is Kirby Epic Yarn. We had to have something to go with that game. I wrapped a pink yarn ball around a small bouncy ball and tied it to a baseball hat.

We set the cans up in the backyard in two rows and let the kiddos take turns trying to knock them down without using their hands or dragging the yarn ball on the ground. It was harder than it looked.

It was so much fun to see the kids try to line up the yarn ball. It kept swinging in crazy directions. Everyone else cheered from the porch while they waited their turn.

Even some of the moms tried it out.

We kept having to dry out the bouncy house with towels because it was a bit dangerous with all those kids in there when it was wet. This is the only picture I took inside the bouncy house. Boogs ran in and jumped in it before his guests showed up. We love having bouncy houses at our parties. They always get a ton of use.

I freely admit that I am the world's worst baker. This is my attempt at a double layer strawberry Kirby cake. At least it tasted delicious.

After the party, Boogs thanked me for making it so much fun. He said he knew it was a lot of work to get ready and he was very happy about how it all turned out. He was glad his friends came over to help him celebrate turning 9.

I love my little boy so much. I can't believe that he will be in the double digits next year. It makes me a little sad. His father and I truly enjoy what a wonderful, goofy, sweet, funny, and kind little boy he is.

Of course, I had to make Boogs a Kirby lunch during his birthday week. I saw Anna the Red's lunch and had to copy her ham and cheese Kirby.

This post is linked to:

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday also happened to be Boogs' 9th birthday. We had a very low-key day as Boogs was still recovering from being ill the previous week. Every year on Boogs' birthday I "balloon" his door/room. Sometimes I cover his floor with balloons and sometimes I find ways to make balloons fall into his room when he opens his door. This year, I hung tie-dye balloons on his door and made several balloon animals to go with them. This was the first time I have tried to make balloon animals.

Boogs thought the red dog was the most recognizable balloon animal. He thought they were fun but was not too sure about the poodle or the crocodile.

 I even made him a swimming sea turtle hat... er... I mean belt. He was not impressed.

Look at that smile. Boogs loves singing birthday cards. This card had a dog barking and a cat meowing the birthday song.

The only thing Boogs wanted for his birthday was a Webkins Black-Footed Ferret stuffed animal. He is such a sweet boy. I love this picture of him hugging his Daddy and saying thank you.

While we were fixing breakfast, Boogs went to feed his hamster. She was no longer alive. He has had Winter since his 7th birthday. We had a very, very sad morning.

After breakfast, we had a funeral for Winter. Boogs said a few words over her grave.

We went to my Mom's house for Easter lunch. We had a little cake to celebrate Boogs' birthday.

All of Boogs' cousins were out of town, so Boogs was on his own for the egg hunt. It was raining outside so we had to have the hunt inside.

We usually do not put candy in the Easter eggs, we just put coins. My Mom put money in 12 shiny eggs and then hid 95 empty eggs as well. There are usually 5 to 9 grandchildren hunting eggs. She wanted Boogs to have lots of eggs to hunt but did not want to open a lot of eggs and fill them. Boogs had fun looking for the eggs but it was kind of sad that he had the hunt all to himself. It is times like this when I wish he was not an only child.

We spent part of our afternoon like this. That is the positive side of the cousins being out of town. We would have welcomed the chaos.

Thanks Mom for having us over and making it a fun day for Boogs!