Hellobee

We have had a lot of fun throwing Lil’ Pizza themed birthday parties over the years, including parties with a unicorn theme and a tea party theme. Lil’ Pizza was set on having a detective themed birthday party since she dressed up as a detective for Halloween.

When I looked for ideas online, I wanted the activities to be fun and challenging for a wide age range of kids and had to keep in mind that most of the kids were beginner readers. Most of the kids were in kindergarten, but we had some younger siblings and older friends. The older kids were a big help when they had to read clues set up around the house.

I kept the decorations to a minimum and decorated one wall with a letter board and yellow “crime scene” tape that worked out nicely for a group picture. The guests were “detectives in training” and we set up six different activities around the house. Mr. Pizza, aka the birthday party entertainer, guided them through each of the activities.

Activity 1: Identification – making detective ID cards

As the kids arrived, I took pictures of each of them with my Instax camera. They wrote their name, age, and alias on the card and I had my friend cut out the pictures and laminate them while the kids continued on with the other activities. It’s always cute to see what the kids think of for their alias. I should start calling my kids “Joy Love” and “Ruffy.”

Activity 2: Physical – the laser maze challenge

This took about 15 minutes for Mr. Pizza and I to set up in the morning. We got red yarn and masking tape and set it up in our hallway. When it was time for the laser maze challenge, we lined up the kids and had them go one by one through the red yarn. Mr. Pizza kept the kids waiting occupied by having them cheer on the “detective” going through the maze and making sounds like an alarm going off if they touched the yarn. We were sure to tell the kids that this was training and mistakes were bound to happen. This definitely alleviated some pressure for some of the kids who were initially too nervous to go through the maze.

Activity 3: Instinct – a guessing game

For this activity, we made a mystery box with two holes for the kids to put their hands in. We had each of the kids take turns putting their hands in to guess the object. We told them they had to be discrete detectives and not give away their answer until everyone had a chance to feel the object. They did a great job waiting until the end when Mr. Pizza let them shout out the answers. I wasn’t sure if the kids would last so long with this one, but they were able to go through three rounds (we used slime, a kid’s camera, and a stuffed animal).

Activity 4: Memory – a memory game

For this activity, we divided the kids up into two groups. After they had a chance to look at the kids in the other group, we pulled up a large blanket between them while a kid in one of the groups hid under a blanket. Then we dropped the blanket and the other group had to guess who was hiding. For an added challenge, we would only drop the blanket for a short period of time and lift it up again and then have the team make a guess.

Activity 5: Accuracy – hitting a target

We set up a bullseye target on the wall and put a small balloon at the very center. We used a small stuffed animal and had the kids take turns throwing the stuffed animal at the target.

Activity 6: Decoding –  decoding the secret message

The kids worked on decoding a secret message with the secret code maker that I made ahead of time.

Now, I would have been happy with all of those activities, but Mr. Pizza said that it couldn’t be a detective party without a case to solve. He had a good point! Lil’ Pizza had mentioned to me that she wanted to look for candy so the case was to find the missing candy. We told the kids while they were decoding that someone had stolen candy from the party… there was a candy thief! Each of the six activities they had done had a sign posted which gave them their first clue. Once the signs were flipped, it made a 6-piece puzzle that ended up having this message:

The message led the little detectives to look for more clues throughout the house, which finally led them to the candy thief…. me! Everyone had a good time except the birthday girl who was a little sad at the end of solving the case to find that her own mother was a thief (of course, this would happen right??). BUT still, I count the party as a success because everything went smoothly and the guests had a great time.

After they completed the case, we had lunch and celebrated with Lil’ Pizza’s favorite chocolate cake which she has requested for the past three years. We also danced and sang with disco lights and a karaoke mic because that’s always a big hit with the kids. My 3-year-old is already requesting a wolf themed birthday party in June…we’ll see about that one!