What do you do for a girl obsessed with clue hunting and mysteries? Throw a Nancy Drew Birthday party of course!

For this invitation, I scanned the front and back of a Nancy Drew book to get color and text placement ideas. Then, I took some very silly photos of my daughter peeking around a bedroom closet doorway.

In photoshop, I tried (unsuccessfully) to give the photo a more “painterly” quality, and ended up with something not very close to what I envisioned but what I spent far less time trying to achieve. Then, using Illustrator, I created the yellow boxes, text and bar code. And after a simple upload to CostcoPhotoCenter.com, I will glue/tape the two 5×7 photos back to back and mail off in a nice white envelope. Done!

Decorations:

Now, lets talk decorations. It was tough to pick out a color scheme for this one, because Nancy Drew doesn’t necessarily radiate any particular hue. So, I put on my thinking cap and chose purple and black.

I started with plain black construction paper, and cut large question marks till I couldn’t any more. Then, I created some fingerprints and bootprints, and printed them on repositionable clear window decals (inkjet compatible, available at Staples). If you have ever read any of my other posts about our birthday parties, you already know that there are a ton of windows in my home, perfect for adhering all party décor. Oh, but the bootprints were (obviously) stuck to the floor.

We decided on a popcorn “bar” as one element of the snack table. I saw the coolest jar labels here and borrowed the idea for these fabulous jars I found at Cost Plus World Market. I used a little more of that black construction paper in 6 x 12″ strips and wound them into a cone shape (with one simple staple) to serve up this popular snack.

Lastly, I had so much leftover paper and scraps and supplies from invitations and trial printing of fingerprints and letters, that I used them for garlands. I used an 1.5″ punch for the papers and backed them with an 1.5″ Avery round sticker (printed with, what else, question marks) and strung them with 1/8″ silver ribbon. Scotch tape works pretty well on painted drywall and (usually) comes off cleanly.

Craft Project:

To set up, we used a 6ft table, covered in paper and little baskets full of supplies. There was glittery foam stickers, paint, dot markers, glue sticks, jewels, sticky foam sheets and crayons.

For that “official” feeling, I created an “ID Badge” for each child, with their name, a space for them to draw their own face and put a fingerprint. After they were done with their badges, I put them in plastic holders and tied them with a ribbon to wear around their necks.

Each child also had a clue journal to decorate. I found these at (where else) Oriental Trading Co. These were a spiral bound notebook with a canvas feeling cover, good for paint or even crayons.

Mystery Hunt:

Alright, let’s get right down to it… How many mom’s are just terrified of organizing a mystery hunt? Okay I guess it was just me.

I was able to hide most of the clues before the party even started, but a few were left to the very last minute, just in case someone stumbled upon it. I had the moms take the kids out front until everything was finished, and while they were out there, they were given some guidelines (okay, rules). I divided the kids into two teams – I did this myself so that no feelings would be hurt by a child not being picked – and put a strip of colored tape on their shirt (blue or orange). Each team had a mom helper also with tape on them.

Both teams would search for the same clues, just in a different order (then maybe it wouldn’t feel like a race, and nobody would get trampled). Each clue was put into a ziplock bag with a strip of team tape on it, so you wouldn’t accidentally grab the other team’s clue. Some of the baggies also had a puzzle piece to collect (more on that at the end of the mystery hunt description).

Here were my clues, printed out on plain paper and taped to a 4×6 card of our purple and black question mark design.

1- a close up photo of my washing machine

2- inside the washing machine, “not the wet but the DRY”

3- inside the dryer, “Mirror, mirror on the wall… Who is the fairest of them all?”

4- taped to my full length closet mirror, “find a way to press PLAY” (this was printed backwards)

5- the tv/DVD player in the bedroom, when they pressed play it revealed a close up photo of the numbered storage lockers in our mudroom

6- inside the number 32 locker, “You are nearby, which TWO numbers added equal SEVEN?”

7- inside locker number 25, “A secret massage has been MAILED to you, hurry!”

8- inside the mailbox along with a magnifying glass was the clue printed very tiny, “go to the shelf with all the toys. find the toy car with your team color tape on the bottom. you will be given your next clue.”

9- they handed the mom their team toy car and were given a close up photo of the microwave in our pretend kitchen

10-inside the toy microwave, “LEMON aid for sale! Get your LEMON aid here!”

11-at the lemon tree in the backyard was a baggie with play dough in it and a clue that read, “I’m lost! Can you help me find my home?”

12-in the playdough drawer (yes, i have a play dough drawer), “Don’t get WET in this place you get CLEAN, just look for your clue near the DRAIN.”

13-in the bathtub was a cell phone, a mom was standing nearby and called the number to tell the team to meet at the fireplace.

If your family is at that stage where the children really don’t feel comfortable with competitions, then this might work well for you. Remember the puzzle pieces they were collecting? Well, each team only had half of the pieces for the final puzzle, they had to all come together to put the pieces in to solve the mystery of the “What is missing from this party?” The puzzle led them to the pantry where the goodie bags were hiding. It was SPECTACULAR! and it took the kids a while to get through the game.

My sweet daughter had a BLAST mystery hunting with her friends. When the party dust finally settled, I decided to offer this Mystery Printable Birthday party in the shop – because, doesn’t everyone like to solve a good mystery now and then?