Scooby Doo Birthday!

Scooby-doo! Where are you? What a fun theme.  To be honest it's nice not to plan a princess party, again. We started by making the evites (I always try to save a tree) it read:

Jeepers! The Creeper has been spotted in the courtyard outside of ____ Manor. We need your to help unmask the villain and solve the mystery of the missing birthday cake so we can celebrate Hannah's birthday.

The case will take place _____.

**Character Dress (even just the colors) is suggested and appreciated, but not required**

Now I had been thinking about it for a while and decided that I was going to have the kids search around for the cake. Once all the sleuths were here we headed up to our apartment where they will notice shoe prints that I've cut out and taped to the ground.

This was annoying because I didn't want to actually download the pattern, so I had to copy the shoes and clean it up a little in paint then print off a set. After I cut the first one out I made extras just by copying them by hand. There was also left over icing on the door handle. 

 

Way before the party, I printed off the pieces of paper and taped them to the wall. Then drew pictures of us onto them. They said things like : reason for possibly committing the crime and their alibi. It also mentions shoe size. 

GAMES

Before we start the search for the cake, we will play some games to get them ready.

 Who's Who:
 All of the kids hands were traced and numbered on a black board wall and they had to identify whose were whose. While I was busy tracing them the other kids were playing a game of Clue or Guess Who?


Sketch artist

 Give a description of the villain or suspect (Or in our case the missing cake!) The kids have to sketch a face to match the decrpition you give. To make it even trickier they had to draw the picture on a plate on their heads.

“Hannah’s cake is two tiers. The first tier is green with pink flowers. The bottom tier is white with colorful stripes. Around the cake are Mystery Inc. figures. Scooby doo is on top along with ‘Happy 7^th Birthday Hannah’”
 

"What would you do for a Scooby Snack?"  

We chose several "Minute to win it games" and let the kids compete against each other. The games were optional to play.
 Find more ideas here

  http://www.nbc.com/minute-to-win-it/how-to/



Whack a Villain 

I took pictures of various Scooby villains, printed them off and taped them to 8 different water bottles. You then had to put a stocking with a baseball at the bottom on  your head. With out using your hands you had to knock over as many water bottle villains as you could before the minute was up. Who ever had more knocked over wins a prize

 
Face the Cookie! 
Place a cookie on player’s forehead.  Using only your facial muscles, move the cookie to your mouth.  The kids were too smart for it and a couple of them dropped their crackers and stuck them straight in their mouths when I wasn't looking.... they were disqualified ;)

Like, Groovy Moves

Wiggle a box that is attached to your waist filled with ping-pong balls until the box is empty.

The LAST game we played was :

Cereal decoder
Cut up two identical cereal boxes, all the pieces are equal size. In teams of two have them put the picture back together. To make it harder you could mix ALL the pieces up in one pile.We made this the last game because on the back of ONE box I wrote the first clue to where the cake had been hidden.

 Clue one:
"You've played some games and had fun,
It's time for cake but your work isn't done.
(Why the party has just practically begun).
 You're going to go on quite a quest.
Start in the room where the birthday girl rests.

The kids will end up in Hannah's  room. an envelope hanging from a balloon. We decided the next clue needed to be backwards. So the kids had to go to the bathroom to read it.

 Clue two:
Nice work, gang you found this clue!
I'm sure you know the next thing to do.
Bring your decoding page and head out the door
to the place where you'd roast tons of s'mores.

The kids then rush outside to the courtyard in our complex to the BBQ pit. The game continues for as long as you want. While they were outside it was a great time for us to pull the cake out of it's hiding spot. If there is another adult at the party have them do it. A great suggestion was: put it on the table. If you keep it hidden in the box imagine how excited all those kids are coming towards it... results? smashed cake.

Meanwhile at the BBQ pit... we decided it needed to be harder so we made them decode half of the message

 Clue  three: 
You are great detectives. that's the scoop

your next clue is hidden where you throw away dog poop

 
Which led them to one of the two doggie waste baskets outside out complex. No, it was not in a garbage. it was taped to the back of one of the signs... this way it was harder to see during the game.

Clue four
Add soap and water to this mix,
to get out dirt, grim and twix.
Your clothes will smell great and look it too,
in the room where you'll find the next clue

This brought them to the final clue by our laundry room. It read:

Clue five/ last one
The search is almost over, we're nearing the end
Go back to where the party Began.
It's time to sing "Happy Birthday" and make a wish
it's time to eat cake- we know it's delish. 

When the kids made it back to the dinning room the cake was all set up and ready to sing Happy Birthday!!


Photo props
Scooby Doo Cake