Nancy Drew Party–The Mystery!

On Friday night, each girl put together their own “sleuthing kit.”  I found little cosmetic bags at the Dollar Spot at Target.  I had planned to iron on their initials as a monogram before hand, but didn’t have enough letter A’s for all of our party guests who’s names begin with “A.”  Each girl chose a flashlight, magnifying glass, ribbon headband (Nancy may not need this in her sleuthing kit, but she wore them a lot.)  There were also small notebooks that the girls decorated with scrapbook paper and individual name labels I had made before.  Most of the contents came from Target (dollar spot) or Oriental Trading Co.  It is good the magnifying glasses came in a pack of 12, because they kept breaking, but what do you expect for the price?   I had Kira open up a few presents that night, including new PJs, the game Clue Jr., and the movie, Nancy Drew.  So that took care of the rest of the activities for the evening.

 In the morning I made the girls breakfast (aierdach and Orange Julius–I’ll share recipes later).  A package from Nancy Drew arrived on the doorstep.  It had Kira’s sleuthing kit–including the notebook from my last post, and a secret message pen with a black light for revealing the messages–some super sleuthing clothes, and a letter from Nancy, explaining that Kira had inherited her fictional Great Aunt Gertrude’s estate if she could find the will.

I took the girls to a friends vacant home where pieces of the will had been scattered.  Together they had to find the pieces and put it together to see what it said.  (Kira’s kit also included scotch tape).  The will explained why the aunt was leaving the fortune to Kira and not her evil son, and said that Aunt Gertrude had taken the money and bought things she thought Kira would like and hid them somewhere in her home.  “If Kira is a bright as they say she is, she will have no trouble reading between the lines, and figuring out where her inheritance is.”  The words “bright” and “reading between the lines” we red and italicized.  With a little guidance, they recognized these as clues and used her black light to reveal the next clue.  Can you see it in the picture?  The next clue was typed very small so they had to use their magnifying glasses, and the third clue was written in code.  Nancy had sent the key to Kira, but somehow it didn’t make it to the house, so it took a little longer to figure it out, but it sent Kira to the shower, where all of the presents were waiting in a box.

The funniest part was that as we were leaving the house, I told the girls that we needed to get out of there before any bad guys came (really we just needed to hurry or there wouldn’t be any time for cake and ice cream).  When we got in the van, there was a big mean-looking black truck that started in our direction and the girls were convinced it was Ralph (the evil son).  We even took a different route home to make sure he didn’t follow us!  They were pretty into it!

We wrapped up the party by opening presents, eating cake and ice cream, and taking mug shots of the girls, that I am going to use in the thank-you cards.  I think they all had a great time (except maybe for the guest that got the stomach flu, but we think she is all better, now.)!

CASE CLOSED!