Spy Party

My oldest boy wanted to have a spy party for his 8th birthday. Who can blame him? I mean, don’t all of us enjoy a little nosing around and code cracking?

I soon discovered how creative you can get when throwing a secret agent party. The theme of the party, games, decorations, and crime solving activities are so imaginative and fun! If I do say so myself, the party was a huge success, all the kids grinning with excitement. I have to admit that I had just as much fun as they did.

If you would like to have a spy / secret agent party for your child then you can find below everything you need for the party. And I mean EVERYTHING! From the story behind it, to party cake, to decorations, to spy activities. You’ll even get the crime-solving story and clues in rhymes, ready to be used in your own party.

You? All you need to do is read this post and make sure you have everything you need to through the best spy party ever.

Background

The theme of the party is that all the guests have been summoned to a spy agency, in order to undergo training as secret agents. Following this secret agent training, they are declared qualified to take part in their first top secret mission.

Secret Agent Party Invitations

In order get the kids into a sleuthing mood, send out a top secret folder that contains a spy party invitation with a secret code – the password for entry to the party – and a cipher code to help them crack that password. This will get the kids inquisitive and enthusiastic before the party has started.

Our spy invitation includes a party password in cipher code that is editable. Once you download the file you'll be able to edit the text with your own party details, including the party password that once edited will output your text in cipher code automatically.

The kids get this cipher code together with the invitation:

When the kids open the secret folder they will have great fun decrypting the party password.  

Secret Agent Party Decorations

To further enhance the secret agent mood, the following spy decorations are available online (not included in our spy collection):

• Red, black and white balloons
• Red table cover
• Crime Scene Tape that you can stick to the floor, on the front door, or even wrap around tables and chairs

Our spy party offer does include all the following customized party decorations shown below. You change the name, age, date, time, address etc and can also personalize any other text you wish to, before printing them out:

 

The full spy party collection includes 16 items such as spy cupcake wrappers, spy cupcake toppers, spy food labels, spy water bottle labels (Truth Serum) etc.

It’s Party Day - Secret Agent Code Names and ID Cards

On party day, the birthday child greets his/her friends at the door, asking each of them to whisper the password in his ear. After the birthday child approves their entry, each is given a secret agent ID badge and is told to select their own code name.

You can give them the ID badge with the agent name and code name both left blank, for them to fill-in with a pen at the party. They really enjoy choosing their own code names.

Alternatively, you can fill-in the details for them in advance and have the ID badges ready for them. If you happen to have photos of each of the guests, you can replace the spy shadow with each child’s photo.

These clear plastic ID badge holders and neck lanyards are available from Amazon. They help the kids hold onto the badges and ensure that they will have an intact ID badge to take home.

You can find suggestions for secret agent code names in this list or make up your own. Here is our secret agent codename list.

Once all the guests have their code names, get them in a circle and ask each secret agent to say their code name out loud, each in their turn, so everyone know their friends’ code names. From that moment on, until the end of the party, encourage them to use only their code names. Especially when cheering for their friends during the activities. I mean, isn’t it more fun to shout “Red Ninja” or “Black Shadow” than “Billy” or “Johnny?”

Spy Music

Prepare a list of spy songs to play at the party. Here’s a list of fun, child-friendly spy songs.

If you have a small projector and want to bring it to the next level, you can even show some spy kids trailers during the first few minutes, until all guests have arrived.

Party Activities – Let the Fun Begin

After all the children have arrived and received their ID badges and code names, they are ready to embark on their first secret agent activity, which you can split into two. The first part includes secret agent academy training and the second part consists of going on a top secret mission!! Woo-hoo!!

Depending on the desired length of the party, you can decide whether to have either part or both.

Part 1: Secret Agent Training

If you opt to include this activity, you can start by handing each secret agent an official training program, listing all the tasks they must complete in order to be qualified.  After each activity they complete, they tick it on the list and when all are completed, they sign the secret agent academy training program.

It is easy to personalise this program and include any of your own activities. Below are the activities that I found to be the most successful and so have included them in my secret agent training program:

Master of Disguise Relay

This activity trains the secret agents to quickly change identities, a skill every spy must master.

Prepare a collection of fun and silly costume items (sunglasses, hats, scarves, mustaches, wigs, any costume you have at home)

• Divide the kids into 2 teams and organize each team in a line.
• Place the box of disguise items between the 2 lines of kids.
• The first secret agent in each line puts on at least 2 disguise items from the box as quickly as possible, races to the other side of the room and back, and returns the disguise items to the box.
• Then the next secret agent in line does the same, until everyone has completed the activity. The first group to finish is the winner.
• Don’t forget to tick the activity on the training program card.

Throughout the activities, encourage all secret agents to cheer for their friends, using their code names.

Lie Detection

Secret agents must be able to tell if someone is lying.

Divide the kids into 2 teams. Prepare in advance a list of pairs of sentences about the birthday child. In each pair, one sentence is true and the other is false. These should be fun facts about the birthday child, making him/her feel the center of attention.

The secret agent birthday child reads out loud one of the pairs of sentences about themself and the teams guess which sentence is true and which is false. 

If time allows, you can ask for volunteers from each team to come up with 2 facts about themselves, one true and one false and let the team try to guess and detect which is which.

Following Commands

All secret agents must follow the commands of their spy agency. This game is similar to ‘Simon says’ but uses ‘Sherlock says’ instead. Organize the children in a circle and explain to the young secret agents that the famous spy Sherlock is going to command them to perform some actions. If he starts the command with ‘Sherlock says’ they must follow his orders. If he doesn’t say ‘Sherlock says’ they must NOT do as he says. Whoever doesn’t follow those rules is out.

Try to trick them by doing things that are different than what you are saying (i.e.,say ‘Sherlock says jump on one leg,’ while you begin jumping on two legs).

Laser Beam

This training activity was by far the favourite of all the secret agents at my son’s party. In fact, it was the highlight of the party.

Explain that secret agents need to know how get through laser beams, without letting the dangerous lasers touch them.

Buy any kind of roll of red ribbon or tape and setup an imaginary laser beam force field by threading red streamers through chairs, tables, stools, or any available furnishings.

Ask the secret agents to cheer for  each other, using their code names, as they pass through the laser beams, one by one.

 

Part 2: Top Secret Mission!!!

This is the part is where you can get really creative, using your imagination to develop the story behind the mission.

Before they start the mission, you might want to let them fill-in a fun form for a background check. You can put in your own silly questions, or make the questions more serious to get the kids feeling like secret agents. All the text in the file is editable. Below are some sample questions:

Now that they have passed their background check and are qualified for a top secret mission, you can let them put on a secret agent moustache so they can had their real identity.

If you have a large number of guests, split them into teams of 10 or less. When I ran the party for 30 kids, I made 3 copies of the mission details and clues so that there would be no more than 10 kids in each team.

The mission should focus on solving some kind of crime. For my son’s party, the mission involved crooks that had stolen the party goodie bags and hidden them somewhere, for the other members of their gang to collect later. The crooks left behind some clues for their mates, to lead them to the loot. Now the secret agents must use those clues to find the loot before the rest of the gang comes to get it.

This was the mission story:

I have prepared a special post with an example of this kind of special agent mission. It contains 10 clues for the special agents to crack. This type of mission is very similar to treasure hunt, only for spies. Read here for the complete spy party mission activity.

Spy Cake & Cupcakes

There are endless possibilities for designing a spy/secret agent cake. I’m not a great baker, but I managed to produce (I think) an impressive cake using a simple white frosting and some spy items made out of ready roll fondant. Since it was my son's 8th birthday I made him secret agent 008.

For cupcakes, you can decorate them with personalized paper toppers that reflect the theme of the party:

Secret Agent Goodie Bags

When it’s time to go home, hand them the goodie bags they saved. You may prefer “regular” goodies, or continue the theme with something spy-ish inside.

For my son’s party I used “official” brown envelopes with secret agent labels. Inside of each was an invisible ink pen, a top secret notebook, and a top-secret candy bar (just a Hershey chocolate bar in  special agent wrapping).

If you are sending home a candy bar, consider having a cool spy candy bar wrapper. You can personalize it with your own text, both front and back.

You can also use treat bag toppers or favour tags with a cute message for all kids who came to the party.

As with all the decorations and wrappers in our offer, you can personalize the message, for example the red text can say:THIS TREAT WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IF OPENED BEFORE LUNCH/DINNER, or any other fun text you want to put on it.

Spy-Tacular Thank You Notes

When the party is over, you might want to handout/send spy thank you cards. You can personalize the message or leave the area for text blank and write your message by hand, to give a personal touch.

Mission Accomplished!

My son’s friends left his party happy and excited and he was over the moon!

I think the secret agent party was the best party we’ve ever had. It really kept the kids engaged and it was so much fun!

Interested in all the items above at a bargain price? Get the full spy party collection for best value.