Nancy Drew Mystery Party

For Bailey's 11th Birthday she wanted to have a Nancy Drew Party! We lucked out and one of the office ladies at the school lent us her Nancy Drew Mystery Game for the party! We started preparing for the party by creating some fun invitations for the 10 girls from school that Bailey planned to invite. Once the invitations went out I had to get to work planning the details. The party was set to have 5 different stations that would lead the girls to solving the mystery. To begin I made each of our guests a Clue Book to keep all the information they gathered written down.

Then I planned to create a fun scene for each of the places for the Game. We staged Nancy's house in the living room, where all the girls could fit easily and listen to the CD for clues. Next was the Crime Scene, complete with Crime Scene tape we tipped over the chair, left the girls a series of clues provided by the game, and made sure to provide a handful of "red herring" clues to throw them off track (and boy did it!). They then were instructed to check out the Cyber Cafe, an area we set up outside with some clues, and a few traditional Nancy Drew snacks including Lemon Bars and Blondies for the girls to snack on while they researched the clues. Next they moved onto the Psychic Shop which was staged in the cabana behind the pool. We covered the table with a black table cloth, tarot cards, even a green garden ball that worked great as a "crystal ball"! Once we lit the incense the stage was complete! Finally the girls visited the "Police Station" to see who the police were considering as prime suspects! Once the girls finished the Mystery Game it was time for a little pizza and fruit smoothies, followed by Bailey opening her gifts. We rounded out the party with cake and started to watch the Nancy Drew movie, but the girls were way too wound up so we ended up playing in the backyard instead, even Belle got in on the action in a game of "duck duck goose". Bailey is really lucky and has some wonderful friends. To show our appreciation we gave each girl a new Nancy Drew book with a bookmark with the lemon bar recipe. It's hard to believe that Bailey is now 11 years old, and as fun as it was to plan this party for her, it's really nice that it's behind us! We'll just have to see what she wants to do next year!