Nutty’s 8th birthday was a little over a month ago. When we were planning her birthday party we had a hard time trying to figure out what to do. After all, it’s hard to top a horseback riding party and a camping party. I’m not sure where she got the idea from, but she decided she wanted a mystery party.
I searched the internet high and low trying to figure out how to hold a mystery party for a bunch of 7-9 year old girls and came across Dramatic Fanatic® Downloadable Mystery Parties for Kids. Nutty and I both agreed it looked interesting and were excited when they said “yes” to a review from us! After much debate, Nutty decided to do the Fairy Tale Mystery which included a mystery during a fairy tale fashion show.
Nutty carefully chose each of her friends to play a character based on their personality and when the invites went out, each friend was asked to dress as their character. Even I got dressed up as the host of the fashion show! It was so fun to watch each girl arrive in full attire.
We had a stage set up on our deck but unfortunately it was windy that day and most of our decorations blew down! No need to fear, the fashion show went on anyway!
Introduction speeches were made, the mystery happened (Fairy God Mother went missing!)…
…interviews were conducted (by Little Bo Peep–more on that later)…
…and evidence was introduced. More interviews were conducted, then each girl tried to figure out who kidnapped Fairy God Mother.
The consensus from the girls after the party?
- “AWESOME!”
- “I would definitely do this again!”
- “What other parties do they have besides a fairy tale fashion show?”
My consensus on the party? This was by far the EASIEST birthday party I have ever thrown despite looking like I put a lot of effort into it! The hardest part for me was making that cake you see in the first photo. (Oh, and trying to keep the decorations from blowing down. I finally gave up.) The hardest part for Nutty was picking out which party she wanted to do! In a nutshell, here’s what I liked and did not like about Dramatic Fanatic®:
- It comes with everything you need from invites, to ideas for food, to more ideas for the party, to thank you notes. It makes planning the party super easy!
- You do have to print a ton of stuff so be prepared to use paper and ink. Though an advantage is that you can do blank and white OR color depending on how much ink you want to use.
- The whole thing is scripted so the girls don’t have to make things up (but they can get as dramatic as they want!). This was good for those girls that were unsure of acting.
- 8 characters reading scripts got a bit long and you could tell some girls lost interest as each scene went on (though no girl actually complained of being bored or disinterested).
- The clues narrow the suspects down pretty easily so if the girls are paying attention, they should come up with who done it. It was a close call for some girls so it wasn’t too easy either.
- It’s all inclusive and each girl got an equal amount of acting time. We deviated from the instructions just a bit as we only had one “extra” girl. She (Little Bo Peep) became our main detective.
I found some awesome detective kits at my local dollar store, magnifying glasses at the party store, and high heeled shoe candy holders at the craft store and used those as our party favors. The girls loved them. Oh and the cake? Nutty wanted a question mark and something having to do with fashion so I made a question mark cake and high heal cupcakes to go around it.
There you have it, Nutty’s Fashion Show Mystery Party, the easiest (yet totally fun) birthday she’s had yet!
Would you/your kids ever host a mystery party?
How cool! I have never heard of a Mystery Party but now I’ve got to check out their site because my daughter’s 8th birthday is next month and she and her friends would have a blast with this – I love that it includes just about everything right with it!
That looks like everyone had a blast! Can I have a fairy tale fashion show party now too?
Jennifer,
I saw some adult mystery parties online too. After hosting this party for my daughter I DEFINITELY want to host one for my adult friends!
What a fun party! I like easy! This is a great idea!
We had a mystery party of sorts when my daughter requested a Scooby Doo party. It turned out to be a lot of fun solving the caper. This sounds like a lot less work and a ton of fun. I’m sure my daughter would adore this.
I did a mystery party as a baby shower once… I thought it was awesome, but one for kids would be really neat!
You had me at easiest birthday party. I’ve never heard of a mystery party before, but I’m going to check this out for our next birthday bash.
Really cute! We’ve never done a mystery party, but it sounds like something my boys would enjoy (ok, maybe not the fairy tale fashion show!).
oh, how fun is THIS? I miss having fun birthday parties for our kids. 🙁 They grow up so fast!
This is definitely something I would do, when my kids get older. Heck, I want to go to a mystery party! My friend went to one and LOVED it.
My girls would love this. What a great way to keep everyone engaged in the party. I would enjoy doing this myself.
Wow! That is such a neat party idea! I’ll have to check them out for our next birthday party!
What a fun party! My kids would both be into this.
I’ve never heard of a mystery birthday party. I think it’s a great idea!
I’ve heard of Murder Mystery parties but on the adult level, never geared towards to children. That is so awesome. Going to show my little guy and see if he’d be interested in one for his party.
I’ve always wanted to host one of those or the who done it type of parties for my kids or adults. This sounds like it was a lot of fun for the girls.
What a fun party idea, I bet they had a blast! I’d love to do something like this for my kids.
I want to be invited to the next one! This looks like so much fun.
Sweet!! Such a great idea!! Love it!!
I can imagine how fun that must be! By the way, those cupcakes are gorgeous!
VERY cool! Keeping this in mind for when my kiddo is a little older!
I’m not sure I would have thought to do it before, but you made it seem so easy so yes!