Well. That's it. My "Two Peas" have reached double digits. It amazes me to think that 10 years ago, the Gardener and I grew these two sweet little peas and experienced all the joy in having twins. They are compassionate, generous, sweet little girls who amaze me everyday. They are the happiest kids ever - and the Gardener and I love them to pieces!
For their big birthday celebration, we decided on a Nancy Drew Mystery party theme. It was a blast! I did find a few ideas online and a few ideas from some friends (thank you Krista and Sarah!)
We allowed for 2 1/2 hours for the party and it was timed perfectly. Here's the low down on the shindig:
1) Invitations. I used a cover from a Nancy Drew book as the cover and inside was an envelope with the invite. The kids loved this!
2) The Party Table: Cake baker I'm not the best but the blob in the center on the tray is supposed to be a magnifying glass. Marshmallow appetizers. Candy buffet. What's not to love? I found the books in the trash on trash day in my neighborhood. What? They were perfect and in a bin of books they were throwing away...can you believe it? I stacked a few on the table and my police officer / park ranger hubby provided us with some special crime scene tape. Add a few tools of the trade, busts of my two peas...I think it turned out pretty cool. Each pea had her own cake plus cupcakes for the guests (the cupcake wrappers are from Wilton - so cute!) Cute green dot fabric left over from covering our chairs at Quilt Market. 
Our cupcake table had a simple display of the peas, more candy and some mystery books! I also added a few tissue paper flowers for color!
3) Activities and Craft. American Girl has these awesome craft kits out that we love! We started with making some flower centerpieces that the girls could use at home to hide a hidden camera or listening device in - you know, pretend! I saved up my cans and we used those as our vases. They absolutely loved making these - huge hit!
Then we played a game of skill...the girls had to pick up binder clips and keys from the floor using a string tied to a pencil with a safety pin on the end. You know, because Nancy Drew never knew when she would have to retrieve a key tossed down a sewer drain or something. Then, a game of observation. A tray of objects they would get a few seconds to look at it. Then I would take it away and Sprout would take one object away. The girls had to write down what was missing. And we did this removing about 5 or 6 objects. They wrote down their observations in their investigation journals I gave each girl. Big hit!
Then we put our new skills to work in solving the mystery! The mystery involved a missing sock monkey that had a hidden map on it left by an old Great Aunt and it revealed where she hid the majority of her estate treasures. Problem is there were two family members who didn't want to share and so there was a lot of sneaking going on...clues, witnesses to interview, chase down...there was a lot of running, squeals of delight. It was so much fun! They even found an old Last Will and Testament that had been torn up and they had to tape it together to find a missing clue. Buried bottles with notes, secret clues in the garden...and finally the main culprit, hiding up in the tree in our woods, trying to keep people away while he was searching for the treasure.
Our culprit led them to the hidden treasure in our woods which turned out to be their treat bags - they consisted of a small bag of candy, a flashlight, a magnifying glass and a pair of glasses with a fake nose and moustache attached (ya know, because every great detective needs a good disguise).
Remember the books I salvaged from the garbage? I used a few pages to create the tags on their treat bags.
The best part...my peas said that in fact this was NOT the best party they've ever had...because EVERY party we've had for them is the BEST PARTY! That made me happy...I'm so glad they have enjoyed all these parties because my guess is...having fun little parties with games like this and little treat bags will start to disappear as we now move up in the 'double digit' years. This was a lot of fun for the entire family and the kids even said it was one of the best parties they had ever been too! You'll have to try it for your next party!
xoxo,
Trish