Download a mystery
By Elizabeth Agnvall
Knight Ridder News Service
The ghosts and goblins of Halloween are just around the corner. It's the perfect time of year for creating a mystery birthday party for your budding detective.
A spin-off of the mystery dinner parties that first became popular for adults in the early '80s, mystery birthday parties for kids include all the elements of the grown-up parties but have simpler scripts and plots and less racy characters. The parties, which also offer the childhood fun of dress-up, are becoming all the rage among the 8-to-12 set — especially with girls.
Here's how they work: Children receive an invitation with the character they'll be for the party and simple costume suggestions. When they arrive, the guests get a script that they'll follow for the rest of the evening — or even into the next morning, for sleepover parties. Depending on the party, a guest is murdered or — in gentler versions — a mystery is afoot. Other versions include survivor games and scavenger hunts. Guests try to solve the mystery while playing their parts, reading the script and generally having a ball.
And a mystery birthday party isn't hard to pull off. All you need is a computer with an Internet connection, a color printer, about $35 and friends willing to ham it up a bit. You can download the script and personalize and print the party invitations, decorations, T-shirt decals for costumes — even murder weapons.
On the Internet, the top three vendors of mystery parties for children are SimpliFun Studios, Tailor Made Mysteries and the Birthday Party Games Lady for Kids. The companies offer 30 parties tailored for kids. Each company works a bit differently, but in general customers buy the kits online and then are given a password and Web site that allows them to download and print everything they need for the party.
Children between ages 8 and 12 years old enjoy the parties the most. By the time girls are 13, often they're too into playing it cool to be willing to dress up and play roles. Tailor Made Mysteries does sell spicier games targeted at teenagers and adults.
When pirates overthrow their cruise ship, nine girls are marooned on an island. They must search the island for food in 109-degree heat, prepare it themselves, sleep on the island and get home safely the next day. Sound like a new episode of "Survivor?" It was Megan Seymour's 12th birthday party. The cruise ship was the Seymour house, the food was hidden on several neighbors' porches, and the pirates were three 12-year-old boys. The 109-degree heat was just another lovely summer day in Fort Worth, Texas. The captain of the ship: Mom.
"It's kind of a party for dummies," said Tracy Seymour, who bought the party from SimpliFun Studios. "It's all there for you."
Megan and her 10-year-old sister, Emily, did much of the preparation work, including printing out and stapling the scripts and hanging up decorations.
"The biggest thing that made this a success was that Megan was involved right from the beginning," Seymour said. "I let her have as much say in the matter that I could, because it's her birthday party, not mine."
Seymour says the only time they altered the scripts was when the girls were trying to cook the dinner and read from the script at the same time. They couldn't handle both tasks, so she told them to put the scripts down until they finished cooking and chopping.
Lou Anne McKeefrey, founder and owner of SimpliFun Studios, approves of Seymour's laid-back attitude.
"Realize that it is all fictitious," McKeefrey says. If something doesn't go quite as planned, she advises parents to be flexible. "Be careful that the rules aren't so strict that you are inhibiting people. The most important thing is that they are smiling," McKeefrey says.
Leslie Lyons started Birthday Party Games Lady when her 8-year-old daughter wanted to have a mystery birthday party. A woman in the area was selling them for $1,000. Lyons wasn't willing to pay that kind of money, so she wrote one herself.
"I'm a firm believer that using your brains can be fun. I want to see them doing something constructive," Lyons said. She sells four parties: Survivor, Detective, Harry Potter and Medieval. Each party comes with icebreaker games, party tips and even ideas for keeping the house clean. Her most popular party is the Detective party, designed for 8- and 9-year-olds.
The party starts with the host reading a poem that tells them one of the guests is the ghost of someone who has been murdered. The goal is to find out which guest is a ghost and who did him in. The junior detectives scour the house to find clues hidden in different locations throughout the house. Each clue is a poem that leads them to the next spot. At the end, the children use real fingerprints and magnifying glasses to figure out whodunit.
"The whole idea is to make it simple for parents who don't have time," Lyons said. "It has to be interesting enough to keep everybody engaged, or you are running around trying to entertain them the whole time."
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Party tips
- Before you send out invitations, decide early who will be the main characters, and make sure they can attend.
- Send invitations at least two weeks in advance. Start printing at least several days in advance.
- Make sure that your child doesn't see the last pages of the script — you don't want to spoil the mystery.
- Have a couple of extra adults available to play roles in case one of the characters can't make it.
- Take group photos at the beginning, while costumes are still intact.
- Don't expect everything to be perfect. The play's the thing, but it doesn't always go as planned. Be flexible and go with the flow.
Party picks
Download time for all parties: Less than a minute with high-speed connection, up to 2-3 minutes with a modem. Estimated printing time: 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the party and printer.
SimpLiFun Studios
www.simplifun.com
These parties were our favorites for children. Easy to download, clear instructions that include absolutely everything — even a shopping list and recipes. We liked the option for previewing mysteries without buying (printing is blocked).
Most popular party: "The Case of the Missing Ring"
Cost: $30 per mystery for download, $38.85 for CD-ROM version, $4 for party favor kit (minimum 5)
Tailor Made Mysteries
www.tailormademysteries.com
This site has more choices than any other we found (and they sell the highest volume). Unlike the other two sites, some of the parties are geared for older teens and adults, so if you've got a cynical teen, you might want to try one of the "spicy" parties. Downloading was a snap and directions were easy to follow.
Most popular party: "The Love Letter" for girls. "Who Defeated the Slimy Monster" for boys
Cost: $30-$35
The Birthday Party Games Lady
www.birthdaypartygameslady.com
Although these parties look like great fun and the instructions have some really smart tips, we found the online download a bit difficult. Also, the password expires and if you don't print by the time it expires, you'll have to send an e-mail asking for a new one.
Most popular party: "The Detective Party"
Cost: $35
