Kit Kittredge Party -8yr- Clues to the Last Gift

My daughter decided that she wanted to have an American Girl Birthday Party for her 8th Birthday. Her favorite American Girl is Kit Kittredge, so it kindof morphed into a Kit Party. Her birthday is in August, so I bought up lots of the clearanced 4th of July decorations. That proved to be very useful and price effective.

INVITATIONS I made the inviations by buying scrapbooking paper that had American flags all over it and cut each page into quarters. I also bought an off white paper to print the words on. I cut the off white paper smaller than the flag paper and pasted them together. I bought glittering foam stars in red and blue and glued them to two corners of the inviation as decoration.

The invite read, American Girls" real big at the top in Times new Roman font (same as the American Girls font) and below that it said "Our favorite is Kit. Come over for some fun it's sure to be a hit. Then below that I put "Please join us for (daughters name) 8th birthday" followed by the address and time.

DECORATIONS I bought several things on clearance after July 4th. I had my daughter give each guest red blue or silver beaded necklace (Mardi Gras type) as they arrived. I had a flag chandiler (bought as Party city) hanging from the ceiling in the dining room. I had Sparkling red and blue fringe lining our deck and American Flags everywhere.

CAKES AND TREATS Once they all arrived I announced that we were going to have the party a little backwards. So we ate the cupcakes and ice cream first. (we also had some finger foods like chips and dip but nothing really fancy since it was a mid afternoon party) Simple cupcakes with white icing and red and blue sprinkles (that's all my daughter wanted as she doesn't like a typical cake).

ACTIVITIES As the guests arrived I had the Kit Kittredge movie playing. We watched this until all the guests arrived. After treats we proceeded with opening gifts.

I brought in the last gift (from mom and dad) and all that was in it was a piece of paper that said " Surprise! Surprise! It's time to go on a mystery search around our home. You will have to think a lot like Kit if you want to find your birthday gift!" The below that was the first clue. They all did exactly what I wanted them to do. They jumped up from the table and started running all over our property going from clue to clue. Each clue was a short two line poem sending them to the next destination. (example: "Your next clue is up in the sky. If you want it you'll have to jump really high." It was on the trampolie hanging from the top of the safty net.) I hid 9 - 10 clues before the party. I had grandmother come take her to lunch before her party so I could hid them.

The final clue simply said "No more clues we are at the end. Just go back to where this all began." She came running back to the table where she was opeing gifts before and while they were running all over the place I brought out a treasure chest that had her wrapped gift inside. By this time she was shaking she was so excited. As she tore into the gift she screamed to see that she got the Kit Kittredge American Girl Doll.

She didn't think this was possible since the closest store to us is 6 hours away (she doesn't know about online shopping). She was shocked and it was a great birthday party. After it was all over she said that it was the best party ever and that I would have a hard time topping it next year.

FAVORS: After the adventure we went outside to bust open a pinata. I gave each guest a bag and told them that they get to fill there own goody bag.

They all thought that was pretty cool too. I gave them a flimsy stick so that all the kids could get a swing a the pinata. Soon after that the moms started arriving. We all had a great time and she is still talking about how much fun she had."