Egyptian Treasure Hunt 6yr - Mummy Museum

Egyptian Treasure Hunt 

Invitations:  I bought blank 8x11 tan parchment looking paper at a copy store (10 cents each I think).  I printed the party details using the computer.  Then after printing, hand tore all the edges to make them look old.  Then with markers, I drew on a simple palm tree in the upper left corner, a little blue lake at the right center, then a brown pyramid in the lower left, and finally an red iron cross (to mark the spot) in the lower right corner.  Then with brown dashed lines, connected them all like a zig zag trail.  On the back side at one end, I vertically wrote their name in dark brown marker, spaced out well, and put light brown hieroglyphics in between in light brown.  The name stood out being darker.  I got ideas for the hieroglyphics on a museum web site.  Then  I rolled the paper, leaving the name until the end.  We wrapped it numerous times around the scroll with some raggedy string and knotted it.  These do best hand delivered.   

Name tags:  Since we were expecting a lot of kids and parents, we made name tags on the computer.  (Avery sells boxes of sticky labels).  We were pretending we were scientists and expedition teams from various museum groups.  So the printed titles we had were Queen Nefretiti Jewel Museum, the Snake and Serpent Research Center, the Egyptian Gold Coin Museum, and some extras like the Egyptian Mummy Museum, and the Pyramid Geological Research Team, then the person's name.  I pre-split up the 9 kids into three teams; the Jewels (all girls), the Snakes (all boys), and the Gold Coins (mixture).  My 6 year old drew a picture on each so the kids that couldn't read could at least see a picture of a gold coin and their name on their name tag. I assigned two parents to each team to the expedition leaders.  (I think they had just as much fun as the kids). This way, if they could micro manage their three kids throughout the whole party, I could better facilitate the whole thing overall.  

Game 1:  We played 'wrap your team leader in toilet paper' (kind of like a mummy).   

Game 2:  'Locate the Missing Treasure':  I put a bunch of trinkets treasures on a tray.  Let the kids study it.  Then without them looking, I take away several and they have to guess what is missing.  We played this several times.   Treasure Hunt:  Since I had three teams and I wanted each to have 4 clues, I had to make 12 clues total.  Each team went in different directions which made it more fun.  At the beginning I gave each expedition leader a pencil, tablet, roll of tape, and their first  clue envelope. The rest of the clues were taped all around the house. The clues were like:  "The Pharaoh has a mysterious machine that turns water in to cold hard squares.  Go to this for your next clue. " (ice maker)  Each team had one clue that was cut up into 5-6 pieces so they had to put together & tape the puzzle first so they could read it.  They also had one clue where  one critical word was spelled backwards.  And a third where they had to decode it.  Like a bunch of hieroglyphic squiggles and a code table of "squiggle" = F,  "another squiggle = I., etc spelling out FIREPLACE.  All the clues were in envelopes, with their team name and clue number to make sure they were reading the right clue in the right order.  No one got lost.  At the end, they found 'mummy prizes'.  Since I new where the Jewels would end up, I knew to put 3 girl prizes, and for the snakes, 3 boy prizes, etc.  I took TP and rolled 4 trinket prizes into it.  They had found the first of their treasures for their goodie bag.  I gave the expedition leaders pre-named brown paper lunch bags for them to help their team members get their prizes into their respective bags.  The girls got rings, beaded bracelets.  The boys; rubber snakes, mummy pencil eraser tops, and everyone got candy necklaces, plastic compasses, and little plastic magnifiers.  At the end of the roll, they all got a note saying to come down to the basement patio for the big treasure. It was a piñata.  

Pyramid Piñata:  I started a square of brown corrugated box.  Strung a string under all four sides, through holes at the edges and gather them at the top, forming a pyramid frame.  I cut out brown paper bag triangles and glues and taped to the sides, then joined all the sides  together.  The candy was inserted before the tape of the final tip.  For candy I got a variety of gold wrapped candies.  With black felt tip pen, I drew some rough bricks around the sides.  The top string was used to attach it to a bigger string and hook.  It worked great because My husband it high at first, giving all the kids a chance, but none making much progress with the tough corrugated layer.  Next round, he lowered it, and the kids got to hit into the flimsy paper area.  A little came out with each hit,  nicely spread it out.  The best part, the cost?  Cost of candy and free piñata.  I brought down a cookie sheet w/their team members goodie bags, and once again, the grown up's helped their team mates get their candy in the right sack.  

Cake:  A couple days before the party, I made a butter cake from a box and added a tsp of vanilla, baked it in a jelly roll pan, and cooled well in the refrigerator.  Then after turning out, I cut into 9", 7", and 3" squares.  Out of the center of the 9" square, I cut  a 5".  Out of the 7" square, I cut a 3".  I mixed up a big batch of fluffy butter cream, and tinted it tan. I assembled the cake as follows, using frosting between the layers for glue. The hollow 9 and 7 -ers.  I filled the opening w/gold plastic coins.  Then the 5, 3, and 3". Then into the freezer. Save the rest of the frosting.  The day before the party I used a long serrated bread knife and sawed off the steps at a 45 degree angle.  The waste was used to further fill in the pyramid.  Then I frosted the whole thing and a little frosting on the serving platter. The last bit of frosting I tinted brown, and piped in bricks around the pyramid.  And I crushed some graham crackers and sprinkled the whole thing to make it more rustic. The crumbs that stuck to the serving platter were 'sand dunes'.  A few plastic palm trees and done.  Back to the freezer until the morning of the party. Then I let it  thaw the day of the party.  The kids loved it when I "found" gold coins in the cake.  

Side notes:  All in all it went well for a first run idea.  We used golden yellow and black for paper ware and balloon colors.  We also gave each child a little plastic binoculars and a compass in their goodie. I also found on a couple web sites and printed pictures of King Tut and Queen Nefretiti.  I printed lots of copies of them and used them on the girl vs boy mummy prize roll ups and favor bags.  I also used more hieroglyphics on the favor bags next to their names. I got all the trinkets at US Toy Constructive Playthings. 

Thank you notes:  I used the last of the tan paper and the computer to write personal short thank you's.  I used a child like font.  After printing, I left a space for the birthday boy to sign his name.  Since I got two to a page, I cut them all in half.  We glued them to brown construction paper.  My son cut them each into 6 or so pieces and into the respective envelopes.  (Complete each one before moving on so you don't mix puzzle pieces).  Normally kids don't get much of out of thank you notes, this time, they had a little more fun I hope.  

Other ideas:  For a craft, have them make cartouches.  Maybe door knob hangers for their bedroom.  A sort of vertical name tag.  Research the alphabet and help them spell out their own names.  Treasure stones;  It's used dry coffee grounds, sand, and something.  You form the dough around a treasure.  Let dry.  I did these at another party, we called them dinosaur eggs. Bone dig in the sandbox or big tub of dried beans. Use plastic toy bones or butcher bones washed in Clorox water.