Police Party -6yr- Trooper Caddy Favors

Police Party- 6th Birthday Held outside in back yard I alloted 3 1/2 hours for the party and it was just enough time.

Invitations: Homemade on the computer. Front- I put a picture of a thief with a thought bubble reading they can't have a party now, I've got all the loot. Inside- read All Points Bulletin: Be on the lookout for the crook that stole a valuable part of RJ's Birthday party. Needed Police Detectives- Please report to the ---- Residence address followed. by time written in military time (careful this confused many parents) please RSVP by --- to phone # We've got to bring this thief to justice. We invited all the boys in his class, and his cousins 12 kids all together. My sisters and cousin helped out and a few of the kids parents stayed. 

Decorations included: I had made up with my son's name through e-bay. I attached the sign with my RJ's Place (my son's name) on it to the mail box with streamers and blue and white balloons.  yellow caution police line don't cross tape, blue and white streamers decorated the outside play area where we set up the kids table. I had made a jail from a big refrigerator box by painting it black, cutting out windows and a door. For bars on the windows (including the window on the door) I cut wire coat hangers and spray painted them silver. I then spray painted the word jail in silver above the door and windows of the black box.

I also made three police cars out of cardboard boxes. I made three different colors (black and white, light blue and dark blue (the color of my husbands cruiser) and white, and royal blue)I painted them all one color and then added stripes down the sides using masking tape for a clean line. I used stencils to put police in the middle of the stripe. Then I used small paper plates painted yellow for the headlights, aluminum foil for the grill on the front, and painted red rectangles for brake lights on the back. They really did come out cute. I cut a cloth belt and stapled handles to the sides so it was easier to manuver for the kids. I also had a big traffic light, the yellow light blinked.

For the table I put a miniture traffic light (that lit up) and a blue light (one that looks like would sit on the dashboard of a undercover car). I also had traffic signs(stop, yield, one way, no parking, no U- turn) also purchased on e-bay. 

Activities: Processing- I had Junior I.D. badges for each child that we filled in each child's information and put them in badge holders and hung them around their necks. I had put out those cheap police guys sets (like the army men) that I bought at Dollar Tree for the kids to play with while they waited for their turn. We also had the kids do a kid I.D. kit with photo of the child and fingerprings that the parents can use to identify the child if anything happens to them.  

Training- They got accustomed to the traffic laws by playing red light, green light, the child upfront calling used a toy police bull horn that I found at Big lots. They ran an obstacle course with the police cars that I made. The traffic signs I bought decorated the obstacle course beautifully. I had them run through tires, and cones we set up, the kids loved it!!! 

Mess Hall (tent that I labeled with food)- Food included Steamed hot dogs, hamburgers, ambrosia salad, watermelon, pasta salad, and potato salad.  Next we took pictures of the kids by my husbands cruiser to use in the thank you cards. They got sit in the front seat and ask my husband questions. 

Detective Work- They had to find the piece of the party the thief stole. First I explained to the children what their investigation was about. I told them they would get clues from different witnesses and they had to question the witnesses along the way. I started them off for example you need to question a girl that has long hair, blue eyes wearing a blue hat she will give you something to aid you in your investigation and another clue. They would run and find her (I gave the people that I had set up with clues and a trinket to give the kids to "help" catch the thief) Various points in the investigations I would have them come back to station command to report their findings.

In the beginning I gave them blue colored caddys labeled Trooper --- to hold their different items they collected along the way. I also gave them little note books, crayons (provided by our local police department), and a State Police Pencil  and Pin on police Badges (provided by my husband and the state), along the way they collected trooper hats (plastic bought on the internet), plastic handcuffs, plastic guns, fake walkie talkies, and Sunglasses (I put all their names on EVERYTHING ahead of time to ease the disaggrements about whose item is whose) In the end they caught the thief (my nephew) and the stolen item (the police car pinata, it was cute it made siren noises when it was hit) What was cool was that they really did figure out what was stolen and who stole it by themselves.  

It was time for cake and ice cream while hubby strung up the pinata. I also made rice krispie treats and put a little frosing on to stick red, yellow, and green M&M's to them to look like traffic lights. We then opened presents. 

After that they took turns trying to bust the pinata with my husband's night stick. The parents started to show up at that point and I gave any kids that showed up a bag to collect some candy and the cheap police guys I had stuffed the pinata with.  The kids weren’t the only ones to go home with stuff. In a plastic baggie I had all kinds of information about bike helmets, seat belt saftey, gang activity, auto theft ect in there along with a key chain and pencil provided by our local police department and a State Police magnet provided by my husband and the State. I also included the Kid I.D. we had done earlier in with the parents goody bag. Everyone really enjoyed themselves including the adults that stayed!!!!