Swat Party 5yr

S.W.A.T. Party Top Secret Mission  For my 5 year old, who loves anything camouflage or rescue hero like, I decided to put together a Top Secret Mission birthday party.   I started with camouflage stock paper invitations with another Top Secret envelope that was not to be opened until they arrived to the party destination. (Our Backyard) That started the buzz as to what was inside! The Mission was simple however it had every guest working as a real S.W.A.T. officer! The Mission was as follows: Top Secret Mission  The mission: Follow all the clues and collect your equipment to get your hands  all  over the bad guy!  1st Go get your gear bag & put on your camo face paint 2nd Look for a good place to dig and dig up military name tags 3rd  As fast as you can find the largest plant hanging from a tree-there you will find a compass to clip to your gear bag 4th Follow your compass North and count 10 steps 3 times-then turn East 5th Put on your Safety Helmet and complete the obstacle course 6th Gather your canteen (you must be thirsty by now) and don't forget to put all you equipment into your gear bag! 7th Find the rock climbing wall and get to the top to look through your binoculars to find the bad guy! 8th Go down the tunnel slide and launch a grenade thru the hoop 9th Capture the bad guy by tracing your handprint on him and write your name so everyone knows who captured the criminal and completed the mission! 10th Go Have FUN!!!  All of the supplies were easy and inexpensive from Oriental Trading Co. After I figured out what supplies were available I then created a mission to go along with the supplies. Then as the kids went through the mission and completed each task they collected their gear and at the end it doubled as their goody bag.  We had a little surprise when a real SWAT officer arrived and dressed my son up as a police officer and then led the children around for the mission. We weren't sure if he was going to be able to make it so we were planning on leading everyone around ourselves, but having the real deal there was so exciting for the kids! (The police officer also gave the children a gun safety lesson).  1st  The gear bag was canvas and durable and I wrote the names of each child on the bag as I painted their faces with Camouflage paint. 2nd  I had a sand pile where I buried name tags with the chain hanging out. (Kids love to dig!) 3rd “ I clipped little compasses to a large plant in the front yard and everone grabbed their compass.  4th  Trying to keep the kids moving, searching, and following directions; and for our 5 year olds a little practice counting and recognizing letters. 5th  WOW the best part! A little creativity with stuff we already had around the house. Crawl through tunnels, 4x4's for balance beams, and a small wall to jump over, were just a few of the items in our course. One at a time the kids tried so hard and ran as fast as they could and really thought it was cool as everyone cheered them on! Even my 18 month old completed the course! 6th - They really needed that drink once they finished. I filled the canteens up with gatorade. The moms told me after how their kids were still drinking out of the canteen (and they were girls)! 7th  We have a swing set with a wall and just utilized it in the mission 8th “ Everyone launched water balloons through a hula-hoop 9th My husbands punching bag with a black shirt on it was the bad guy.  I painted the kids hands and let them stamp their prints on the shirt then it doubled as a keepsake for my son's party!  Food was simple, but as always, plentiful. I don't think the kids really ate that much because they never slowed down!  We did do a pinata, but looking back at the party it wasn't really necessary.  We had about 16 children attend ranging from 18 months to 13 years old. The party was about 3 - 4 hours long.