Scooby Doo Mystery 7yr - Ghosts in Cemetery

For my daughters birthday this year we did a SCOOBY DOO party.  With the help of this web site and 6 months of planning, we pulled off a very awesome and reasonably priced party.  After deciding on the theme, I spent several months visiting thrift stores looking for Halloween decorations, Stuffed Scooby Doo’s, and white material or sheets.  Thrift stores are a great resource to find decorations for any party theme; it just takes time and patience.  With a little time, planning, and knowledge of where the thrift stores are in your area you’ll do great.  

I used the Creative Memories Storybook Creator Plus software and Scooby Images from online to make the INVITATION: It said, Zoinks Alexandra’s turning 7! Calling all meddling kids: you are invited to a Spooktacular good time as we solve a mystery and celebrate Alexandra’s Birthday.  Jeepers! Join the Mystery Inc. Gang at the Spooky Old your last name here Mansion and like bring your appetite for Scooby Snacks and wear shoes for chasing g-g-g-ghosts!  Where: The Haunted Old your name Mansion (address) Like WOW! You don’t want to miss all the fun, food and mystery!  And with Scooby’s help we’ll have a really rood rime!  

DECORATIONS:  In the front yard I created a cemetery using tombstones that I made.  Using Styrofoam Insulation Sheets (priced under $10 and found at home depot), I cut out tombstones with a jig saw and painted them using a stone textured spray paint.  Be sure to prime them first so the spray paint doesn’t melt the Styrofoam. Then I stenciled the names onto the tombstones: Ima Gonner, Seymour Butts, Barry M. Deep, Reid N. Weep, and Walter Blake He stepped on the Gas not the brake.  I even added crack marks and shading using Sharpie markers.  Then at Big Lots, I found an outdoor garden trim that looked like iron fencing but was only about 8 inches high and made of plastic ($8).  I used this as the iron fence around the cemetery on two sides. The back was pushed up against the bushes in the front yard and on the fourth side I found Ghosts garden stake lights at a thrift store for $2 and they all still worked! 

Then using PVC pipe my husband made a ghost frame (4 ½ feet tall and looked like a cross).  I then made a ghost head out of a balloon and paper mache, (newspaper strips and liquid starch). I left an opening in the bottom to slide over the PVC pipe to create the ghost’s head. We then covered the pipes with white Christmas lights and covered the whole thing with white material that I found at thrift stores.  The lights underneath gave it a great spooky look and I added eyes and a mouth using paper taped onto the material. Then I scattered bones throughout the cemetery and had a skull and hands sticking out of the bushes behind the cemetery, (Halloween decorations I borrowed from someone who does Halloween big every year). Next, using the same Styrofoam insulation sheet and acrylic paints I painted a Mystery Machine (the van) and set it up in the front yard by the cemetery as a photo opportunity. It ended up being about 4 x 6 feet. (I always make a photo prop where I take pictures of the guests and then print them to give to them in the thank you cards).  

By the front door I hung spider webs, ghost Christmas lights, a spooky ghost, and a sign the said, The Spooky Old Nichols’ Mansion made just like the tombstones with the Styrofoam and stone textured spray paint.  When they entered the haunted mansion they were lead to the Living Room where I had covered every piece of furniture with white material or sheets, (also found at a thrift store).  I also hung up some bats, cobwebs, spiders, ghost decorations from Halloween and a skeleton.  We also blacked out all the windows in this room to make it seem darker and spookier using black felt we already had, (but you could use black landscaping fabric too as it is pretty cheap). In the center of this room was a laundry basket that we asked the guests to put the gifts into. Other than the stuffed Scooby’s we placed around the house (thrift store finds), we didn’t have too much more as far as decorations go.  I bought the Scooby Napkins to set the color theme, but then bought solid colored (blue, green and orange) plates, cups and table cloth to cover the food table.  I also used a witch’s cauldron for the punch and a spooky Halloween candy bowl for the Scooby snacks. 

PARTY DESCRIPTION:  For the party my family dressed as the characters.  The only thing we bought new was the Scooby Costume for the birthday girl and she will use that at Halloween.  Everyone else’s costumes I found at thrift stores.  For Shaggy: I just bought a green t-shirt and my husband grew out his hair and shaved his goatee to look like shaggy. I was Velma: an orange sweater, red skirt, orange sports socks and squared sunglasses (that I pushed the lenses out of).  Then I just pinned my long hair up and under to have the Velma look.  My older daughter was Daphne and I found a purple dress that I sewed some ribbon onto to give it the Daphne look and then we used temporary hair spray to color her hair orange and we used a head band we already had. 

My nephew played Fred as he is the only family member we have that is blond.  As the guests arrived we took their photos with the Mystery Machine and the Cemetery then we took them through the haunted Mansion (to drop off presents) and out to the backyard. In the backyard I had tables and chairs set up.  On the tables were coloring sheets I found online of the Scooby characters and Scooby Games and puzzles that I found at thrift stores.  The color crayons were in a dog bowl and the markers were in a Scooby Easter Basket that I found on clearance after the holiday.  (See it really does pay to plan ahead to save money)!  The children and parents hung out in the backyard while we waited for everyone to arrive.  After everyone arrived I announced that we would be doing something different at this party and that we would open the presents first. 

But when everyone made their way back to the Haunted Living Room, the presents were gone and in their place was our 1st CLUE: The presents are gone not a card or bow left. Who do you think has caused such a theft? With so many friends to help you out You’ll solve this mystery without a doubt. Search for a clue! You’ll know what to do!" Then on the floor was a trail of puzzle pieces that lead to the dinning room table.  (This was a Scooby Puzzle that I found at a thrift store and I wrote the next clue on it). 

Once the kids put the puzzle together they discovered CLUE 2: "Find a ghost that is for play Spill his guts and he’ll show you the way."  As we discussed this clue the kids remembered seeing a ghost piñata in the backyard so off we went to the piñata.  Now my daughter’s birthday is in June and trying to find a ghost piñata that time of year is impossible.  So I found a sports piñata at Winco and using acrylic paints I painted right over the balls and painted a ghost. Inside the piñata I had ghost lollipops. Tootsie Roll Lollipops covered in white material or felt and tied with white yarn with ghost faces drawn on. (Felt and yarn was also found at a thrift store).

In addition to the ghosts lollipops was the next clue. CLUE 3: "Are you ready for your next clue?  I doubt you’ll know what to do. Walk to the front yard This shouldn’t be very hard. You’ll be grouped in teams and wrapped as a mummy.  From your head to your toes and over your tummy!"  For this game I bought white birthday streamers from the $ Tree and broke the kids into groups of 3.  They chose which one to wrap as a Mummy and it was a race/contest to see who could do it the best.  However there wasn’t a prize at the end just the next clue that was discovered in the cemetery.

CLUE 4: "My favorite song is the Monster Mash. I always do it at my birthday bash. So walk to the drive and we’ll play musical chairs.  But today’s game is different if anyone cares. So listen quite closely for the music to stop. When it does move quite quickly to the closet dot. The last one left standing should look under their shoe For under that dot they may find the next clue!"  For this game I used cheap paper plates instead of chairs and formed a circle on the ground and we played musical chairs.  For each round I removed a paper plate and the kids were eliminated as the music stopped until the last person found the next clue taped to the bottom of a paper plate. Before each activity or game I had a helper moving ahead of us to get it set up and ready.  All the clues were hidden before the party.

CLUE 5: "Go to the place where the family likes to dine Look under the table for another sign."  For this one there wasn’t a game just a clue taped under the dining room table.  But this room has a sliding glass door that opens to the backyard; I stood in front of the door to read the next clue so this way everyone was facing the sliding glass door.  Just as I started to read the clue my villain a.k.a. my dad who was outside jumped out in front of the sliding glass door. He was dressed as a ghost(white material found at thrift stores)and said you’ll never find the presents and then he took off running around the outside of the house. Nobody heard what he had to say though because of all the screams. Quite funny! I didn’t let the kids chase him as we still had a mystery to solve and a clue to read. 

CLUE 6: "Now we’ll venture out to the back There we will find ghosts that run in a pack. The goal is to make the scariness stop Stomp every last one until they all pop! When they’re all gone clean-up & look on the ground The very last clue is sure to be found!"  While we were in the front yard playing the musical dot game a friend had gone to the back yard and scattered white balloons around the yard with ghost faces drawn onto them with a Sharpie marker.  So the kids each got to pop a balloon and one contained the next clue.

CLUE 7: "From inside a ghost comes this last clue It’s the final most important thing you will do. The ghosts are all gone only the villain is left We must capture him now to rescue the gifts. So off to the graveyard we go in a flash The villain is up there protecting his stash." As we walked up to the front yard we found the ghost villain sitting on a rock with the basket of presents.  We unveiled the villain and he said “And I would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for you meddling kids.     At this point we went back to the backyard to open presents.  To eliminate arguments over whose present to open first we played musical Doggy Doggy Where’s Your Bone and passed a bone (Halloween decoration) around.  When the music stopped the guest who had the bone gave the birthday girl her present.  Then we all got Scooby Snacks. Keebler Scooby Doo Graham Cracker Sticks and it was time to eat which is something Scooby and Shaggy love to do. 

FOOD: We had Pizza from Costco watermelon and punch. The punch was served in a witch’s cauldron and I floated two ice hands made from two rubber gloves and red Cool-aid. I intended to put dry ice in it as well but it melted/disappeared in our freezer before we could use it.

CAKE: For the cake I baked a huge sheet cake and frosted in with Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting (delicious and very light and smooth) tinted to the blue color of the Mystery Machine.  On top I had a haunted mansion which I found at a thrift store it was the Scooby Doo Haunted House 3D Board Game. Some of the character pieces were missing so I just washed the house and set it on the cake. Next to the cake I had the Mystery Machine and all the characters that I found on eBay. (This was a birthday gift from us to my daughter). Her big sister also got her the Mystery Machine lunch box from Target and we used that as a decoration too. 

When everyone was ready to leave we passed out the GOODY BAGS.  I just used cheap $ Tree goody bags and in each bag I had a 60’s looking groovy flower necklace that I found at the $ Tree Betty Crocker Scooby Fruit Flavored Snacks a couple Scooby Doo Band-aids a Scooby Doo Pencil a Scooby Doo Note Pad and Scooby Doo Silly Band package that a friend found at Target on sale for 70 cents each.  The notepads pencils and dinner/dessert napkins I found on sale at partycity.com and I also bought the Scooby Doo costume there as well.  It turned out to be a great party and all the kids and parents had a great time.  I hope this gives you some ideas for your next party."