James Bond Party -12yr- TNT Cake

My son turned 12 yesterday and we decided on a James Bond Theme Party to celebrate!

INVITATIONS: We printed off invitations that were in an encoded format that the secret agents invited needed to read in a mirror to decipher! They read You have been selected for a secret assignment. Please report to the CIA Special Training Headquarters located at (address) wearing black pants and a white shirt and 1800 hours on 01/13/12.  The training and mission will be completed by 1100 hours 01/14/12.  You will be asked to leave immediately upon arrival of your transportation. Please review this briefing carefully. Do not share this information with others as you are uniquely qualified to participate in this mission". This was placed inside a file folder and then inside a manila envelope.  Top Secret and Confidential labels were placed on the outsides of each hint - Avery labels come with a template for Word that you can easily set up and select your own font & size of lettering.

ACTIVITIES: When they each arrived they were greeted by James Bond (a friend who is an actor)& they were given a fedora hat to wear for the evening as well as an old flip cell phone. We had James Bond and Mission Impossible Music playing throughout the night during various training modules - really created a neat ambience! They each had to complete 5 different training assignments and were timed and scored. 

The first one was Bomb Detonation - wearing a 'bullet proof/fire retardent' suit jacket they had 10 seconds to detonate as many bombs as possible (pop balloons on a squishy chair).

The second one was Laser Beam Maze - using a laser pointer fog machine and CD's and mirrors down our hallway they had to maneuver through the laser lines without touching them. They thought this was THE coolest thing when they saw the laser beams appear in the smoke! 

The third one was a Memory Task - they had 15 seconds to study a world map on the wall and memorize the 7 different countries where agents needed to be extracted from and then turn around and tell me all that they could remember. 

The fourth one was Target Practice - using a nerf gun with suction cup darts they had to aim at the target that was placed behind a window.

The final training module was Agility Training. I set up an obstacle course outside that they had to run. There was 2 ft jumps over a high hurdle commando crawling under a hurdle jumping 2 ft back and forth over a bench an agility ladder on the ground and a tunnel to crawl through.  They had to run the course and then return to the start line.  They were timed and then had a 2nd chance to run it but they had to put on Spy Gear - trench coatfedora hat cell phone and sunglasses (it was at night so much harder to see). They were to try to beat their previous time without dropping the cell phone or hat!  Also as an added challenge they were shot at by fellow agents armed with Nerf Guns if they stopped or went backwards during the course. Training Completed it was time to tabulate scores and refuel! They were each assigned a role and given an ID Badge - Head CrypographerScene Photographer Communications Specialist and Enticement Officer.

FOOD: I had martini glasses and a martini shaker for them to each have a martini -which was Sprite and I put a green grape on a little sword to pretend it was like the olive and the dry martini - shaken not stirred! They really loved this! They ate their pizza off of gold plates!

GAME: The Pizza delivery guy arrived with pizza and the 1st clue for the Birthday Agent. (I had gone around to drop off all the clues earlier in the afternoon) - my son's face was priceless when he was handed a sealed envelope that had 007 and top secret on it! Inside were 5 puzzle pieces and an encoded message. They had to decipher it and get geared up to go! They had walkie talkies bribes (bags of chocolate & treats) a pen and a bag with the initial puzzle pieces in it. They went to our neighbor's house and she asked them a password question. James Bond had code words in a  sealed envelope for them to choose from - there were 5. Sample question was "Who did Frodo inherit his ring from?" and they had their 5 words to choose the right one from. They had to do this at each destination - the enticement officer gave the informant their bribe and they headed out to decode the next clue!

We have other neighbors who were very excited to be the final stop. They live in a house with an iron fence around it - we called it a clandestine house behind prison bars in the clue! They were fantastic - they dressed up like CIA agents in all black and had candles everywhere! The agents had to decipher a letter with invisible ink using a heat source (lemon juice) and then around the yard to the bubbling pit of acid to find their final clue and puzzle pieces. They had 'tranquilizers' to tame the 'ferocious beast'(their family dog). Then the agents had to put the whole puzzle together upside down (just a 24 pc puzzle) and on the back was the end game!  They went around the yard to find the green door and the green box to discover the hidden National Treasure! Which was their entertainment for the night - James Bond Movies& snacks!

PARTY FAVORS: In the treasure were also little party favors which were 3 packages of Rolo's wrapped in red paper (to look like dynamite) and secured together with a black pipe cleaner and a note saying "Ryan You are the Bomb!" 

CAKE: Then they headed home for CAKE time - which was TNT - actually 3 Chocolate Log Cakes stacked into the shape of a stack of dynamite. Super simple to make - chocolate wafer cookies (2 packages) whipping cream (add red Wilton's gel dye after its whipped - the gel dye doesn't alter the flavor)and stack cookies with whip cream between each.  Then smooth whip cream over the triangle of dynamite sticks and place black licorice about 2 inches from end. I also placed a licorice piece in the center before stacking the top 'stick' of dynamite on so that there was a wick sticking out the end.  I stuck a small digital kitchen timer on the side of the cake and number "1""2" candles on the top for him to blow out.  There were also sparklers out the end where the wick was~ that made for much excitement!

ACTIVITY: The boys all went and watched the Bond Movies - there were 5 to choose from including the oldest with Sean Connery to the most recent with Daniel Craig. They loved the cars and the gadgets and surprisingly liked Sean Connery as Bond the best! We ran out of time but after Casino Royale we had planned to play a little BlackJack with pennies nickles and dimes.  Another idea I had but didn't use was to wrap 3 paint rollers in red tissue paper and secure with black pipe cleaners to play 'pass the dynamite' to bond theme music for the gift opening time.  Since there were only 4 boys here this wasn't something I decided to do in the end.  We also talked about fake mustaches as part of their disguises for the Secret Mission but I couldn't find them in the town we live in and planned this all within 5 days! You could draw them on the boys if you choose to - we ran out of time to do this before heading out around the neighborhood.

DECORATIONS: This was so much fun to plan and put together! The costs were minimal as we borrowed props from friends - like binoculars spotting scope old cell phones world map fedora hats and coats. We used a few other items around the house like a magnifying glass leather gloves flashlights for decorations and props. We printed James Bond Movie Posters to put up on the walls down our staircase to the basement and had a black tablecloth for decorations.

SNACKS: The boys had chips and cans of rootbeer to snack on during the movies. Popcorn was available but they choose the 3 different kinds of chips!

COSTUMES: To recap -they were to wear black pants, white shirts, and were given fedora hats, trench coat, suit, sunglasses and I had bow ties available as well. 

FOOD: For breakfast I decided on something super simple which was Land of Nod Cinnamon Pull apart bread and OJ/AJ out of martini glasses with a side of grapes and mini oranges- that I said had been imported from special countries for their breakfasts! They all laughed! The boys were all really into all the activities and were so thankful as they left  this morning and stated that it was the BEST birthday party ever! The parents were all really impressed too! My son was so thankful  - it was a fun and very memorable event for all of us! "