Ancient Egypt Birthday Party - 9 year old    We used the computer to print up invitations with the sphinx on the cover inviting the children to come to the Valley of the Kings.  Posters of Egyptian Antiquities are available from travel agencies and were great and inexpensive decorations.   When the kids arrived we painted their faces like ancient Egyptians.  Both the kids and parents loved the hieroglyphic treasure hunt. There are programs on the web that will give you a Egyptian hieroglyph that corresponds to every letters sound in English. We used these "alphabets" to write out the clues.  Each child was given a copy of the hieroglyph key. They had to decode the clues in order to find their treasure. (lollipop rings in this case). They then enjoyed a pinata. Musical Chairs to "King Tut" by Steve Martin and "Dance Like an Egyptian" by the Bangles was a big hit. This was followed by the ever popular mummy wrapping game. We split the children into groups of 3.  Each group was given 2 rolls of toilet paper and 10 minutes.  Prizes were given to the best all around mummy.    The children then had to find their place at the table.  At each place was a cartouche made of cardboard with their name written in hieroglyphics inside. Again several programs available on the web will do this for you.     We had a circular ice cream cake with a pyramid of brownies on the top for their treat.    A small water color set was the take home present. That and the hieroglyph key let each child be a scribe.    Even the children who initially had little interest in ancient Egypt participated in and enjoyed the fantasy!