Mystery Party 8 yr. old All my son did at age 7 was read mystery books so I wanted to create a party for his birthday to reflect this. It worked out fabulously especially since the majority of guests this year were adults.  In fact the adults may have had more fun than the children!  A week before the party, my son received a mysterious envelope marked Top Secret addressed to "Detective Derik." In it was a letter explaining that he would receive a clue a day, and if solved correctly, he would learn clues as the where his party was going to be, when, who was invited, etc.  Some clues, such as the guest list were simply names scrambled, with the last guest being a "mystery guest", and other clues he really had to spend time deciphering, looking in books or on the internet for answers, pairing up the number a certain president was (which would be the date of his party) for example. By the end of the week, he knew all the details except for the mysterious guest, a friend he hadn't seen in quite a while because he switched schools. For party decor, I used black and purple tablecloths, plates, streamers, etc. I also took all the clues he received during the week, and posted them on a board in the room for all to see.  The adults loved looking at this!  We played spooky music (from a Halloween CD) to set the mood. For games, the kids and adults alike played games like word scrambles (fastest to complete won), and the boys had a scavenger hunt in the backyard. The finale was my version of a murder-mystery.  I took the idea of it and turned it into a jewelry-heist, where all the guests had a part, given funny names and backgrounds, the piece of jewelry was stolen, and with only a few clues, everyone had to figure out who was the theif!  The winner won a mystery-puzzle game. It's all the adults could talk about for days, we had so much fun! The cake was simple, featuring a great big question mark on it.  The kids went home with favors such as magnifying glasses, candy, etc.  And everyone went home with a lot of laughs!