Can I have a police party, Mama? Sure son! Oh um, now what? What can we do for police-themed games that are non-violent and fabulous for 6 and 4 year olds?
The invitation was a simple card printed at home and glued onto file folder shaped yellow cardstock (template here). I used a cute photo as a watermark for the inside left of the invitation and "Minya nouvelle" font in Microsoft Word for party details on the right side. The tab on the folder had the guest's name. The front of the folder had "TOP SECRET" and little thumb print from my son, both in red ink.
When the 10 volunteer police officers arrived, they were given badges, ticket books (notebooks), identification, pen necklaces, hats and packs. Names or photos were on everything for easy relocation! Junior Special Agent identification credentials were from the FBI kids site. I inserted a photo of each kid and had them laminated at Office Depot. I also printed the kids faces onto a badge clip art, printed this on fabric, and ironed them on their fanny packs.
The officers first job was to do an aerial search of the neighborhood for crime using police helicopters (from ebay). This kept everyone busy while guests were arriving. All helicopters stayed in the hood!
Occasionally, a mom was observed breaking the law (graffiti on windows, I gave them some window paint; not picking up dog "poup", see below). Despite my warnings to the moms to be "sneaky", they were promptly discovered, issued tickets and sent to jail (behind a gate at side of house). The Moms preferred to stay in jail! Note to self: do not put cooler of adult beverages in jail if one needs the Mom’s to help run the party!
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| the officers LOVED writing tickets |
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| the moms really LOVED jail |
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| Officers were instructed to see if they could “spy” any other crime/criminals. |
Indeed, the officers located bad guys (bandit-painted plastic golf balls). They were quickly rounded up and jailed (painted box). The officers were rewarded with toy cell phones for their heroic efforts, so they could better answer future 911 calls. The phones were a HUGE hit!
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| officers maneuvered their personalized boats over the handcuffs so the magnet at the bottom could attach to the handcuffs |
After all the handcuffs were retrieved, we played a game to show a surprising way how handcuffs could be helpful to police. The kids raced across the yard while Dad timed them. Then, they ran again while cuffed. Race time went from 3 seconds to 7 seconds! Cuffs really slow bad guys down!
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| the first part of the handcuff game was to time a group sprint across the yard |
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| then we "cuffed" the officers |
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| the officers learned how hard it was to sprint with cuffs on, took them nearly twice as long! |
All that racing made for some hungry officers. So, we let them have some donuts (mini ones). The trick was they had to attempt to eat the donut from the handcuffed officer in front of them. Good job gang, you’ve earned your keys and a traffic cone key chain to go with it!
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| officers had to eat their donuts from the person in line ahead of them |
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| triumph! |
Oh, no! Jail Break! While the officers were busy eating donuts, the bad guys escaped (thanks to Dad, who did another stealthy move)! Officers were issued police whistles and batons (silver painted yogurt drink bottles hot-glued to black painted cardboard tubes with a coat of polyurethane for strength). (City made from soccer party pizza boxes: library, school, car wash, pizza restaurant, fire station, and zoo!) This was MOM's favorite game. :)
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| the pizza box town was set up in our driveway, officers used their cardboard tube batons to chase the bad guys (plastic golf balls) through town and back into jail |
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| each box had a door to hit the balls through (boxes were slightly open and held upright by canned food) |
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| eventually, all the bad guys were returned safely to jail |
The officers did such a great job, they were awarded light-up flashing batons for night jobs. But before they could enjoy them, there was another 911 call! A child hears monsters under his bed. Can the officers get the monsters out? You bet. (For a great tutorial on making stuffed felt monsters, click for Nina's tutorial here).
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| officer taking the 911 call |
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| officers searching for monsters under the bed, room decorated in glow in the dark paper stars lit by black light |
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| love monsters made by Mom for each of the kiddos |
Could there be one last 911 call? The bandits hid stolen money in a train! (The train had been in our garage since our last train party, so I just HAD to find a way to use it one more time.) A “money” bag for each officer had chocolate coins, stickers, bracelet, police pen, paper money, and bubble gum coins. Each bag had an officer's name on it to help control chaos a little.
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| bags of stolen money were found inside the train |
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| Mom found cool money fabric on clearance to make each officer a money bag with treats! |
Oh no! The parents found the officer's water shooters and think the kids are the train robbers! Water fight!
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| water gun fight! |
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| take cover in the train! |
Then we broke for cake, presents and more play mayhem!
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| I really am a pathetic cake decorator, even with help from a friend's Wilton cake pan! The kids loved it though! |
It was nearly impossible to find decorations for the party apart from crime scene tape and balloons, so I made my own themed garland. Paper shapes of hats, badges, and handcuffs hung from a white fluffy string. Templates are here!
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| badges, hats and handcuffs made from paper for a party garland |
All police officers got a love monster finger puppet as a good-bye gift! Template of love monster finger puppets here.
