This is Part II of my 10-year-old daughter’s Mystery Birthday Party.  If you missed the food and decor, click here.  In fact, if you haven’t read it, I beg of you to read it first before reading this article.  Without the context, you will just think I’m a raving lunatic.   That being said, today I’ll be sharing the “Mystery of the Missing Ring” and the party games that played into the mystery party theme.

Now, for the mystery:   I concocted a tale about a distant relative from England named Aunt Abigail (aka the Duchess of Glouchestershire) who recently passed away.  I dressed up for the part and made a secret videotape for the party.  This “aunt” was a bit eccentric and loved a good mystery.  So while visiting our home several years ago, Aunt Abigail hid a special heirloom ring for my daughter along with a series of clues.  After she died, a videotape of her Last Will and Testament was discovered with a special message for her great-great-niece.  In it, she revealed that she had hidden a special ring and clues.   Click here for the complete script I used for the videotape.  Yeah, that’s me as Abigail.

My oldest daughter is a reader.  She loves mystery series like Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and the Mandy series.  For her 10th birthday, we decided to create a real mystery that she and her friends could solve.  This party could be modified for boys and for different ages.   Let the sleuthing begin!

  I found these never-opened paper plates and napkins in an attic of a friend of my mother’s.  I kept them for 8 years until I was inspired to use them for my younger daughter’s third birthday.  I also had a few small books of JWA art and poetry that I had picked up over the years.  Her illustrations of little children have always touched me and aroused that nostalgia within me for anything from my own childhood.