Oh no! Garry Gator the prankster is at it again! He escaped last night and released five animals and hid them somewhere else in the zoo! After the night of mischief, Garry Gator’s back in his swampy exhibit fast asleep and refuses to talk. But before he went to bed, he slipped some envelopes under the door of the zoo keeper’s office! Unfortunately, we think it’s like last time and the envelopes probably contain riddles about the missing animals. We need to hurry and solve Garry Gator’s riddles to figure out which animals he hid and where they are hidden in the zoo before the customers arrive or the Mayor will shut down the zoo!
Well, the actual mystery game was a little more than a dozen 5 & 6 year olds can handle, but they did love the scavenger hunt part of the game. Unfortunately I was too busy leading the game to get many pictures, and I didn't have the best photographer as my back up. I think he was too busy drinking his beer with the other dads that stuck around.
The kids on the scavenger hunt.After hunting for clues they played a game where each kid had an animal taped on his or her back and they had to figure out which animal it was by asking each other questions. Next was a rousing game of Duck Duck Goose.
Then it was time for the kids to frost their own cupcakes, sing Happy Birthday and play outside.
Finally it was time to open presents and do the gift exchange. Each guest brought a wrapped game, Katie unwrapped them all, she had first choice then she drew names and each guest picked out a game to take home. There were a ton of great games and a lot of parents go some good ideas for Christmas presents.
Katie ended up with a game called "Rat a tat cat." Katie, Don and I played it after all of her friends left. The idea is to get four cards with the lowest total, she's getting really good at adding numbers! Overall, it was a fun party, but I think next year we'll just stick to playing games and running around!
She'll have her family birthday party on Tuesday, her real birthday. She's decided she wants macaroni and cheese FROM THE BOX for her birthday dinner. I'm going to try and talk her into having that for her birthday lunch. :)
