• Give your little sleuth glasses and other items to use as a disguise.spy game image by Andrey Kiselev from Fotolia.com
  
  Many kids (and adults) enjoy playing detective, or dream of living the lavish life of a spy. Plan a spy-themed birthday party to allow the guest of honor and her friends to unravel some clues and celebrate a mysterious new age. Customize every possible element of the party to complement the spy theme.
  
  

Invitations

• Send top secret or confidential invitations to let your guests know they are invited to a spy birthday party. Make a file for each "spy" with the guest's name written on the tab and "Confidential" stamped across the front. Fill the file with a spy badge, directions to the party and the party information as a "secret mission." Stamp manila envelopes with "Confidential" and send the "files" inside the manila envelope.
  
  

Decorations

• Draw footprints with chalk, or make them out of construction paper, leading to the front door and party area. Set up a fingerprint or retina scanner (made out of construction paper) at the front door to admit the spies-in-training. Large utility boxes can become a spy-training center that younger children can play in. Decorate that space to look like a top secret lab with bright lights and recycled keyboards. Hang large question marks or make over-sized "files" out of construction paper with "Confidential" or "Top Secret" painted on. Black and white streamers or balloons can add to the decor.
  
  

Activities

• Change your guests' identities when they arrive by giving out fake mustaches, glasses, hats, temporary tattoos or any other small, but simple, disguises. Put together some spy-inspired games and activities. Older children might enjoy a murder mystery, where they each play a character and try to solve the case.
  
  Tailor a "Who am I?" game where each guest has a character, object or famous person's name written on a card on their back. During the party, everyone goes around asking other guests questions to try to figure out what their own card says. Questions should be "yes" or "no," such as "Am I a girl?" or "Am I orange?"
  
  Fill two suitcases with various items that could be used as disguises, such as hats, wigs, trench coats, glasses and fake mustaches. Split the guests into two teams for a disguise relay. Everyone has to don the disguise, run to one end of the room or yard, then back to their teammates so they can undress and allow the next person to go. The first team to return their disguise to their suitcase after everyone has gone wins.
  
  

Food

• Serve any food you want to, but call it something else or disguise it as something else. For example, green spaghetti and meatballs or blue soda. Use food coloring to turn clear drinks or food different colors. Cookies, jello, chicken fingers and sandwiches can be cut out in the shape of question marks or magnifying glasses.
  
  

Cake

• Bake a cake in the shape of a magnifying glass, or decorate a typical rectangular cake to look like a manila envelope. Use black icing to write "Top Secret" across the middle of the cake, and decorate a "paper" coming out of the top saying "Classified: Agent Johnny's 8th," or something that fits your party.
  
  

Favors

• Use large manila envelopes to hold goodies for the children to take home as favors. Include gum, stamps and ink pads, a magnifying glass or eye patch, hat, glasses, fake mustaches, temporary tattoos, "top secret" pads and pencils and whatever else you can find to fit in with the spy theme.