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This sweet thing has turned 7. When Ethen told me he wanted to have an Indiana Jones party, I was super excited. I knew that I'd be able to have fun with this theme. Once again, all ideas were pilfered off of Pinterest and modified to fit my needs. INVITATIONS First I made the invitations and sent them two weeks prior to the party. The contents of the package including the following: For the invitation itself, there were some great silhouette images by Mathew Reynolds on the internet, and I created the Indiana Jones type lettering in Photoshop. I printed all things on my home printer. Next I included a map that I made that gave a little glimpse to where our adventure would eventually take us (Peru, India, and Egypt). I just printed it on normal printer paper and cut around the edge. Then I made a little 12-page booklet that gave them clues and hints to our treasure hunt. They were looking for the lost Peacock's Eye (that I.J. found in Temple of Doom, but lost again). I pulled a lot of my pages out of a cool book called, "The Lost Journal of Indiana Jones" and modified it to fit my needs. They are out of order here, because I was printing booklet form, but you get the idea. I wrapped all the contents into postal paper and found the stamp and postmark online. I reproduced the stamp, printed it on sticker paper, and had my Silhouette cut out the jagged edges and it turned out very realistic. I typed the labels that I got at Michaels using my typewriter and tied them with string. We hand delivered our invitations to the kids. SUPPLIES The first stop for the kids was the supply tent. I made the tent from a sheet and a curtain I got at Goodwill. Dave hung it with PVC pipe. I used my Silhouette to cut out a stencil for the boxes and I just spray painted them. I purchased the leaves, compasses and hats from Oriental Trading. I got the lantern, netting, and antidote from the Dollar Store. I got the crystal skull from Amazon, and the crate from Joanns. I made their canvas bags. I am definitely no seamstress, but even I could make these. Each one took about 15 minutes. Here is a little tutorial. Each bag was 12" x 22.5" which I folded in thirds after finishing one end. I cut notches in the end to make the bottom flat. Then I sewed up the sides. Pinch the notches together and sew shut to make the bottom. I finished the edges all around the flap and then added the strap. The strap was 40" long. After I finished, I ironed them after to give them a better look. Then I printed name tags for them and printed them on a sheet of Silhouette Printable Canvas. TREASURE HUNT I had clues posted around that let them know where to go and what to do. Maya made me some awesome signs for the countries. It was a very blustery day, but we managed to make it work. Their first challenge was to put 3 darts into Camazotz' head. I got the mini blow dart from Amazon for $5.99. It worked really well! Dave wiped the gun down with alcohol swabs after each turn. Next up was a whip challenge. It was blowing hard enough we had to weigh our cups down with rocks. Then they had to replace the golden idol with a bag of rocks without knocking it over. After they all completed the challenges, the next stop was India where we had a feast prepared. PANKOT PALACE I had fun recreating the feast from Temple of Doom. I decorated our dining room with some Hindu gods that I got from the ethnic part of town. The menu: Maya and her friend Lea were our servers. They announced each dish as they brought it in. First up: Snake Surprise (Jimmie John sandwiches shaped like a snake with olives for eyes and a hors d'oeuvres pick for the tongue.) Next we had dried beetle wings (potato chips.) And eyeball soup (grapes in yogurt). Dave served us Pankot Punch (Hawaiian Punch with Sprite). And lastly, for dessert, chilled monkey brains (cupcakes). I just made red velvet cupcakes and shaped the cream cheese frosting like a brain. I printed cupcake holders to wrap around them. Oh no! Did you drink the Pankot Punch? You've been poisoned by the maharajah! Grab the antidote you should have in your bag! So off they headed to Egypt where they encountered a snake pit. And the final clue: Off they went at full speed. There was a pool full of mulch on the island that had obvious treasure in it. They quickly tore it apart and found some jewels, some scarab beetles, and some jade buddhas, but no Peacock's Eye... I reminded them to consult their journal, which gave a clue that said, "The dragon is the key to your dreams." The older boys figured it out for the younger ones. On a tree branch I hung a dragon directly over a buried treasure box. They dug and dug and got really dirty until they finally uncovered it. They were so excited that they reached in and grabbed handfuls of stuff before they realized it was full of bugs also. I put jewels I bought from Amazon and chinese coins and the peacock's eye I found in the ethnic part of town on Harwin Street in the treasure box. Victory! Happy treasure hunters with their prize! And one epic day for this little adventurer!

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Unleash your inner adventurer with this Indiana Jones sticker! Featuring the iconic fedora and whip-wielding archaeologist, this high-quality vinyl decal is perfect for laptops, water bottles, or anywhere you want to show off your love for the legendary explorer. Add some adventure to your life today!"

This post is really late in coming, but better late than never! We had an October birthday and the birthday boy wanted an Indiana Jones birthday party. I hadn't seen an Indiana Jones movie in Sooooo long so I turned to the internet to help me on my way. As it turns out, there wasn't very much to be found. So, I also wanted to post this to help anyone else in need of this same theme. Some ideas I used were found online, but since it's been months, I have no idea where to give credit. SORRY! I will say, the party was in November, right after Halloween, and I was able to scoop up some (gross) Halloween goodies at 90% off prices!! You know I love a bargain! ***THE INVITATION*** I bought some scrapbook paper that looked like an old map. In Word, I created the text and formatted it to print several times on one sheet. (Google "Indiana Jones Font" to download the font. I think mine was called Fedora.) I cut them apart and burned the edges with lighter. (do this outdoors, it creates lots of little harmless ash) I found that putting out the little flames was easiest done with my fingertips. Blowing on it didn't always work. Be careful and use common sense! Then I glued these papers to a larger piece of cardstock, repeating the burning effect on those edges as well. Now it looks old and awesome! I coffee-dyed the envelopes and baked them in the oven for a few minutes to make them look equally as old and wrinkled. The final touch was some red food coloring drops to make it look like blood. I also bought a stamp that says "DANGER" and stamped it crooked across it, leaving enough room for the child's name. (I wish I took a pic of those, sorry) ***THE FOOD*** While the food was in the oven, the kids all played with their whips outside. I downloaded the theme song from Amazon and played it on a loop for the kids, having the outdoor speakers and the inside speakers on. They also played a little football :) The dessert spread The Brain Cupcakes Bones (homemade marshmallows piped into bone shapes) White Chocolate Skulls (Wilton mold) Bloody Fingers & Toes (sugar cookies with slivered almond "nails", dipped in Wilton candy melts) The munchies Including: Dead Bugs (Pizza Rolls), Mummies (Crescent Dogs), Moth Wings (Chips), Petrified Worms (Cheetos) Mummies (crescent roll wrapped hot dogs with mustard eyes) AB Negative Blood (ketchup in a Wilton squeeze bottle. google 'blood bag label') Squeezing this out was kind of making everyone queasy! Drinks - nothing special (tea, lemonade & water)  ***THE GAMES*** MISSION 1: Find the Lost Idols After listening to their mission, they each took turns digging through MONKEY BRAINS! (cold cooked spaghetti) There were several little gummy skeletons (non-edible) that needed to be found. It was hard since the skeletons felt exactly like spaghetti! (another Halloween find) Next they had to fish through EYEBALL SOUP to find small clear bouncy balls that had little black spiders in them. The "eyeballs" were peeled grapes, and they were pretty slimey! MISSION 2: The Arc of the Covenant I spray painted a large box gold and wrote "DANGER" on the sides in black. Then I took brown paper bags from the grocery store and ran them through the paper shredder. I filled the box up with the brown paper and fake spider webs (that also graced my light fixtures, fireplace, staircase and front door). Then loaded it up with "gross" body parts gummy candy and lots of little toys and such. (more Halloween clearance finds) Then on top of all of it, I put in all the toy snakes, bugs, and reptiles I could find from the playroom. This was where the kids got to fill up their goodie bags to take home. (sorry I didn't get a better picture of the box) Since the kids were digging around "snakes", when they finished filling up their goodie bags, they had to immediately drink a vile of the antidote! Next came gift opening... Then we sang the birthday boy his birthday song... I still can't believe my first born is TEN years old! Double digits!! All the boys had a GREAT time! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

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