My 10yo son is having a 007 sleepover in a few weeks, following Halloween.
He's getting to the age where I just need to order pizza and sit back with a book in earshot... BUT... I was thinking of having the boys (6 or 7 10yos) make fake IDs/passports. Like an MI-6 badge with 00#, and then some accompanying travel documents (passports from differeng countries/drivers licensing) in phoney names.
A) Would you hate this as a parent?
B) Preteen crowd parents : Cool or Em-BAR-ras-SING?
Yep... Mixed bag... Drats. Which means I should clear it w/ parents first!
Which means clearing it with my son that its okay to clear with parents. LOL. Oy. The politics of growing up!
Not a bday party, just as an aside. My son and I have a tradition of a movie marathon weekend once every few months. This time he asked if he could invite some of the guys over for a sleepover Friday. Sure, kiddo. Sounds grand!
I haven't made IDs / Passports in a long time. Even then they were just props, not the real thing :) it's fairly simple to do props. The real thing has special colored ink, holograms, paper, etc. These wouldn't fool anyone. We used to do them up in highschool all the time at a local geek/engineer hangout that was a game/bar/grill (ID station, in the dark 3 story maze including secret passages n slides, candle making, computer hacking, vault cracking speakeasy type place. I miss Entros!)
It only takes about 2 min per ID. Everything will be set up except for silly name and pic of kid.
<grin> Ill letcha know in a few weeks if we do it or not!
The only thing that raised my eyebrows was you calling it "fake ID" -- that has a completely different meaning than what you're proposing. If you simply say they're making their spy documents, no one will assume they are real and it won't sound like you're trying to get them into a bar.
It wouldn't bother me, but I've discovered over the years that I'm open to more things than most parents, so I'm probably not a good barometer. I could imagine some parents saying, "Oh no -- that's going to teach them to make fake I.D.'s to buy alcohol!" or some such thing. But I think it's cute.
Don't know whether it's cool or not.
Have fun!
I agree with Veronica. Calling them "Spy documents" sounds a lot better than "Fake IDs".
Too funny... my daughter is having a sleep over right now.
Just ate pizza, played some games with my son, and the girls (she is almost 10) are just self reliant as you said.
The badges would be a cool thing.
If you have no laminator just use good quality wide packing tape.
I have used that. It worked out.
Fun.
Spy documents - cool. Fake IDs - not so much - I can't imagine any sort of bartender falling for it :)
I LOVE it!
When my daughter had a "Girl's Rock" party (age 11) we made VIP/Backstage Passes with their name and photo which I laminated and put on a lanyard. I had my older daughter check their name off a list at the front door before they entered the party. It was a big hit :)
I vote for Spy Documents, ( I would be totally against FAKE IDs) but i'm not clear on what the kids actually do or is it you making it for them?
would be cooler to set up a mystery and have them try to look for clues and solve it.
Like the cake is missing, and there are footprints and blood ,,ok i got carried away.no blood and stuff.
Embarrasing
My son would have been horrified if I did that at his B-day party - not really into making a craft at a party at that age. He would not been too happy to wear a badge and pretend he was from another country etc...
He preferred that I gave them a ball and sent them in the backyard to play some sports or put on a good movie with popcorn or something like that.
With that said, keep in mind every kid is different and every locale is different, so maybe the boys in your area would enjoy the type of party you are thinking about???
PS: as a parent - I would not be offended by that. I certainly wouln't think that you were making "real" fake i.d.s to take them to a bar, as someone suggested.
I have done it too! Just for my son for some kind of project at school. We had him dress up in a trench coat and hat with sunglasses and put that head shot on the card(just a printable business card). List specialty skills, like race car driver or sky diving, speaking different languages, etc. You could have maps and binoculars out for decor. Have fun!
I don't think parents would mind so long as you don't call them fake IDs. That kind of means one thing and that isn't what you are doing, ya know.
So come up with a clever name for what it is and run with it. They may or may not think it is cool but I am sure they will be polite about it.
Cool! We've done that with our kids at about that age. Do you have, or could get, a laminator?
i think they would be fun for the goodie bag. so what i would do is take their picture when they come to the party. then while they are having their fun print and laminate them. its not like they are going to be able to actually use them.
I think they would like it, but I would ask your son what he thinks. If he's cool with it, then go ahead. If not, then just give them pizza. My SD was still into spy gear at that age.
Why would a parent hate it? If a parent gives you grief--don't invite that child the next year.
I think its cool that you are planning something. I usually just bought new video games, let them swim and provided pizza. Go mama!
I think its awesome. GO for it!
As a parent, I wouldn't care in the least, unless you think you will do such a bang up job that they might actually look realistic enough to get someone in trouble with the law, lol.
Just consider that boys may or may not keep focused on a craft long enough with enough precision to make them come out worthy of what you are hoping for. My kids have made their own "badges" and "IDs" over the years with notebook paper (including making/drawing cell phones, or laptop keyboards, lol)... They love that kind of stuff. But actually getting them to sit still and do something like that as a group.... might take a bit of effort on your part, unless you keep it REALLY simple and yet with plenty or room for their imagination...
Good luck.
btw, my son is 14... He go a REAL ID at school this year... lol
I can't see the boys liking this. At 6 & 7 they don't like much interaction from the parents.
I can see you are trying to keep to the theme of the party, but I could see the more finicky parents having a panic attack over the issue.
