Locked IN!

Upon discovering that schlepping 18 girls with all their luggage to Fredericksburg in 4 cars was completely unrealistic, we shifted our plans.  We are resourceful Girl Scout Leaders after all!  The church where we hold our meetings allows for lock-in sleepovers - so we snagged the opportunity.  

The next challenge was to figure out what the heck we were going to do for 24 hours with 18 girls in a room.  

We decided to earn the Detective badge by staging an escape room/mystery party.  I happily took charge of this event and was so pumped to plan it.  I've been wanting to do a mystery dinner party for awhile so this helped scratch the itch that Covid just made worse...  lol

The week before the lock-in, the girls got envelopes with instructions to open the day before the lock-in.  Inside were these notes with instructions with a secret password to tell the doorkeeper upon arrival.

Ashley graciously and happily accepted the doorkeeper assignment and challenge.  She even stepped it up a notch and arrived in costume!  It was totally hilarious to see the girls' faces when the elevator doors opened.

We had some activities going on and dinner for the girls while the next part of our plan was being prepared.  Some of our amazing Dads volunteered to be our Secret Agents.  They even dressed the part!

The Secret Agents' job was to bust in to the room where the girls were meeting and desperately seek help from girl scouts to solve a mystery.  The dads were great actors and the girls were over the moon excited.

The kids had to solve various puzzles, codes and riddles to find their next clue that would ultimately lead them to discovering the item stolen and actually find the prize.  The Agents went around and helped the girls with their puzzles as needed and everyone seemed to have a great time.  The girls worked together with their groups very well and as the creator of the scavenger hunt, I was quite proud with how it all came together. 

At the end, I asked all the girls to get up in a group for a picture "with the dads" and I laughed so hard when one of the girls responded "wait.  what?  the DADS????"   LOL

After all that hub bub it was time for a movie with beds set up!  

I have to say, this being our 4th overnight with these girls.  It just gets easier and easier.  

Donut breakfast and homeward bound!  It was such a fun event!!