Last weekend, we went along to Si5 SpyMissions in Croydon to try out one of their family missions. I love the concept of SpyMissions, it’s something a bit different and is active and engaging for the kids so I was really interested to see what my boys would make of it.
SpyMissions are really popular for birthday parties, but you can also book a family mission and do it as a family activity, which is a good way to include the younger ones too as you can take kids from 4+ if they are taking part as a family.
Since I’m 8 months pregnant now, I decided not to take part in the mission myself (it’s fairly physical and involves crawling through tunnels to get to different sections of it – which I wasn’t sure I’d manage at the moment!) so I left the fun to my three boys (ages 5, 6 and 8) and their dad, while I just relaxed and waited for them in the main cafe area.
There are a few different missions available, depending on the age of the group. The family mission is called Operation: Broken Arrow, and for this one SpyMissions have taken some parts from the adult mission and blended them with the kids ones. You have a guide who comes round with you, who will steer you towards the tasks best suited to your skills. With each mission, you only ever go around with your own group – whether that be a party group or a family – as you’re given a specific time slot and teams are set off in a staggered way. That’s a definite plus for me, as with some other activities like Laser we’ve been to parties where the venue has been busy and they might suggest mixing a couple of parties together so the kids end up having strangers on their teams which is not the best, but due to SpyMissions good organisation they avoid anything like that!
The missions take between 60-75 minutes, and for the family mission it was about 60 minutes for my kids and their dad to complete. The mission is made up of lots of different elements, from solving codes to driving a simulated helicopter, and my boys all enjoyed it a lot – including the big one, their Dad!
One of their favourite bits was getting past the lasers, which the kids were really excited about. They also got to explode a pretend missile during the mission.
While I was waiting for my boys to come out, I saw a few groups coming out of their missions from birthday parties and all of them seemed to have really enjoyed it and were excitedly chatting about what they’d been doing. If you’re local enough to consider it for a party, I definitely would – it looks like a great option especially for kids around 6-10 years old.
Si5 SpyMissions in Croydon is next to the Q Park on Charles Street and is very recognisable from the outside, so should be easy enough to find.
Prices start from around 9.00 per person, depending which mission you go for.
If you’re not in London, there are other SpyMissions locations available in Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Northampton and Nottingham. See the main SpyMissions website for details
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
I’ve never heard of SpyMissions but it looks like a really fun activity, especially for a birthday party. Great that Dad had so much fun too!
#TriedTested
We did this a couple of weeks ago and my boys loved it #TriedTested
Oh that looks like so much fun, my kids would love that. Shame there isn’t one close enough to us.