Argument - turns into game: thought I'd share!

[edwood saucer]

I asked in an earlier thread about games for some of the older kids for a Halloween Party. My wife has been on a Scavenger Hunt kick for a month. I have argued against a scavenger hunt because:
1 - most of the neighbors will be here.
2 - some houses I don't want the kids going too
3 - it will be hard to keep track of all the kids.

Well, it finally came to a head over the time of the party. We went back and forth and she said you can't have a scavenger hunt at night. I said MOST scavenger hunts are at night. BUT she agreed finally that unleashing X number of kids in the neighborhood - is probably NOT the way to go about it.

She said - how about one in the back yard. It took about 5 seconds for a light to go off in my head. (what she calls - the dim bulb) :^)

1 - we divide up the kids into teams.
2 - we create clues
3 - we send them out in the yard and field behind our house to go from from one clue to another.
4 - The clues lead to a prize.

The fun part is that all of it has to be constructed to find the final clue.

At each "clue" you will find directions to the next clue and part of a map.

The clues will be landmarked based - but in the form of a riddle.

So at one "clue station" you might find a "mummies bandage" that has a partial map on it. At another station - you might find a partial map that once you lay the mummies bandage on - it provides the location of the next clue.

We live next to a field - so a clue buried in a shallow grave - is not beyond the realm of possibility.

Neither is an arrow near the roof of the house that the kids have to shine their flashlights on to see.

Some clues will need to be lit from beneath to read... so on and so forth.

I will post progress as it happens. I think - it may be really fun. It will take some planning and some work!

Please chime in with any ideas!

Ews

[Long_Tom]

We did something similar for a pirate party (e.g. treasure hunt). The clues were mainly done with imaginative but obscure wording that referred to objects in the yard. Example, the final clue: "The mandarin and his bird guard the treasure." We have a mandarin orange tree and a bird of paradise plant right next to each other, and we hid the treasure box underneath.

You can do the same thing, only using ghostly phrasing rather than pirateish, for atmosphere.

We arranged it so that each kid got a clue at the beginning, and they had to be followed in order. That method requires them to cooperate, and keeps the faster kids from running ahead and ruining the surprise. Maybe you can combine the two ideas: give partial clues to each kid, then an activity like digging up the second half of a clue to continue.

[spideranne]

Oooohhh! I like it, very Amazing Race. The only thing I can think of is to have some kind of equalizing stations where there is some kind of task to complete before getting the next clue, that would allow for the slower teams to catch up and not be "out of it" and get discouraged.

[Lilly]

that sounds like a great idea..Ed

good idea spideranne

[edwood saucer]

Here's what we did - we truncated the activity because of a time crunch. Instead of elaborate pieced-together clues - we basically had one clue lead to another then that clue lead to another etc...

We had 2 teams of - surprisingly 14 kids apiece. (even more surprisingly - to my wife and I - we had 60 people show up)...

We "told" the kids they were being timed - that way - we could send them out in two shifts without one team giving clues to the other... while the course were not identical - they were close - again because of the time.

The kids were all great. They ranged in age and the older ones - even in the heat of the race let the younger ones participate.

The area was a backyard, a neighbors backyard and a field. The "booty" was hidden in the field next to a tombstone.

Here were some of the clues:

"Look for the flower
spinning and red
a clue you will find
and might raise the dead"

"Upon the porch of
blinking lights
dwells a house for birds
a clue is nesting there."

"at fields edge by deathly skull
30 paces take
take 30 more
toward the rising sun
under a stone of death
seek your treasure"

So - as you can see the clues were fun and fairly easy. The kids took less than 10 minutes each to find black spraypainted rubbermaid full of halloween goodness (fake eyes, teeth, glasses, spiders, candy, skulls, etc.)

Next year we will most definitely expand it. We'd like to send the kids out at the same time - but that would take a LOT of planning so courses don't intersect, clues of the other team aren't stumbled upon, etc.

One note - an unscientific study - the team of mostly girls beat the other team - mostly of boys - soundly.

Anyway - it was the unanimous highlight of the party for the kids.

Beer was mine.

:^)

[slightlymad]

Thats what I do to the kids for their xmas presents.

[edwood saucer]

Make them run out into a field in the middle of winter hiding them under tombstones?

I might have to notify the state about your case!

:^)

[slightlymad]

And Im the nice guy. The troll in the basement (mil) makes them stop after two gifts and eat eat breakfest.