Saturday 31 October 2009

American Halloween party scavenger hunt

Dear Nikki,

We had a wonderful "Americal Halloween Party" in the midst of Austria (Europe). I teach english for kids with a program called "Show Me The World" and like to do some extracurriculum activities with the kids. I tought them about the jack-o-lantern and where the name halloween comes from. we made stuffed apples, i brought pumpkin pie and after the scavenger hund we broke the jack-o-lantern piniata and had a great time.

The scavenger party planner I found to be very useful, would you have anything on treasure hunts as well?

best wishes,

Genia Lackey, Austria

More details on a great Halloween Treasure Hunt here

Wild treasure hunt at mother's 50th

I have been searching the internet for ideas for my Mothers 50th birthday....I thought this might be a fun way to celebrate.... we love to dance, drink some and are wild!

Christyl Seymour,

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

Friday 30 October 2009

4th July Treasure Hunt

Hi Nikki,

Our treasure hunt on the 4th of July was a lot of fun. We had 35 kids(and adults) running all over the yard in the rain.!! After they solved their riddles the hunt then took them into the woods with compasses and shovels and they had to find the "buried" treasure. It certainly was a memorable day--thanks for the help in getting me organized.

Sharon Kloter, Connecticut, USA

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

9 year old birthday party treasure hunt success

Hello Nikki,

Thanks for the e-mails and suggestions. I have enjoyed your treasure hunt ideas and games and gave them a try at my daughters birthday party. She is 9 and the girls had a ball. We had a backwards party and it was definately the hit of the party. I also run a kids program at a guest ranch in Colorado and look forward to using many of your ideas with them. I have done many "on skis" treasure hunts and look forward to incoporating many of your ideas with my own outdoor twists. It is a nice way to spark new ideas as well as using the ones you provided.

Thank you for the follow up!

Kelli, Colorado, USA

More details on a great Childrens Treasure Hunt here

Thursday 29 October 2009

Family Scavenger Hunt most memorble

Dear Nikki,

I just came home from my scavenger hunt party and wanted to shoot an email to you before I got too busy.

This was the first time anyone in my family participated in a scavenger hunt. The occasion was my father's 75th birthday. Your materials were invaluable in sparking my imagination and setting the ground rules for my game.

Because the participants were all family (ranging from teenagers up through to my 75 y/o dad), I decided to do a "This is Your Life" scavenger hunt. I've attached the details for you. While most of it won't make sense to you, I think you'll get the general idea. I found your materials to be a great source of ideas for me to create my own unique game. I found the structure and rules that you suggested particularly helpful.

I had three teams with 5 people in each team. Everyone had a fantastic time! We downloaded the pictures into one digital album as an added gift for my dad. He said it was the most memorable and wonderful birthday he ever had! Thank you for the great ideas. I can't wait to do the next one!

Sandra Buckley, Massachusetts, USA

More details on a great Scavenger Hunt Party Game here

Looking forward to doing another treasure hunt

Just a quick note. It took about 2 hours for the boys to go through the stations and find the treasure - they had a lot of fun. I look forward to doing another treasure hunt for another party down the road.

Thanks,

Mortimer Howard, California USA

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

Wednesday 28 October 2009

Scavenger hunt is welcomed by Mall Management (eventually)

Nikki,

The party started off great until a group of the kids ran into a security guard who insisted that it was against mall policy and would not let them continue. I had already checked the mall website and code of conduct as well as spoke to some of the retail stores so that they knew what was going

on and all were ok with it. I did not call the mall office which I should have done but the stores were very open to the hunt so I saw no reason to do that as well. The security guard would not let me speak to his supervisor nor was there any mall management there on a Saturday. I gave up and took

the kids bowling but the kids loved the idea and insisted on figuring out the clues that they had not gotten to yet. I have since spoken to mall management, it was not against mall policy and they are sending out apologies to all kids involved as well as rescheduling the hunt and giving the kids gift cards and other things to help make up for the rude, stupid security guard.

Here is a list of the clues and activities that they were supposed to do. I had made a scrapbook with the clues in it for each kid and left places for the pictures that they were supposed to take during the hunt. There were 4 groups of kids and each group had the same clues for the first half of the

hunt but were all in a different order so that they would not be running into each other and such. We were meeting halfway and switching teams so that they could hang out with different kids for the second part of the hunt. The kids loved it and were very disappointed with the security guard (he is no longer employed there as well).

Your information helped me stay organized and I do appreciate it!

Thanks,

Cindi Brackins, North Carolina, USA

More details on a great Scavenger Hunt Party Game here

Treasure hunt will be repeated

The treasure hunt was great. I downloaded the new adobe version, and then it worked.! Every thing went smoothly and the boys loved it! I will be doing more treasure hunts in the future!

Thanks,

Laura Morreale, New Jersey, USA

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

Tuesday 27 October 2009

Treasure hunt sets new standard for harvest festival

Nikki

Here are some details of our successful treasure hunt.

It was for our church, at a farm, during our Fall Harvest Festival. We wanted a harvest theme, but not so much a Halloween theme. We also wanted large motor activities so small children would participate in the whole thing. And, we wanted a few team building activities since families were encouraged to sign up as a team. So, our 6 stations were:

1. Ship's Cove: each member of the team had to walk the plank looking backwards through a pair of binoculars.

2. Walleye River: each member was given a "stepping stone", and they had to get to a certain point only using the stones.

3. Spider's Web: We created a 4' x 4' spider web out of twine and attached bells. Each team picked 2 people to pass through the web without ringing the bells.

4. Hide Away Cove: We hid 15 stamps, and they had to find 10 of them and stamp a piece of paper

5. Mummy Cave: We wrapped one person in the group with Toilet Paper

6. Apple Lake: One apple per team mate needed to be bobbed. Not everyone had to bob, someone else could bob for you.

I gave everyone an envelope with their starting spots. As they completed the stations, the station judges would give them a stamp on their envelope (we had 6 station judges) and they had to be completed in the correct order.

We had 9 groups of 4-8 people

We buried 1st, 2nd and 3rd place treasures, and gave them each a map when they completed the journey. Everyone else got a glow stick when they completed.

It was great watching the families really enjoy themselves! They were running from point to point (kids dragging laughing parents) and working together to complete the tasks. They had to think and

challenge themselves a little, and we had a 100% smile-success rate. What a fantastic idea, and thank you for all your work. We'll be using it again. I think I just set a new standard at our yearly Fall

Harvest Festival. I'm already planning the next one!

Blessings,

Rebecca Walsh, USA

More details on a great Church Treasure Hunt here

Helpful scavenger hunt lists

Found what I needed and the list were very helpful. Thank you for this

product.

Susan Thorington, Alabama, USA

More details on a great Scavenger Hunt Party Game here

Monday 26 October 2009

Easy to create Instant Treasure Hunt

Nikki,

We had out Pirate party on Saturday the 4th. The treasure hunt was a big hit.

I had my 14 year old daughter work on the instant treasure hunt game for me since I was running out of time getting the party ready.

We had 9 families with 1-5 kids per family. Lots of bodies. The parents had to participate with their

kids. Everyone said it was a nice way to involve them in the theme of the party. They all ended up with wooden treasure chests full of toys, candy & mini rum bottle (for mom and dad).

This was so easy, even for my daughter to handle. It was a great hit. And everyone was so

impressed with my daughter for putting together such a big project.

We will definitely use the game again.

Ann Kruger, Oregon, USA

More details on a great Instant Treasure Hunt using Riddles here

Looking for more opportunities for treasure hunt

Hi Nikki- Overall things were great -- It really was fun and I'm looking for an opportunity to do another Treasure Hunt. I ended with each of 4 teams finding one-fourth of a Treasure Map -- they all had to work together to get a Treasure Chest filled with Goodie Bags. Thanks, this was great!

Janet Brewe, New Hampshire USA

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

Sunday 25 October 2009

Easter scavenger hunt around the house

Hi Nikki,

So, just to let you know, everything went well. Easter is a big deal at our house.....always has been. My husband and I don't have any kids, but my sisters do, and have been coming to our home for Easter brunch for years...probably 15 years or so. I have always made a game of some sort for the kids...there are 8 of them. When they were little we had yarn woven in, around, under, on top of etc furniture, and knick knacks within our bottom two rooms....family room and recreation room. Slightly hidden along the trail where gifts/chocolate etc for the kids. As the kids got bigger it became more challenging. I've done Kim's games with them, word quizzes....oh many things....just can't think of them off the top of my head. I keep kidding the kids, that they are getting too old for this...the game...the gifts...the treats. But of course, they don't think so :) So, each year, it takes me awhile to come up with something a little different. Basically, what I'm looking at are 8 kids, each of whom is getting about 10 gifts (my Mum and sisters drop off their gifts to me to be included). This works out to 60 "places" within our home that I need to identify as the prize location somehow.

I don't know if this is making much sense to you, as I'm writing it. So I'd thought of a scavenger hunt of some sort for some time. So, I bought yours this year....and I was able to use the ideas. I took suggestions from the "Scavenger Hunt - Around the Home" and the "Memory Hunt". The kids

range in ages from 10 to 18. The oldest 2 brought their boy friends this year! I came up with 60 questions (5 questions per kid) ranging in difficulty eg. "How many holes are in the air tub?", "What brand name toaster oven is in the kitchen?" to "What was tested on November 13, 1996?". The answer to the last one is "the gas regulation pressure test". There is a tag that hangs off the gas pipe in the laundry room. Another one that had one of them stumped for awhile was, "Where do you find the number 39615119?". The answer is the "water meter". The kids like the challenge...they won't give up. I also had them each find 5 particular items in the house. For example....everyone had to find a tea light. These are normally around the house, but by the time eight kids have picked one up, kids #9 and 10 are having more difficulty finding one. I had a couple of other things for them to do as well.

So, it went well. I think they'll be 30 years old and I'll still be doing it. I'll read through your material again next year and come up with something else for them to do.

Thanks for the hunt/games and your emails. As I said, it went very well.

Tracey Stamp, Ontario, Canada

More details on a great Easter Treasure Hunt here

Huge success scavenger hunt

I had the scavenger hunt last Friday. It was a huge success considering I put it together in 3 days with the help of your documents. The hunt was at a Community park with a huge playground area. The kids and parents had a great. The teacher appreciated the thank you cards.

This weekend I'm doing another one for my son's birthday pool party.

Thanks!

Heather Swift, Pennsylvania USA

More details on a great Scavenger Hunt Party Game here

Saturday 24 October 2009

Girls so much more up for it than the guys!

Hi Nikki,

Yes our birthday scavenger hunt was a GREAT success. Your material gave me lots to choose from and I was grateful. I used the treasure map for the invitations and rolled them up to hand out. The list was on the treasure map and it was 8 items to look for or info to find and 8 photos to take to make memories & proof of it getting done. It was a teen girl team against teen guy team and the playing field was the city of Wichita, KS so they had a certain time to be back complete or not and the one with the most done was the winner. They all came back with wonderful stories and had lots of fun. I learned though that the guy against girl wasn't the best cause the guys were too COOL to do some of the list, but the things they did they had FUN! Whereas if they had had mixed teams the girls would have persuaded them into doing everything!!

3 of the top things they talk still about doing were:

1) Photo with policeman (extra points if he'll let you all in his car) He did but didn't thing they would all fit & they crammed in the back seat - he took the picture.:)

2) Signature of fireman (the girls took it a step farther and asked if he could bring the truck to their house for EXTRA points) they couldn't

3) the most daring (per girls) was going to get 2 balloons from some restaurant and giving one away to a kid and bring one home (this was Fri. night during busy evening meal and they went into Applebees asked for 2 balloons and went up to a family that had a girl and asked to take her picture while they were eating & the little girl was sooooo happy.

On the other hand the guys said the police they stay away from so it was crossed off their list from the start NOT to do. They like going to the mall and riding the merry go round. They also liked finding a statue to take a picture with came back with MANY statue pictures it was funny. They also didn't have a hard time finding hats & taking pictures except they were worried about messing their hair up (what's up with that!)

While planning this double birthday party it has prompted other ideas one for our leadership Christmas party at church promoting unity & working together to accomplish a task. Also I have talked with our

Coordinator who is up for the idea of a scavenger hunt during next summer's Family Reunion. Should be loads of fun.

Thanks for the great info! I am going to try to send a photo let me know if it makes it.

Dena Hudson, Kansas USA

More details on a great Teen Treasure Hunt here

Lots of good ideas for July scavenger hunt

The scavenger hunt that I'm holding is scheduled to occur on 18 July. I'll let you know how it goes. I got a lot of good ideas from the materials.

Sandra Buckley, Massachusetts, USA

More details on a great Scavenger Hunt Party Game here

Friday 23 October 2009

Excited pirates waiting for their treasure hunt

Nikki,

The party is happening this Sunday coming. At the moment we have 18 very excited 10 & 11 year old boys looking forward to the upcoming treasure hunt.

The invitations were a huge hit. I hand delivered in the darkness of night, washed wine bottles. The outers were wrapped in a printed map with a poem that I had made up -

"This bottle comes to you on shore,

Floating 11 years from days of yore

.......................

It went on to say that the recipient of the bottle had to work through a series of clues to work out where and when the party was and who it was for. Inside the bottle I had tightly rolled another larger

map which had all of the clues. I had also wrapped some scull and crossbones fabric around the neck of the bottle (all of the kids have been asked to bring this to the party on the day and they can wear this twisted with some coloured fabric that I will hand out as soon as we have selected the teams as per your instructions eg Black brigands will get black fabric and twist with the scull and cross bone, Blue, Yellow, Orange etc)

Also tied to the neck of the bottle was some fairly roughly hacked paper, which had the child's name and his pirate name for the day eg Mr. Peter Piper, Pirate name - One eyed Scurvy dog

The feedback that I have had from children and parents has been sensational. Now just hoping that I can pull the party together so that all goes smoothly and the kids have fun.

Best regards

Anita Sawrey, Victoria, Australia

More details on a great Pirate Treasure Hunt here

Treasure hunt book is worth every penny!

I ordered your Treasure Hunt for Halloween about an hour ago and I am so impressed!!! I have a big Halloween party every year and I'm always looking for something new to entertain the kids – I can't wait to play this Treasure Hunt!! Thank you for saving me so much time and effort – this is worth every penny for that reason alone. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

Lorraine Turkel, Florida, USA

More details on a great Halloween Treasure Hunt here

Thursday 22 October 2009

Treasure hunt book sales have impeccable customer service

Thanks so much, I really appreciate all of your prompt attention. I recommend your game to everyone!! Also, your customer service is impeccable!!

Sincerely,

Nancy Franklin, New York, USA

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

Nikki,

Hi, this Laresa Depew. Tonight, Wednesday, I went on the site and planned the treasure hunt stuff for Thursday afternoon. It was so easy, and so much better than racking my tired brain to put one together. I can not wait to use it on Thursday. I also looked at the games and loved them. Over the weekend I will work on the magic show, for next week also. Thank you so much for all the hard work that you did. I will let you know how it went.

Laresa Depew, Missouri, USA

More details on a great Instant Treasure Hunt using Riddles here

Wednesday 21 October 2009

Recommended for scavenger hunts

Thank You for your quick response. I will definatley recommend to anyone I now planning a party interested in scavenger hunts.

Jodi Hoines, North Carolina, USA

More details on a great Scavenger Hunt Party Game here

Tuesday 20 October 2009

Treasure hunt fun for 8th birthday

It was a lot of fun for my daughter and her friends (8th bday). We did a water balloon toss station, maze/jump rope/run around cones station, word find station, question station, basketball (must make 5 baskets each) station, and a math station. We have a very large field with a section of woods where we buried a lock box with treasures in it. It all went very well with the exception of my hiding of the map the night before and not being able to find it until minutes before the party!!!!!oopps. The only thing I would do differently is have a second and third price for each of the teams to win something, though they shared nicely.

Thanks, it was worth the purchase and we will probably use again with adult friends.

DeAnn Steinhorst, New York, USA

More details on a great Childrens Treasure Hunt here

Easy to create Instant Treasure Hunt

Nikki,

We had out Pirate party on Saturday the 4th. The treasure hunt was a big hit.

I had my 14 year old daughter work on the instant treasure hunt game for me since I was running out of time getting the party ready.

We had 9 families with 1-5 kids per family. Lots of bodies. The parents had to participate with their

kids. Everyone said it was a nice way to involve them in the theme of the party. They all ended up with wooden treasure chests full of toys, candy & mini rum bottle (for mom and dad).

This was so easy, even for my daughter to handle. It was a great hit. And everyone was so

impressed with my daughter for putting together such a big project.

We will definitely use the game again.

Ann Kruger, Oregon, USA

More details on a great Instant Treasure Hunt using Riddles here

Monday 19 October 2009

Great scavenger hunt

Our scavenger hunt was GREAT!!!!!!!!! Thanks. The book was priceless :)

Sherita McLamore, Maryland, USA

More details on a great Scavenger Hunt Party Game here

Sunday 18 October 2009

Corporate team building scavenger hunt

Nikki - you are a life saver! I really love it and as a result of your packaged managed to switch gears and really make my hunt something special, it happens on Tuesday, now I have full confidence it will be a winner!!

In Victoria, BC - Tues Apr 10 (I'd already done a lot of pre-planning) for Company Team Building, all adults/

Cheers!

Chris Hill, British Columbia Canada

More details on a great Corporate Treasure Hunt here

Teen birthday party scavenger hunt

Hey Nikki

I did another one for a 13 year old birthday party that was pretty cool

I took a bunch of magazines, poster board, scissors and glue,

And I made a list of things to find in the magazine.

Something you would need for college

A boy

A girl

Something red

Something bright

…..

And then they made a collage on the poster board….

So then I took this one step further, and I am sure you have heard of the movie and the book "the secret"

Well we did one to talk about the law of attraction, for a group of adults. It was awesome !

Thank You

JoAnn Seckus, Illinois, USA

More details on a great Scavenger Hunt Party Game here

Saturday 17 October 2009

Teenage video scavenger hunt

Hi,

The party is this Sat. for a group of 17-18 year old teenagers. My son just turned 18 today. We are hoping to do the video scavenger hunt if the weather cooperates. I'll let you know how it went.

Juliane Lewis, california, USA

More details on a great Teen Treasure Hunt here

Friday 16 October 2009

Mall scavenger hunt

This was designed for the participants to buy a gift for the birthday girl, during their hunt. We were at a upscale outdoor mall.

I divided the teams into two groups, and changed the order of things on the second list so the teams would not run into each other.

This took one team 45 minutes, and the other team and hour and 25 minutes. We waited for them at lunch, while sipping on champagne... I received thank yous, and gushing kudos from everyone, they all had a fantastic time.

Sincerely,

Mary Guleserian, USA

More details on a great Scavenger Hunt Party Game here

Thursday 15 October 2009

Sixth scavenger hunt

Thanks Nikki-

This is actually the 6th one for my son who is 11 but the past have been a little on the younger side and they are ready at this age for more difficulty and I'm going to make it an hour long at my house for his pool/scavenger/manhunt party...

I have to read through your stuff and as I'm traveling up to CT for the weekend I will have more comments by Monday and maybe ask for some assistance or I will definitely let you know all the details, etc. I'm also enlisting my neighbors, using a camera, and a park behind my house...this is

more work than my real job :)

This was one of the best I saw, so I look forward to this~

Thanks!

Elsa Pine, Connecticut, USA

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

Costumed pirate themed treasure hunt

Hi Nikki,

We had a very fun party on Saturday night and we were so happy to use our Treasure Hunt with the Pirate Theme. It was a lot of fun! We had about 40 people and the costumes were great and the entertainment was a lot of fun.

Thanks,

Deb Haupt, Minnesota, USA

More details on a great Corporate Treasure Hunt here

Wednesday 14 October 2009

Hi Nikki,

Thanks so much for your info! We had a beach party for 3 graduates with all ages attending and had a great time.

Since we weren't in a familiar area, I made a list of "Something (with) ______." The small kids had a wonderful time and felt very included.

With appreciation,

Gail Fletcher, USA

More details on a great Scavenger Hunt Party Game here

Tuesday 13 October 2009

Treasure hunt product is exceptional

The party this past weekend was a huge success. We had an away sleep-over at our family mountain house and had the treasure hunt on day 2. It went extremely smoothly and the ten girls had a blast! Last week was an insane week and I had little time to prepare, and now that I've done the hunt I feel like I could do it perfectly next time. Your product is exceptional and you truly saved me valuable time and stress!!! I look forward to having another hunt sometime very soon. Thanks so much,

Kirsten Salas, Georgia USA

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

Monday 12 October 2009

Lot of scavenger hunt ideas

Hi Nikki,

I am not having my scavenger hunt until the middle of June. I got a lot of great ideas from your ebook.

Thanks,

Donna Mallory, Pennsylvania USA

More details on a great Scavenger Hunt Party Game here

Sunday 11 October 2009

Treasure hunt is great hit

My treasure hunt was delayed because of sick kids, but when we did have it, it was a hit.

I already knew that I wanted a treasure hunt that was catered to the things my son loved to do most, so in one event we had a task such as each team had to catch 9 consecutively thrown passes before getting the next clue. One was we made a board game with his pictures all over it, and when a teams game piece landed on a certain picture they had a task related to the picture, (a baby picture where everyone had to eat dip n dots with a baby spoon. I took poka dot tissue paper and cut out baby bibs, this was my favorite they made some great party pictures pouting and eating with a tiny spoon.)

Also I used some of your ideas on the pages provided to organize my timming and to get the right kind of helpers, I seemed to refer back to it several times just to make sure I was heading in the right direction. Thank You I am sure I will do it again, kids can never get enough of this KIND OF FUN!

Ann Stiles, Oklahoma, USA

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

Saturday 10 October 2009

Treasure hunt planned in one day

Dear Nikki,

I had one day to plan my treasure hunt for my 12 year old son. We did the hunt in the back yard with a sports theme. The six boys played against each other, we had a basketball court challenge, a golfing challenge, throwing a football or baseballs into a garbage can, some mental math, a 3D puzzle challenge and a name the object in a box challenge. The treasure map included the use of a gps to locate the buried treasure. They found the treasure map in a buffalo head skeleton. They had a lot of fun digging up the treasure and playing all of the games. I could not have done it without your book and online program for printing out the forms. We look forward to planning another hunt.

Thanks Karie

Karie Brown, Washington, USA

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

Friday 9 October 2009

Cheap option for treasure hunt clue game

The Treasure hunt went well. I intermixed some clues we personalized. I think this went over well and they were the more exciting clues for us. All had a great time and it got the kids out of the house enjoying fresh air. Cheap at the price! Thank you! Sorry no photos taken, too busy keeping up with the kids!

Cathy McDermott, New York, USA

More details on a great Instant Treasure Hunt using Riddles here

Thursday 8 October 2009

School celebration treasure hunt

Dear Nikki,

Thanks for your email. Just to let you know, I am planning a treasure hunt for pupils at my school in Derby, England. We are celebrating 50 years in our current building and I am in charge of planning a party for girls aged 14-16 on the afternoon of February 8th. I am hoping that I will be able to use the ideas in your book, although I still need to think up my challenges! We have 85 girls in total, so our teams will be quite large, however I think that I will be able to adapt your ideas, so thanks!

Carole Riley, Derby, England

More details on a great Teen Treasure Hunt here

Wednesday 7 October 2009

Treasure hunt used 6 times successfully

Nikki

Have used this 6 times already and it is fantastic.

You can now say it is recommended by the Scottish Champions of Children's Entertainment: ALLANSMAGIC

Our site is at www.allansmagic.com

Cheers

Alan

Allan Innes, Aberdeenshire, UK

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

Tuesday 6 October 2009

Treasure hunt will be used again

The treasure hunt was great. I will be using the hunt for many occasions. Thank you for a great party.

Mary Millar, Michigan, USA

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

Monday 5 October 2009

Treasure chest pi?ata

Nikki,

We already had the party. It was a huge success. I thought it might be a little too young for the age group, but they really enjoyed it.

The party consisted of 10 boys ages 9-12. We hid the treasure in the house in a chest that had a lock on it. I gave them a key along with the map. We live in central California and the temp. last Sat. was 104 degrees....much too hot to do the entire hunt and party outside (this is why the treasure was inside as it took them quite a while to find it).

I put the treasure (candy and small toys) inside of a treasure chest pi?ata. When they found it, they then got to take it outside and do the pi?ata. This pi?ata was the kind that had strings attached to the bottom and the kids took turns pulling the strings until one of them released the candy. It was great. They mostly liked the stations and games that were played there. I made the pirate beach station out by the pool and incorporated the walking the plank game into the pool area.

Thanks for everything...it was well worth the money.

Kelly Coulter, California USA

More details on a great Pirate Treasure Hunt here

Sunday 4 October 2009

Planning our treasure hunt

Hi Nikki. I had hoped to get most of the planning done today, but alas, other chores kept us busy today! Well ... that and the great weather!

I'm going to work on it over the next 2 days. I have a few different places I am thinking for burying the treasure. There is a corner spot in our backyard where the grass has died, so I thought that might be a good place. Or, in the front garden.

The party is for younger girls. The oldest will be 8; and I have 2 6 year olds playing. I thought I would draw a fairly simple map - that would probably be easier than a clue I think.

My niece, who is 15, really wants to help me plan everything out. We're going to start tomorrow. I have a gold coloured cake tin that I'm going to use as the 'treasure box' - we're just going to decorate it up a bit more. Once we start the planning, I may have some questions. If I do, I will certainly e-mail you.

I'll also let you know how it all went. I think it is a GREAT idea and my daughter is very excited about it.

Thanks for writing,

Karen

Karen Hayward, Ontario, Canada

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

Saturday 3 October 2009

Wonderful details of the treasure hunt

Hi Nikki.

I made the treasure map out of an over-sized yellow envelope (I'd say 11x14). Since it was darker in color, it already had a yellowed aged look about it. I used a thin permanent marker and free hand the area. A pool was located in the backyard so I drew waves representing the pool and upside down 'V's' to represent the mountains. Where the treasure map was buried, I drew a skull and cross-bones, then drew arrows representing the path that had to be taken to get to the X that marks the spot for the treasure. I had made a cup of hot tea and left the tea bag in the cup. Once the tea cooled, I used the tea bag to blot the treasure map and created a molted brown look. Because the teabag made the map wet, I let it dry overnight and it was fairly stiff. I then put the map over the stove burner to create burn spots. This was perfect because it made the map heavy enough to bury and strong enough for hand to pull it open excitedly without ripping it.

I created a treasure chest by purchasing a disposable ice cooler at a local dollar store. We bought brown paint and painted the cooler (the Styrofoam began to melt the cooler temporarily and it actually worked well since it looked very aged). I purchased 6 individual treasure chests (assuming no more than 6 kids to a team) and put in only two filled treasure chests at the bottom of the cooler with marbles, fake jewels, chocolate coins and coin bubble gum on top of the individual treasure chests). I kept the remaining treasure chests aside to present one to each team member that won.

Whatever team won, we brought all the teams over so they could see the opening of the treasure and share the booty with the other teams. I had also prepared a individual bag of goodies for all participants that included a mardi gras type beaded necklace, chocolate coins, gums and since the Pirates of the Caribbean is still a hot item I located bags of M&Ms that had pirate stuff on them. For the winning teams they not only got their own filled treasure chest but I was able to locate an inexpensive prize for them.

How we conducted the hunt was the train schedule was pinned to a tall hedge (I used clothes pins and wanted them all at one location so the kids did not have to scramble around looking for them as well as locating the stations).

I made up instructions and clues for each team member using colored paper that represented each team (blue paper for blue team, pink paper for red team, yellow for yellow, etc). For the clues I purchased an inexpensive laminator and laminated the uncut clues as well as made an uncut clue in the same color. I then cut the laminated clues into 6 pieces (I gave two pieces of the puzzle to each task master as they could easily determine what team did not do a task and each task master was responsible for 2 tasks). I thought this would be easy for smaller hands to hold and put together than paper pieces that they would loose, crumble or possibly tear. The laminated pieces were for the kids to put the clues together, but once their clues were actually put together they were given the paper clue that was not cut so they could run around with it and find the treasure map.

The teams were decided by whatever strip of paper they pulled from a hat. I cut up a certain number of strips of paper for each colored team. Based upon number the total number of kids that participated I had 4 teams and some teams had 3 kids and others had 4. Each team was given a set of instructions printed on colored paper that represented their team color. Each team was given a pencil. Not only did they get a chance to read their instructions, I announced the instructions. I explained that team work will come into play and they should consider having one person designated for different things (as the game wore on, they figured out that it was easy for one person to be responsible for writing down the combination, one person for holding the clues).

The teams were told that they must follow the schedule, they must complete each task, they will be given a piece of the clue, but before they could work on their puzzle, they needed to see the see the Gate Keeper to give the code. If the code was not correct they were not allowed work on their puzzle and they must go back to the schedule and see where they went wrong.

Once the first team successfully got all the pieces, provided the correct combination code that team then could put their laminated pieces together. Once the laminated pieces were put together, I then gave that team a whole uncut copy so they could run around and look for the treasure map. Once that team found the map all other teams were told that the map was found.

Once the actual treasure was found, all the teams were invited to watch the winning team open their treasure. The winning team was congratulated and advised that winners should share their booty with the others.

I had made enough little loot bags for each participating member so that each person would have consolation prize (can you image not having a prize for each child because I knew they would make me walk the plank!).

All the parents that stayed and watch were amazed and impressed.

It definitely took longer than a half hour and you need bodies to help make it run smoothly.

I think it went off well for the first time. I had family member and friends saying they wanted to have their own scavenger hunt.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for holding my hand and walking me through this step by step.

Angel Epps, California USA

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

Friday 2 October 2009

Hi Nikki,

We had our Easter theme Treasure Hunt at church and everyone including adults had a great time. I made a few changes to the stations making them all assocated with Biblical Easter, such as the Cross, the Road to Emmaus, Garden of Gethsemane, and so on.Our team names were the Angels, Roman Soldiers, and so on. As one of the kids put it. THIS IS AWSOME. Everyone is asking when the next one will be!!

Also for Easter I had a treasure hunt for my little ones that I babysit. They are 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 using pictures, a tree, a trampoline, and put the clues in Easter eggs. As soon as it was over the 3 1/2 year old started jumping up and down saying LETS DO IT AGAIN, LETS DO IT AGAIN.

Thank you again Nikki for all you do to bring joy and fun to peoples lives may you be as blessed as much as I have seen others blessed for the fun they have had doing THE TREASURE HUNTS.

Brenda Morgan, West Virginia, USA

More details on a great Church Treasure Hunt here

Thursday 1 October 2009

Fabulous treasure chest

Hi Nikki, Treasure Hunt was a hit, thanks. We had five stations that were in our back yard, front yard, neighbours and out in the kids hide-out in the bush behind our house. The treasure and the key (which was in an old gumboot) were hidden in the bush behind our house. When they had the treasure and the key they met in the hide-out to open the treasure. The treasure was filled with fake pearl necklaces, fake gold necklaces, glass stones (they were meant to be diamonds) and gold coins (chocolate filled). Thanks again

Tania Keenan, New South Wales Australia

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here