Thursday 30 September 2010

Church block party treasure hunt game

Dear Nikki,

We are planning a Block Party at our church and your ideas really started my creative juices flowing!! Here are some "stations" we are considering as a way to involve the whole family in some fun together. Thanks so much for your great ideas! The planning/organizing part was THE BEST!

(These are some ideas for station activities. The activities on the lists would be shuffled around so everyone does not head for the same station at the same time. A few simple prizes would be awarded using the completed papers for a drawing. Older children could help younger ones and families could do the activities together. Volunteers would place simple bug stickers on the papers to show that a station was completed. Some of the stations are easy enough for one person to handle two activities. Each station would be clearly marked with its name and directions on how to complete the activity. Nobody complained about the bug theme so I just ran with it!!)

Nothings Bugging Me!!

Family Activity Stations

Move to each station in the order listed on your paper. Complete the activity and receive a sticker from the "Pest Control Officer". Turn in your completed paper for our prize drawing.

Ladybug Station Make a bug cookie

Buzzing Bee Station Sing a bug related song

Exterminator Station Use a spray bottle(Pressurized) to knock over

the "bugs" (Empty bottles decorated like bugs)

Bug Infested Swamp Cross the "swamp" by walking on a

plank(a long board) and hopping over bugs

Bug Tattoo Station Choose your favorite bug for a tattoo

Fly Swatter Station Move (plastic)bugs to a bucket using a fly

swatter

Fill the Hive Use a paper cup to fill your "hive"(small bowl)

with "honey"(water)

Bug Search Find at least 5 plastic bugs hiding in

the church lawn

Pat Swanson, Minnesota, USA

More details on a great Church Treasure Hunt 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 29 September 2010

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

So many do not know what a scavenger hunt is!

Thank you,

Everything went well. I think the item they had the most fun with was finding something with the letter M. My son's name starts with the letter M. They had about 50 questions about what they could use. Of the 25 items on their list, they were unable to get only two items a postage stamp and a 4 leaf clover. What surprised me the most was the number of parents and kids who had no idea what a Scavenger Hunt was.

Thank you again for your help.

Mindy Richard, California USA

More details on a great Scavenger Hunt Party Game here

Tuesday 28 September 2010

So much fun with instant treasure hunt clues

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the instant treasure hunt game-it was a blast and so much fun! For next time, we will need to better prepared-my daughter wanted to do it all and selected 45 clue-too many for this party. She also wanted to have colored envelopes which I made from paper-that was fun but too time consuming. I am looking forward to using this again for my little one's 6th birthday in October. Or maybe we will try out the scavenger hunt.

Thanks so much!

Karen Kruidenier, Pennsylvania, USA

More details on a great Instant Treasure Hunt using Riddles here

Treasure hunt game makes a unique party.

We had the party last night. Around 20 something seventh graders with a few other ages thrown in. They had a blast. We used our yard and a neighbor's yard for the play area (not too big, but some room to run) and buried the treasure on the edge of the property. The planning was relatively easy with your planner. The kids hadn't done anything similar at any other party they've been to - which is exactly what my daughter wanted. The checklist was a blessing - it helped me make sure I had everything ready... I think the party was a great success.

The game started at 5:45 and they were completely finished by 6:30 - which was much faster than I had anticipated. But it worked out fine.

The treasure hunt was a great idea and your planner certainly helped make it possible. I never would have found the time to coordinate all the timetables, challenges, clues and instructions without it. It was worth my investment.

Sheri Williams, Montana, USA

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

Monday 27 September 2010

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

Teen Easter treasure hunt

Hi Nikki!

Thanks for a great product and an even better time with friends and family enjoying our treasure hunt! We did this just yesterday for Easter and the youngest person in the group was 12. Everyone else was 15 and older, so I used a mix of adult/teenage clues. It was great. I stumped my kids....made others look like geniuses and the adults had just as good of a time watching the kids go crazy!

Overall, this was a huge success. I especially like that I was able to alter some of the clues to make them more personal to my family. I am certain that a lot more huge parties with many more great hunts are in our future.....

Thanks for everything!

Yvonne Kessel, Germany

More details on a great Easter Treasure Hunt here

Sunday 26 September 2010

Treasure hunt is best party ever!

Hi - We had a great party last night!  We decided to have four stations with four groups of two boys (ages 11 and 12).  This was for a sleepover so when the kids sat down for dinner they each had either a red, green, orange, or blue flashlight with them.  Their flashlight determined the teams.  Also, each team had it's own had unique treasure maps so they would all win the same treasure eventually.  Armed with the map pieces and a clue on the back, they all found their treasure of nerf guns and then spent at least an hour outside playing after the treasure hunt.  The boys had a great time and the structure your documents provided for the treasure hunt was really helpful.  After the boys traisped through the woods and found their treasure, one boy shouted "This is the best party ever!".  I was thrilled and my son had a great time.  Thanks for your help!

Alison McLaughlin, Massachusetts, USA

Mo re details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

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

Saturday 25 September 2010

Fantastic fun at the pirate treasure hunt

Hi Nikki -- I'm finally getting around to answering your emails! We finally completed our Treasure Hunt last week! We had so much fun -- thank you for the great kick-start!!!

I ordered your Treasure Hunt software package way back in February.

Your software was just what I needed to get started, get me thinking about what I wanted to do -- and it was GREAT fun! Everyone, from kids to adults, had a great time! For me, it was like Christmas, having chosen wonderful presents for all -- and watching everyone Ooooh and Aaaah. My participants had a ball! Of course, now that everyone had so much fun, next year I have to come up with a game for EVERYONE -- the grownups want to play, too!!!

Ah, the challenge!

Here's what I did with your ideas:

I used your ideas for the 6 teams and 6 ports -- to avoid them running into each other. However, since I knew I'd be running the treasure hunt during out group camping trip (4 families, 26 people), I had to wait until we got to this year's campground to set it up. Didn't know where I'd bury the treasure or what the site was like until I got there!

I had six adults manning the six 'ports' of call... and four teams. I paired the two teenagers with younger same-sex kids (girls and boys ages 7 - 10)plus a teen = (2 teams). A third team was the moms and 'little ones' under age 2, and the fourth team was the dads and little guys (two boys age 4).

We had the 'group campsite' for 40+ people, so we had our six stations spread out throughout the campsite, in the woods, and on the trail leading to our campsite.

At each location, each young pirate could earn a doubloon by completing the task. After each trial, they had to bring their doubloons to the Master of Arms to buy a piece of the puzzle for their team. After collecting all six pieces of the puzzle -- they then had to use the puzzle to find the treasure map. Once they found the treasure map, they had to use the map to search for the buried treasure.

I made several copies of the treasure map, so as each team completed their puzzle, they could find the parchment map and begin the search for the treasure. You should have seen them combing through the woods! (I made parchment maps ahead of time from wrinkled, coffee stained paper -- then used burgundy marker to draw on the map once we were in the campsite and I knew where the treasure was -- I had one of my sons pace out the path to the

treasure.)

I worked it out so that each group could search for the treasure, but the team that found it had first pick of the treasure. The 'treasure' was a box of gifts from the dollar store. After the first team picked over the treasure, the rest of the teams chose their treasure, in youngest to oldest order.

This is what we did:

Pirate Beach -- each young pirate had to decorate a pirate head-scarf to wear and create a team Pirate flag to carry on their journey.

Doubloon Inn -- Learn to tie a pirate's ship knot -- all pirates need to know how to tie ship's knots. We had the younger children learn to tie a square knot, and the older children learned to tie a bowline. Each child received an 8 ft. length of rope to learn their knots, and wear as a pirate belt. Their ropes went with them everywhere!!!

Gold Digger's Island -- The 'logic' island. (The captain needs a pirate crew that can think!) Sudoku puzzle for the older kids (4 and 6 square for kids, 9 square for adults, 25 piece jigsaw puzzle for non-number kids.) This was the log-jam station. Too hard for most -- I'll change it next time I do this.

Five Mile Lookout -- I had 4 boxes sealed with one of the puzzle-pieces inside. Each box was tied up in 100' of rope knots... they had to really work to untie the knots to get into each box! My husband and son spent an evening tying up these boxes!

Smuggler's Cove -- this is where they had to learn to walk the pirate ship's rope rigging for the sails. Rope stretched out on the ground, the young pirate's must walk the rigging looking through the wrong end of binoculars.

A great favorite!

Hideaway Harbor -- Set up two rope swings (age appropriate). The young pirates in training needed to learn how to run and jump with a rope swing and land on the King's treasure ship (at target on the ground) -- ready to do battle for treasure! (Also a great favorite.)

I used the gold foil wrapped chocolates for doubloons, and although I had expected (and built) the game for three teams, I ended up with four teams.

This meant that the teams had to negotiate (with doubloons) near the end of the game to form a melded team with enough pieces of the puzzle to find the treasure map.

We had great fun!

Eileen Blackwood, Minnesota USA

More details on a great Pirate Treasure Hunt here

Wonderful time for teenage treasure hunt game

It was a great success and the girls (18) HAD A WONDERFUL TIME. Couldn't have done it without your treasure hunt game/ideas.

A beautiful way to spend a fall evening in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Denise Cox, Alberta, Canada

More details on a great Teen Treasure Hunt here

Friday 24 September 2010

So many do not know what a scavenger hunt is!

Thank you,

Everything went well. I think the item they had the most fun with was finding something with the letter M. My son's name starts with the letter M. They had about 50 questions about what they could use. Of the 25 items on their list, they were unable to get only two items a postage stamp and a 4 leaf clover. What surprised me the most was the number of parents and kids who had no idea what a Scavenger Hunt was.

Thank you again for your help.

Mindy Richard, California USA

More details on a great Scavenger Hunt Party Game here

Having fun planning the treasure hunt

Nikki,

Hi I am doing great, having lots of fun planning anticipating the hunt.

I would love to send you a report of how it goes, if it goes as well as the scavenger hunt we had it will be a blast and I'm sure it will. And I'll send a couple photos too.

Our hunt is the 14th so I need to get back to work on some of the props I am using. Thank you so much for all your help and wonderful games

Brenda Morgan, West Virginia

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

Thursday 23 September 2010

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

Wonderful painted treasure box

Hi Nikki;

I love your "customer service"---except that its more than customer service! It's personal and warm and I feel like I have a friend instead of a business transaction.

Now the burial place! We are fortunate in that we have many options. We walked the property again this morning and will probably choose a place next to a creek bed---(dry at the moment as

we have had no rain--- under a huge Oak tree--- and behind a hedge of evergreen fir. We like this place because the losers will be able to watch the retrieval activities from solid stable ground ---not on a hill and no rocks.

I was very excited to find a wonderful Treasure Box---perfect size & shape (just like you expect a treasure chest to look)--It was unpainted so I stained it brown--and best of all the treasures I purchased fit into it perfectly.

We still have to work on the puzzle part and plan the stations. Time is getting short so we are under pressure with all the other tasks for the big week end.

Thanks for keeping in touch.

Lou Wilson, California, USA

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

Wednesday 22 September 2010

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

Scoobie Doo in the Scavenger Hunt

Hi Nikki

I just wanted to give you an update on my Scavenger Hunt. It was a great sucess. Thanks for all of your help. We had one team come dressed as the scoobie doo gang and they even painted the van to look like the mystery machine. I have attached a few photos for you to see.

Everyone said that I had to do it again next year. Thanks again it was a blast

Kelly LaPorte, Ontario, Canada

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Tuesday 21 September 2010

Digital photo scavenger hunt

Hi,

The event will be at a farm with 30 high school students attending. I am thinking of combing the outside hunt with some of the digital photo ideas. I've enjoyed getting many ideas from this creative source.

Thanks,

Elizabeth Meyer, Montana, USA

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Planning bigger treasure hunt next year

Hi Nikki,

We had the party last weekend. I had a hunt in our neighborhood park for some 10 year olds. They had a really good time. I decided to have it at the last minute so your list was a big help in planning a hunt in one day. Next year with more time I'll make it much bigger.

Diana Reed, USA

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Monday 20 September 2010

Wonderful time for teenage treasure hunt game

It was a great success and the girls (18) HAD A WONDERFUL TIME. Couldn't have done it without your treasure hunt game/ideas.

A beautiful way to spend a fall evening in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Denise Cox, Alberta, Canada

More details on a great Teen Treasure Hunt here

Treasure hunt girls in pirate garb

The treasure hunt went great! All the girls dressed up in pirate garb. My daughter was totally surprised. They all enjoyed the treasure hunt part and everything worked out perfectly. Your e-book was a great guide to planning an exciting party. Thank you!

RobAnne Burns, California USA

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Sunday 19 September 2010

12th birthday treasure hunt turned out real nice

Nikki,

Yes, we have had our treasure hunt. I don't know what I was looking for when I purchased your book....However it did help. I put the kids (age 7-13) into three teams. We used the stations where the teams had to go and complete a task as a team to earn clues. Each team had to figure out their clues to find their party goody bags. So the kids had a good time and it took them about 1 1/2hrs to do it.

My daughters 12th birthday turned out nice...

Kathleen Noriega, Arizona USA

More details on a great Teen Treasure Hunt here

Scavenger hunt in Manhattan

Hi Nikki,

The scavenger hunt is taking place in NYC on May 6; it is a night time activity for a corporate event during that week. Age range is 22-50's and there are about 25-35 people participating.

The part I am still trying to figure out is if groups should just use their phone cameras to take pictures or something else. Any thoughts?

The theme is really just sight around the city - this is the list of places and the clues that I have so far. I got a few ideas from the planner and most of them are just from research. I am trying to keep it to midtown and lower manhattan and will provide subway cards for each person but I tried to keep some of the sights within walking distance of each other.

Whitney Chernoff, New York, USA

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Saturday 18 September 2010

Help makes treasure hunt go great

Nikki,

Yes, we had our Treasure Hunt on 11/18. I had a little panic moment for the preparation since we didn't quite know what to get and stuff, but with great help of my 15-year-old daughter on that day, we could make it to a very exciting, fun treasure hunt. So everything went well after all. Thank you.

Rie Bach, California, USA

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Great scavenger hunt

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

Sherita McLamore, Maryland, USA

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Friday 17 September 2010

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

Scavenger hunt on a cruise ship

Hi Nikki. Well everyone had a blast with the Cruise scavenger hunt !! I took some questions right off your list and then using your other items as suggestions... I went on line with Royal Caribbean and printed off each decks floor plan and used that to help me get information. Thank you for all of your help !

JoAnn Seckus, Illinois USA

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Thursday 16 September 2010

Strawberry picking treasure hunt

Hi,

I am planning a strawberry picking party for my 7 year old. And aside from picking strawberries and making their own individual shortcakes I wanted to something else that would take up some time and be unique.

Christine Flory, New York USA

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Many combinations for the instant treasure hunt

Hi Nikki, I did log on and enjoyed the clues. What a time saver. Can't wait to play around with it some more. So many wonderful combinations.....

Trish Nickerson, New Mexico USA

More details on a great Instant Treasure Hunt using Riddles here

Wednesday 15 September 2010

Scavenger hunt in Manhattan

Hi Nikki,

The scavenger hunt is taking place in NYC on May 6; it is a night time activity for a corporate event during that week. Age range is 22-50's and there are about 25-35 people participating.

The part I am still trying to figure out is if groups should just use their phone cameras to take pictures or something else. Any thoughts?

The theme is really just sight around the city - this is the list of places and the clues that I have so far. I got a few ideas from the planner and most of them are just from research. I am trying to keep it to midtown and lower manhattan and will provide subway cards for each person but I tried to keep some of the sights within walking distance of each other.

Whitney Chernoff, New York, USA

More details on a great Corporate Treasure Hunt here

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

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Bought three treasure hunts and yours is the best!

Dear Nikki, many thanks. The party is over, and the treasure hunt went well. It was a very nice change from my usual treasure hunts. Good product. I actually bought and downloaded three different hunt games, and yours was by far the best. The calculator worked brilliantly! I changed it to match the combination on the lock which I already had, and it worked like a charm. How long did it take you to work out all the connections so every team would wind up with the same combination?

Thanks again

Laura Gordon, Pennsylvania USA

More details on a great Treasure Hunt Party Game here

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

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Monday 13 September 2010

Halloween party planning is such fun!

Nikki,

We did our treasure hunt for a Halloween party we hosted. It was a huge success. I had 14 boys, ages 5-10, and we did it in the house. I spent countless hours after my kids went to bed getting prepared. I couldn't wait and was hoping the kids would have as much fun doing it as I had planning. I had great parent helpers. Surprisingly, the winners were the "little" guys team.

You are a genius!!!! As a non-creative thinker, I could never have come up with something so much fun. The only major change I made was the bobbing for apples station. I felt it would be too messy, and not so sanitary. Instead, I had them remove some "body parts" from the patient in the Operation game. They got a big kick out of that. Otherwise, I followed the Halloween version very closely.

Thanks again!

Gretchen Birch, ohio, USA

More details on a great Halloween Treasure Hunt here

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

Sunday 12 September 2010

Treasure hunt on horseback

The Kids enjoyed The treasure hunt and has a big hit. The venue was changed the day before from a woodland to a farm . I had 12 teams of 4 ranging in age from 6 - 15 with a total of 48 all on horse

back. The oldest kids were the leaders and had to wait for the younger kids. It taught the kids leadership, teamwork and took the fear away from the nervous kids and made them competent riders, They had cross country fences to jump. I had 8 paid instructors who I used as helpers and safety officers.

I set the game out as in the book but added a challenge per station and each instructor had to judge the challenge and give then a piece of the puzzle and added the Guard and the gate keeper.

The challenges were

1.- The mummy game

2 -the tight rope

3. -4 x Hula hoops hanging from the trees and they passed a baton through from one end to the other using all members of the team. They remained on horse back

4 - 12 plastic ducks on a fence post and they had 4 water pistols and had to knock 4 down ,

5- I tied an inflatable boat in a flowing river and put 25 plastic balls in the boat and gave them 4 fishing nets . they had to remove all the balls and place them in bucket on the bank

6 - Answer the backward questions and fishing for 4 jelly snakes from a plate of sugar using only their mouth

2 teams found the treasure chest in under 2.5 hours while the rest did not complete until 4 .

We hide the chest again and all teams got a bag of candy.

They want to have again next year

Thanks again

Gordon Clarke, Ireland

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Saturday 11 September 2010

Treasure hunt is so creative

Hey Nikki,

The hunt was tonnes of fun, the crowd was 7 and 8 year olds so fairly easy to please. The treasure was a big box of loot bags full of candy, so like I said they were easy to please. Plus the tasks we came up with were fun.

Everyone thinks I am a genius, and I didn't share my secret because I know everyone would said " you paid for a treasure hunt game? You could have thought that up yourself." Which might be true, since I am a creative sort of person, but I was in such a bind, and finding your website so randomly totally saved the day. It's easy to say I could have done this or that, but it is entirely another to actually do it and put it all together like you have. Thank you so much. There were many aspects that I wouldn't have thought of myself.

There were a few adults who seemed like they might be interested in have a scavenger hunt/rally i will definitely be checking your site for anything new and interesting if we get something together. I would love to host something like that, plain old dinner parties are so boring.

Cheers, Beena

PS I will try to get some pics for you soon.

Beena Patel, Ontario, Canada

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National Treasure hunt great success

Thank you for your interest. Our National Treasure Hunt was a success.

We had an awards ceremony and the winning team received medals. We also had a balloon toss, horseshoe games, a coloring contest and a chili cook-off, all those contestants receiving awards. A magic show capped the evening. 60-70 people were in attendance, ages 2-80 years old.

Our event was a success. Thanks.

Sandra Stegen, USA

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Friday 10 September 2010

Helpful scavenger hunt lists

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

product.

Susan Thorington, Alabama, USA

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Baby shower treasure hunt

Hi Nikki,

We had our Treasure Hunt game yesterday & had loads of fun...... I had planned this treasure hunt for the baby shower of my sister & we had loads of fun & people really loved it....it was well planned, very simple & easy to use.

I really didn't have lots of time to sit down & make my own treasure hunt & wasting lot of time in planning the game.....but with this game it made my life easier & the party lovelier.....

Thank you for all the help.

Heena Kapdi, Bedfordshire, UK

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Thursday 9 September 2010

Age appropriate treasure hunt clues

The kids loved the treasure hunt, and it was great to have the clues age-appropriate.

Thanks!

Elizabeth Dessen, Pennsylvania, USA

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Youth group bonfire and night treasure hunt

Yes. we are well on our way. I absolutely LOVE what you have put together.

With a couple of minor tweaks, we are set for our big Youth Group Bonfire and Night Treasure Hunt. We are hosting it on a farm outside with the stations and some added riddles to spice up the hunt and excitement. The date is October 28th and the kids are really getting excited.

Thank you again for such a great product and for checking in on me, I really appreciate it.

Sincerely, Bridget Taft

Youth Director, Abiding Word Church

Bridget Taft, Illinois, USA

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Wednesday 8 September 2010

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

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Treasure hunt plans for the weekend

Nikki:

Have purchased your guide, and am I'm planning the treasure hunt for this weekend. Details are below.

Number of children: 8

Ages: Mostly 5-6 year old boys, plus 2 3-year old girls (who won't probably participate as much as just 'run with the pack')

Theme: Lewis & Clark/Exploring (it's my son's 6-year birthday party and he's very 'into' Lewis & Clark at present). He is also a big fan of treasure hunt-type TV programs, e.g. The Amazing Race and Treasure Hunters.

Location: We have a very large garden (>1 acre) on a hill so there are plenty of places to hide things. It's fairly 'woody' (lots of trees) around the house, so I thought to bury the treasure in one of the more woody sections, with the clues hidden more in the garden proper.

Ideas: It's not a big group so I'm not sure it makes much sense to do teams. Rather I thought (in keeping with the Lewis & Clark theme) the boys could be a band of explorers, and they all have to work together to solve the puzzles, find the clues, and locate the treasure.

What with the size of the garden and the hilly locale, the game could be pretty tiring. I'm thinking about 6 clues total - does that sound about right? Basically this is the basic plan:

* hide a series of 'artifacts' around the garden in the form of foreign coins or similar items. (This is stolen from the 'Treasure Hunters' TV show.) When the team finds the artifact, they can turn it in to me for their next clue.

The 'artifacts' would be hidden at locations that lend themselves to clues - for example, 'I'm white and curvy and used to live in the sea' (seashell), 'Where the birds go to eat' (bird feeder), etc.

* when each artifact is found, the team gets a clue to the next artifact, and a piece of the treasure map. At a couple of points in the game, the team has to either solve a puzzle or complete a task in order to get the next clue. Ideally, the tasks would be ones where the whole team could participate simultaneously (for example, the picking-up-peas game) and then once any one person (or perhaps two people?) have completed the task, then the entire team gets to move on. Other ideas I have in this genre would be kicking a soccer ball into a goal from a distance.

Thanks for your help!

Howard Sewell, Washington USA

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Tuesday 7 September 2010

Strawberry picking treasure hunt

Hi,

I am planning a strawberry picking party for my 7 year old. And aside from picking strawberries and making their own individual shortcakes I wanted to something else that would take up some time and be unique.

Christine Flory, New York USA

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Best birthday EVER - treasure hunt

Thank you - "It was the best birthday - -EVER" - my 15 year old had a total of 6 girls and they went around the neighborhood to 6 different house to complete the tasks. We had the party last week and the girls at school are still talking about it. Thank you sooooo much.

Siobhan Fox, Florida, USA

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Monday 6 September 2010

Fun for 8 year olds at treasure hunt party

Nikki,

The treasure hunt was a great success.... I adapted your plans. I had about 12 8 year old boys and girls.... I put them into teams of 3. Each team had a color,... so the clues led to colored poker chips (with the teams corresponding color) which they then found and turned in to get their next clue (each team had an official "clue giver" who held all that team's clues in numeric order)......

For little people this made management of clues and adult supervision much easier. After every two successful clues...the team had a physical challenge ( for example, diving into our pool....swimming through some hoops and picking up gold coins)....The "clue givers" were official judges of the challenges and distributed next clues. The last physical challenge involved a relay race with balloons....the last clue was a puzzle piece (as you suggested) inside the balloon.

When the kids popped their team balloon they realized they needed to come together with the rest of the teams to construct the last clue. They loved the race, the competition, but in the end they were all together as they went -shovels in hand - for the treasure. The treasure was buried in a plastic box in the woods.....amongst all the shiny stuff (beads and gold coins) was a pinata of a treasure chest. The pinata was hung from a tree... and every one had a chance to take a shot at busting it open. Parents loved it.....kids loved it more... they were focused, challenged, excited, and busy.....it took a total of about 55 minutes. Could have gone on longer...but we were a bit generous with the help.. and the kids were a lot smarter and resourceful than I expected.

Good luck with your web site. It was really helpful.

Jamie Jensen, New York, USA

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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

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Sunday 5 September 2010

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

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Friends talking about the treasure hunt at school

Hi Nikki

Thanks for being so prompt in replying to the problem I had downloading the e book. I used some ideas from the e book and it gave me a good idea on how to plan the party. I then modified it to suit our party, which we held around our local area.

My son loved the party and I think his friends will be talking about it at school today!

Yvette Atkinson, Auckland, New Zealand

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Saturday 4 September 2010

Still recuperating from Halloween treasure hunt

Nikki,

It is Sunday and we are recuperating from the Halloween Party we hosted for our 10 year old son. The boys loved the treasure hunt! Thank you.

I had the boys eat and drink gross looking candy ( a bug, blood and vomit). I also bought 2 paint guns (they are manual and without CO2 or battery) and had them shoot at a skeleton that I painted on a piece of plywood (very easy). I am considering an adult party next year. Any advice? Thank you,

Patty Lamp, Illinois USA

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Fantastic treasure hunt

Thank you Nikki. We had a fantastic time the last time we did the treasure hunt. I even got carried away with the fun and hid the birthday present for my son to "hunt" down. Thank you.

Cherie Bracher, Texas, USA

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Friday 3 September 2010

Easer treasure hunt made easy!

I made a game for Easter. I do it every year, but your website helped me tremendously!! It has become a tradition in our house that the Easter Bunny leaves clues throughout the house for the children to find

their Easter baskets. I used to spend so much time making the clues, but your website cut down on the time tremendously.

Katie Ohlmann, Indiana, USA

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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

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Thursday 2 September 2010

New Year's eve scavenger hunt

Nikki- The scavenger hunt is tonight. we are so excited. We are hosting a New Years Eve Party for our oldest daughters soccer team and their parents. Each family will be a team and will have two hours to complete the hunt through our town. The last item on the hunt requires each family to visit their favorite pizza place and bring back a large pizza to share with every one. My husband and I complied a list on 36 items that need to be gathered, made or have a picture taken of it. Most of things have to pertain to things that relate to the soccer team. I will let you know how it goes. Thank you for all your helpful information.

Tanya Stoney, North Carolina, USA

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Wednesday 1 September 2010

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

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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

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