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

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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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Nancy Drew themed treasure hunt is a success

Hi Nikki!

Our treasure hunts were lots of fun! We modified the plan for our daughter to have a treasure hunt based on a Nancy Drew theme. I renamed the stations with titles for Nancy Drew Mysteries and named the teams different desserts based on the Nancy Drew movie that came out last summer. We used your party idea for developing two person teams by letting them pick and shoe andshoestring, spoon and fork, etc. All of the girls ages 10-11 seemed to really enjoy all of what we did. They were even very excited to find the treasure under our porch at twilight which our son had hidden. We also used some of your ideas for our son's party. He had an Indiana Jones themed party and only three friends so we really couldn't form teams, we just let them move through kind of an obstacle hunt to find their treasure.

Thank you for all of your great ideas! They really helped to make our children's parties an exciting success!

Most grateful,

Amy Brown, North Carolina, USA

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Treasure hunt guidelines were awesome

Hi Nikki,

Our treasure hunt was just great. Thank you very much. I was a bit nervous about my daughters 11th birthday. She wanted a Pirates of the Carribean party with boy and girls. But wow!!!!! It was awesome. Once they arrived, they had to choose themslelves a pirate name, that in itself was funny. I then made labels with these names and their photos to go on there mugs to drink out of throughout the party. Then it was onto the treasure hunt. I was a bit anxious that they would think it was a bit chidlish, but boy, did they get into it from the word go. We live on a tiny island in the Pacific where props are not easy to come by, but it is amazing what you can find or make. From silver clip on earrings to home made gold and silver loots bags, as well as a coconut palm plank.

We live in a compound and there was a lot of room for the kids. I had made a treasure map which was in 6 pieces, one for each child. They had to put it together to get through each of the challenges. It took about an hour and a quarter to get through the hunt. And they had a ball. The flag they made is still hanging on my daughter's wall. We made some island alterations which made it all the more fun. Your guidelines were awesome. I would advise anyone to use this. It was great. Took a lot of stress out of a fun day. Good luck to anyone else who wants a fun but stress free day. Once again thank you very much!!!!!!!!!!!!

Susan Lowry, Samoa

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Superbowl treasure hunt hit

Thanks so much Nikki - did a quick treasure/scavenger hunt for the kids at our Superbowl party and as always it was a super duper hit!

Leslie Suhy, California, USA

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Great pirate treasure hunt

Originally I was going to use the Treasure Hunt and plan a 'Trip to Britain' with a Visa as an invitation and serve fish and chips in Newspaper. My son didn't really get that whole theme so we are going with the Pirate Treasure Hunt you sent me which he is very excited about. Glad I got both-thanks so much

I found a great web site 'deadmentellnotales.com' which has pirate stuff galore' so prop wise we are well on our way (I even got Pirate music from the web site). I think I will put a lock on the treasure chest anyway, and give out three numbers at some of the stations. With three numbers they should be able to work out the different combinations and open the chest.

I won't do teams, they will all work together. I would like to add one additional station. I like the mummy idea from the regular game-do pirates do anything similar?

Do you have suggestions for food at a Pirate party?

I am having a great time planning this party and couldn't have done it properly without your assistance.

Now I just need to learn to talk and act like a pirate!

Michelle Caragol, Colorado USA

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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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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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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

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Treasure hunt planner was user friendly

We had our treasure hunt Sat night. It was great. The students enjoyed it and so did the adults that were working the different stations. I was so relieved to have something already complete and ready to use. It was user friendly. We changed the font and copied it onto brown aged paper and it looked so real. We had middle school age and college age. They all enjoyed it. We had the stations set up among a pirate town and they had to go through the town to complete. We used it to eliminate the teams to two and the two completed a treasure hunt that was extra. Thank you for such a good product.

Pam Bennett, Tennessee 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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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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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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Treasure Hunt for my Grandson

I am in Montreal, NC, USA planning a birthday party for my grandson and his friends ages 10-12, though some younger brothers and sisters and parents will probably join in. I am the grandmother writing on the grandfathers e-mail. We live on the side of a mountain with steep slopes, lots of stone steps, a creek, a large goldfish pond and lots of good places to hide things. The party is an annual occasion with most of the children running wild, chasing each other, in what appears to an adult to be an aimless fashion. A few stay inside quietly playing board games. So...

this year the treasure hunt seems like a good idea and maybe all will engaged. I think they are definitely old enough! The party is scheduled for Sunday, June 5. I like the fact that you are interested in feed back and so enthusiastic about what you do! Sincerely,

Gale Hussey, North Carolina USA

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Treasure Hunt for my Grandson

I am in Montreal, NC, USA planning a birthday party for my grandson and his friends ages 10-12, though some younger brothers and sisters and parents will probably join in. I am the grandmother writing on the grandfathers e-mail. We live on the side of a mountain with steep slopes, lots of stone steps, a creek, a large goldfish pond and lots of good places to hide things. The party is an annual occasion with most of the children running wild, chasing each other, in what appears to an adult to be an aimless fashion. A few stay inside quietly playing board games. So...

this year the treasure hunt seems like a good idea and maybe all will engaged. I think they are definitely old enough! The party is scheduled for Sunday, June 5. I like the fact that you are interested in feed back and so enthusiastic about what you do! Sincerely,

Gale Hussey, North Carolina USA

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Already on her THIRD instant treasure hunt!

My kids love the treasure hunts. I am getting ready to print out the THIRD on today!!

Michele Hippensteel, Pennsylvania USA

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Previous treasure hunts were a lot of work

Hi Nikki,

Yes, I have downloaded the Treasure Hunt Party game Planner and bonus gifts. I actually downloaded them right after I ordered the product. It was great. Very fast and very easy. I have briefly read thru the Planner and I think it will make my next Treasure Hunt Party MUCH easier. I am planning one for my daughter's birthday which is not until February so I have plenty of time. I have done a couple of treasure hunts prior to this and they were ALOT of work. The first two I did were like yours where there were stations to go to and some kind of challenge to perform. The last one I did was for my daughter's birthday this past February. It was a Harry Potter Treasure Hunt party and I did not have a lot of time so I just did riddles/cryptograms that led them to another clue in the house and eventually to the treasure.

I like the idea of stations and challenges, however. I think the party in Feb 09 will be much better than the one I did last year. My daughter will be turning 11 in February just to give you an idea of the age group. Last year I found the girls to be quite sharp which is why I purchased the adults/any age group planner. They all really love treasure hunts so this may become an annual event.

Saroja Raman, Maryland, USA

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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

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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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Impressive treasure hunt Logistics

Our treasure hunt took place last weekend and was a success. The book helped a lot and everyone was impressed with the logistics of the game. Thank you for a well designed book.

Patrick Racine, Ontario Canada

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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

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Son says 'I love you' for organizing such a great Halloween treasure hunt party

Hi Nikki,

We had the Halloween treasure hunt party the day after we ordered your planner. It was my son's 12th birthday party and he complained that he didn't want to play any games, but I didn't want 10 children running through the house for 3 hours. Our party was held in an old convent in Pennsylvania, USA. The guests were aged from 6 to 35. We had a Halloween theme, since Shane's birthday is October 31st. The guests had to search for Uncle's Seymour's Last Will & Testament.

The rooms were named Mad Scientist's Lab, The Doomed Room, The Porthole to the End of the Universe, The Asylum, The Chamber of Horrors and The

Graveyard. We followed all your suggestions for the challenges, teaming older players with younger ones. The puzzle pieces led the players to the chapel (we have a real chapel with stained glass windows and oak pews in our home), where we had hidden the Last Will & Testament with directions to Uncle Seymour's most treasured worldly possessions.

My two sons, my husband and I dressed in Halloween costumes and supervised the rooms. Even after one team had located the treasure, the others were having so much fun that they asked if they could complete the remaining challenges (the one with the peas seemed to be everyone's favorite). Everyone had a great time, but what made me happiest was that my son kept thanking me the next day, telling me how much he loved me for throwing such a great party for him. Thank you for the great plans - they were well worth the money!

Gratefully,

Ildiko Mulligan, Pennsylvania USA

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Treasure hunt suggestions appreciated

Nikki

We had the party and it was great. Appreciate all the suggestions in the book. Have a great holiday weekend

Tracey Ivaldi, New Jersey, USA

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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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Will definitely do another treasure hunt

The treasure hunt is done and the kids had fun. Your suggestions were very good and I think we will do another treasure hunt in the future with our other kids.

Thanks

Toni Hudson, Texas USA

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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

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Pirate treasure hunt by the lake

No problems with the downloads! I've printed off the materials and will read through them tonight. My party is for 8 boys ages 9 - 12. It is a pirate themed bday party for my 10 year old son. We are holding it at our cabin at a lake. Lots of sand so the whole pirate theme should be great!

Our cabin is near Columbus, NE. The party is on Saturday, July 15th so I need to get going on the preparations!!!

Jill Geisler, New England 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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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

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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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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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Pirate treasure hunt by the lake

No problems with the downloads! I've printed off the materials and will read through them tonight. My party is for 8 boys ages 9 - 12. It is a pirate themed bday party for my 10 year old son. We are holding it at our cabin at a lake. Lots of sand so the whole pirate theme should be great!

Our cabin is near Columbus, NE. The party is on Saturday, July 15th so I need to get going on the preparations!!!

Jill Geisler, New England USA

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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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Scavenger hunt to bring two families together

Our party will be a week long event held in Italy (Tuscany) during the last week of July. We have hired two large villas each for a week in close proximity to each other for our daughters wedding. As most of the guests will be travelling from Australia (bride) and the U.S. (grooms family) and we haven't met I was looking for a lighthearted theme.

My idea was that everyone could be given a list of items and/or questions that had to been collected over the week as guests toured the area (a red wine label from a famous local winery, a ticket to a Florence museum etc) along with some quiz questions/puzzles etc.

Regards

Jill Hill, Hyogo Japan

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Instant treasure hunt is perfect!

Hi Nikki!

Thank you so much for your help in getting me the Instant Treasure Hunt. It's perfect for us! I plan to try it out on some neighborhood friends next weekend.

Thanks again! I appreciate your help. We are looking forward to many fun and exciting treasure hunts around here - for birthday parties and those days that we need a fun activity!

Warm Regards,

Lynne Hamilton, Pennsylvania, 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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Pirate treasure hunt by the lake

No problems with the downloads! I've printed off the materials and will read through them tonight. My party is for 8 boys ages 9 - 12. It is a pirate themed bday party for my 10 year old son. We are holding it at our cabin at a lake. Lots of sand so the whole pirate theme should be great!

Our cabin is near Columbus, NE. The party is on Saturday, July 15th so I need to get going on the preparations!!!

Jill Geisler, New England USA

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Custom treasure hunt for sweet sixteen

Nikki,

Thanks for your suggestions I'm well on my way to piecing together a custom treasure hunt for my stepdaughter's sweet sixteen.

Thanks for all your help.

Best Regards

Adrienne Loder, California, USA

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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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Treasure hunt help is apprreciated

Nikki! You're the best! Thanks so much!

Rachel Lawry, Alabama, USA

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Large scale church treasure hunt

Nikki,

Due to the size of our treasure hunt (140 participants) we found it difficult to use everything that was in the kits. We did use the pattern for the puzzle and made our own clues. We had to run two games at the same time. Both having 7 teams in each game with 10-14 players on each team. We used ciphers, cryptograms, Mad Gab clues, riddles, word searches you name it. We had the games travel all over our town. The games took about 2 1/2 hours to complete. At the end location, no matter where a team ended up, their last clue sent them on a final trek to gain the last puzzle piece. The timing worked out great. This was my greatest concern. Cars/buses you name it started rolling in one right after the other. Remember I told you weeks ago that our theme for the weekend was the Bailout.

Jesus Christ bailed us out. There was no way that any of us could pay the debt that we owe for our sins. He paid it for us.

Keeping with the theme, our last clue on a list they followed read like this. To "B" or not to "B" that is the question. Whether tis nobler to.... Oh forget it, I need a bailout! Go to the bucket and draw out your last clue. Once they climbed up into our "B" lettered bucket truck and gained the last piece, they were frantically taping them together. The first team from each game to read it to me out loud me got an envelope that declared them the winner of their game. They however needed to follow another map to the location to gain the treasure map. Cars were frantically driving everywhere. The energy was amazing. Everyone was having a great time, even when they didn't win. Once they got their respective treasure maps. The hunt was on. We buried two treasures with a backhoe and when they

finally found the right location, the digging began. The girls were able to pull their box out without a big mess. The guys team saw the lid and pulled it out letting all the dirt fall in on the treasure. The note in both boxes read. Jesus Christ died one for all and the treasure is to be shared by all.

There was a grand prize for the winning teams which was CDs from the Christian Band that was here for the weekend. There were thumbs up from everyone. Good game. My only fear now is that I know they are going to want another one.

Thanks for getting us started.

Karen Bowles, Alabama, USA

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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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Treasure in the Australian bush!

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. They had to do a basketball challenge, measure the driveway (28m), a crossword challenge, word unscramble and a balancing challenge.

Instead of having a competition to be first to find the treasure, we had two teams and one had to solve the riddle to find a map that lead them to the treasure, the other team had to solve their riddle to find a map that lead them to the key that unlocked the treasure. This way there was no losers and no unhappy party goers.

The treasure and the key (which was in an old gumboot) were hidden in the bush behind our house. (Not just one bush, I mean bushland, sorry, I used Aussie term).

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, NSW Australia

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Impressive treasure hunt guidelines spark more ideas

Hi Nikki,

I am one of the organizers for my company's treasure hunt this coming May so yes I am truly excited. I have read through some of the files you have sent and I will say I am quite impressed as everytime i read your ideas and guidelines I have come up ideas in my head.

Thank you so much for your help..

Maryana Tahir, Malaysia

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Great pirate treasure hunt

Originally I was going to use the Treasure Hunt and plan a 'Trip to Britain' with a Visa as an invitation and serve fish and chips in Newspaper. My son didn't really get that whole theme so we are going with the Pirate Treasure Hunt you sent me which he is very excited about. Glad I got both-thanks so much

I found a great web site 'deadmentellnotales.com' which has pirate stuff galore' so prop wise we are well on our way (I even got Pirate music from the web site). I think I will put a lock on the treasure chest anyway, and give out three numbers at some of the stations. With three numbers they should be able to work out the different combinations and open the chest.

I won't do teams, they will all work together. I would like to add one additional station. I like the mummy idea from the regular game-do pirates do anything similar?

Do you have suggestions for food at a Pirate party?

I am having a great time planning this party and couldn't have done it properly without your assistance.

Now I just need to learn to talk and act like a pirate!

Michelle Caragol, Colorado USA

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Great pirate treasure hunt

Originally I was going to use the Treasure Hunt and plan a 'Trip to Britain' with a Visa as an invitation and serve fish and chips in Newspaper. My son didn't really get that whole theme so we are going with the Pirate Treasure Hunt you sent me which he is very excited about. Glad I got both-thanks so much

I found a great web site 'deadmentellnotales.com' which has pirate stuff galore' so prop wise we are well on our way (I even got Pirate music from the web site). I think I will put a lock on the treasure chest anyway, and give out three numbers at some of the stations. With three numbers they should be able to work out the different combinations and open the chest.

I won't do teams, they will all work together. I would like to add one additional station. I like the mummy idea from the regular game-do pirates do anything similar?

Do you have suggestions for food at a Pirate party?

I am having a great time planning this party and couldn't have done it properly without your assistance.

Now I just need to learn to talk and act like a pirate!

Michelle Caragol, Colorado USA

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Planning treasure hunt is as much fun as participating

We all had a great time on the Treasure Hunt. Memorial Day Weekend was all family and fourth of July will be all of our friends and their kids. We plan to do another treasure hunt then with some different challenges. (beer drinking, doughnut eating off a clothes line with no hands allowed and a few others). Planning it was as fun as being in it. It was a great time! Thanks Again!

Diane Gregor, Michigan USA

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Large scale church treasure hunt

Nikki,

Due to the size of our treasure hunt (140 participants) we found it difficult to use everything that was in the kits. We did use the pattern for the puzzle and made our own clues. We had to run two games at the same time. Both having 7 teams in each game with 10-14 players on each team. We used ciphers, cryptograms, Mad Gab clues, riddles, word searches you name it. We had the games travel all over our town. The games took about 2 1/2 hours to complete. At the end location, no matter where a team ended up, their last clue sent them on a final trek to gain the last puzzle piece. The timing worked out great. This was my greatest concern. Cars/buses you name it started rolling in one right after the other. Remember I told you weeks ago that our theme for the weekend was the Bailout.

Jesus Christ bailed us out. There was no way that any of us could pay the debt that we owe for our sins. He paid it for us.

Keeping with the theme, our last clue on a list they followed read like this. To "B" or not to "B" that is the question. Whether tis nobler to.... Oh forget it, I need a bailout! Go to the bucket and draw out your last clue. Once they climbed up into our "B" lettered bucket truck and gained the last piece, they were frantically taping them together. The first team from each game to read it to me out loud me got an envelope that declared them the winner of their game. They however needed to follow another map to the location to gain the treasure map. Cars were frantically driving everywhere. The energy was amazing. Everyone was having a great time, even when they didn't win. Once they got their respective treasure maps. The hunt was on. We buried two treasures with a backhoe and when they

finally found the right location, the digging began. The girls were able to pull their box out without a big mess. The guys team saw the lid and pulled it out letting all the dirt fall in on the treasure. The note in both boxes read. Jesus Christ died one for all and the treasure is to be shared by all.

There was a grand prize for the winning teams which was CDs from the Christian Band that was here for the weekend. There were thumbs up from everyone. Good game. My only fear now is that I know they are going to want another one.

Thanks for getting us started.

Karen Bowles, Alabama, USA

More details on a great Church Treasure Hunt here

Son says 'I love you' for organizing such a great Halloween treasure hunt party

Hi Nikki,

We had the Halloween treasure hunt party the day after we ordered your planner. It was my son's 12th birthday party and he complained that he didn't want to play any games, but I didn't want 10 children running through the house for 3 hours. Our party was held in an old convent in Pennsylvania, USA. The guests were aged from 6 to 35. We had a Halloween theme, since Shane's birthday is October 31st. The guests had to search for Uncle's Seymour's Last Will & Testament.

The rooms were named Mad Scientist's Lab, The Doomed Room, The Porthole to the End of the Universe, The Asylum, The Chamber of Horrors and The

Graveyard. We followed all your suggestions for the challenges, teaming older players with younger ones. The puzzle pieces led the players to the chapel (we have a real chapel with stained glass windows and oak pews in our home), where we had hidden the Last Will & Testament with directions to Uncle Seymour's most treasured worldly possessions.

My two sons, my husband and I dressed in Halloween costumes and supervised the rooms. Even after one team had located the treasure, the others were having so much fun that they asked if they could complete the remaining challenges (the one with the peas seemed to be everyone's favorite). Everyone had a great time, but what made me happiest was that my son kept thanking me the next day, telling me how much he loved me for throwing such a great party for him. Thank you for the great plans - they were well worth the money!

Gratefully,

Ildiko Mulligan, Pennsylvania 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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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

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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

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Mall scavenger hunt is a blast

We had a Mall Scavenger Hunt for my daughters 12th birthday last Friday. It was a blast. I used some of your ideas and then added some of my own. They divided up into two teams by pulling a color out of a basket. Each team was given a gift bag with $2, a digital camera (we have keepsake photos), a pen and the list of items they needed to obtain. I gave them one hour. Some of the items were pictures of different things with the group. They were very cute and the girls had a blast. Each team came back with stories and as the evening went on at our home, the stories got funnier and funnier. Thanks for the help. It was a really good time. We are going away this weekend and there are 3 families traveling in 3 different cars. We are thinking of doing the interstate scavenger hunt. Just not sure if I will have the time to get it together before we leave.

LouEllen Michel, Maryland, 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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Treasure Hunt for Retirement party

Hi Nikki

- Yes, I used your treasure hunt ideas for my friend's retirement pirate party. We live on the Chesapeake Bay and had the party at a beach club on the water. It was absolutely the best fun ever and the highlight of the party. People haven't stopped talking about it for weeks now. I designed the challenges to be like the ones on "Survivor," one of our favorite TV shows.

There was a "Walk the Plank" challenge, (a board on sawhorses over a kid's swimming pool); a "Shooting Gallery" challenge, (shooting cans with a slingshot); a "Toss the Anchor" challenge, ( who can throw it the farthest); a "Peg Leg Pickup" challenge, (2 people blindfolded with legs tied together have to be directed by the 3rd team member to pick up scattered items), a "Pirate Word Scramble" challenge, (unscramble pirate terminology); and a "Pirate Memory" challenge, (30 seconds to study 25 items, then remember as many as you can). I made the clues for the map location rather cryptic--some of the players were teachers and scientists.

They all ended up in a little secluded patch of pine trees on the beach where the treasure was buried (in an actual chest). Three teams actually reached the right spot around the same time --I wish we had thought to have a video camera to document it all! The treasure chest was filled with fake gold coins, a gold plate, silver candlesticks and tons of mardi gras necklaces.

I spent A LOT of time (all enjoyable) designing the hunt based on your ideas and it couldn't have been more successful and memorable. People have already asked me to do another one for next year--sounds like our pirate party will become an annual event! Again, thanks for your great ideas.

Jan Werner, Maryland, USA

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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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