In this post, I’ll show you how to organise a memorable ‘treasure hunt’ party for your kids. I threw one for my daughter’s 9th birthday and one more again when she turned 11. She absolutely loved it!
Whether your kids are cheerful and boisterous, or quieter and more ‘intellectual’, the element of mystery that’s involved in every treasure hunt is what makes it a universally appealing activity. Treasure hunts require a little ingenious planning and a whole lot of organising, but they’re so much fun! Don’t take my word for it – read on!
You will need:
- A location
- Costumes and accessories (optional – see Step 2)
- Small prizes for the hunt (optional – see Step 3), and a larger prize for the final ‘treasure’
- Paper and pen (or a computer and printer)
- Paper wrist-bands or ‘brooches’ in 3-4 different colours
- Music
- Creativity, time and doting parents! ☺
Step 1: Find a good location
You can organise a treasure hunt almost anywhere (even indoors), but I arranged my daughter’s party in a huge public park in Mumbai, National park theme birthday and one small solo treasure hunt only for the birthday girl in the suburb of Andheri. If, like me, you want your birthday boy or girl to enjoy their special day in the fresh air, away from the stale, recycled air in a mall or a restaurant, there’s no better place than a park. Be warned though – a treasure hunt involves lots of kids running around and screeching in excitement (as they should!), so try to find a space that’s large enough to accommodate a boisterous bunch of ‘treasure seekers’ looking to one-up their friends! Also make sure that you get all necessary official permits (if any) beforehand so there are no nasty surprises on the special day (or tantrums from the disappointed guest of honour). And finally, check the weather beforehand. You probably don’t want kids having nasty accidents in the slippery mud, so if a rainy day is forecast, stay away from the park ☺
Step 2: Choose a theme
The next step is to choose a theme, and this is where your knowledge of your child comes in. There is no rulebook that says a girl’s treasure hunt party should be Barbie-themed or a boy’s party should be pirate-themed (land ahoy!). The day belongs to your child, and each child is different. Put some thought into what your child likes and enjoys, and voila – you have a theme! Do keep in mind that this is a purely optional step and you don’t necessarily need a theme for a treasure hunt. I would recommend that you choose one though, because it makes ‘role-playing’ a part of the activity; and most kids get excited about costumes, accessories and acting.
Step 3: Plan your trail, clues and prizes (treasures)
Do a ‘reconnaissance’ of the location and plan your trail before writing your clues. If you plan to hold the hunt in a large park, try to cover a wide area to encourage kids to get moving (they’ll love it, trust me!). At the same time, make sure that you rope in other adults to keep an eye out for the kids, and to prevent them from getting lost (or worse). You will have to personally go once and survey the area to get ideas about the positioning of clues. Once you know the park’s layout, you can find the most interesting hiding places for clues. Then using pen and paper (or a computer and printer), write out some clues for the treasure hunt. Like the theme, try to keep your child’s interests in mind while planning the clues and prizes. Also remember to create clues that are suitable to the ages and abilities of all the kids who will be playing, and not just your own. Most importantly, make the clues interesting and fun, and build anticipation to get all kids actively involved in the search for the big final ‘treasure’. If you have chosen a theme, your clues should reflect this. If not, don’t worry. You can still come up with fun and interesting clues to keep kids coming back for more.
Here are some of the clues I wrote for my daughter’s solo treasure hunt party in the city:
The trail : Home – park in friends building – ice cream parlour
- Riddle riddle I suppose, One more ‘Masi’ so close ( one of her aunt had the second clue)
- One long lost friend who still is in touch ( Place: Friends building)
- On the yellow bed lies the key to the next clue ( Place: Bed of yellow flowers in friends building)
- Look out for a tree with aerial roots ( Place: Big banyan tree)
- You are eleven years old, time to eat something cold, Stuff for fairies – a paan, a guava and a few berries. ( Place: Apsara icecream parlour)
Each clue should direct the kids to a new location. You may choose to include a small prize with each clue, especially if the children are playing as individuals. So the first child to figure out a clue gets that prize. However if you are dividing the kids into smaller groups (See Step 4), this could cause problems, so you may skip the smaller prizes and keep only one large treasure for the end. And don’t forget that in a group setting, the same prize must be given to all the kids in the group, so choose wisely!
Step 4: Divide into groups
As the organiser, you will know how many kids will be at the party. Divide the large group into 3 or 4 smaller groups using. To prevent cliques from forming, and to ensure that no one group has an unfair advantage over others, include an element of chance when forming the groups. How? Here’s what I did:
Nineteen kids came to my daughter’s national park party (RSVPs essential for more reasons than one! I chose chart paper in four colours – green, blue, yellow and pink – and cut out ¾”-wide wrist-bands from them. I thus had 20 bands – 5 green, 5 blue, 5 yellow and 5 pink. Since my treasure hunt involved groups, each group was assigned one colour. Using glue, I stuck the two ends of each band together to form a ready-to-wear child-sized bracelet. Another option is to cut out different shapes from the coloured paper, attach small safety-pins to the back and pin these brooches to the kids’ shirts. The shapes (flower, house, circle, etc) can be used to identify the child’s group, instead of a colour.
Write all the kids’ names on pieces of paper and throw all names into a hat. Have the birthday boy or girl pick out one name at a time. The first four names picked out will go into the green group, the next four into the pink group, and so on.
Step 5: Let the hunt begin!
Set some ground rules before the frenzy of the hunt begins. Encourage kids to work together to brainstorm clues and plan next steps. Also instruct them not to wander off alone, and to always stay with their group. Get the kids in their costumes (if any), read out the first clue and send them on their way. As the kids move from one clue to the next, make sure that you and all other adults encourage them, redirect them if they get lost, and help them if they get stuck, or if any disagreements break out.
Resist the urge to solve the riddles or to give them direct answers to clues. Treasure hunts are so much fun for kids because they love the creative challenge of figuring things out for themselves. So leave them to it!
Some final thoughts on organising treasure hunts:
Don’t restrict your creativity! Try different combinations of themes, locations and prizes, and see what works best for you.
While writing the clues, think like a child. Even better, think like YOUR child, and ask yourself Will he/she enjoy this? What seems fun to an adult may not be so for a child, so put yourself in their shoes before you turn ideas into activities.
You can write to me if you need help with writing clues. I can also help you plan the event 🙂
Set ground rules and communicate them in advance so that kids understand that safety should not be sacrificed for fun.
Encourage kids to think for themselves and to cooperate with each other.
Involve all parents in a cheer-leading role – all kids will appreciate it, and they’ll have more fun when they see Mamma and Papa cheering them on!
Take lots of pictures to memorialise your child’s special day.
And finally, have some fun yourself! ☺