Archive for the ‘What/Where’ Category
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007Dear Nikki:
I’ve downloaded the planner and at first glance, it looks like there are lots of ideas that will work for our event after I tailor them to our needs.
Every July our church puts on a camp called, ‘Summer Hummer’. Ages 4- 5 stay only half a day, and each day I need to develop a new treasure hunt because the same children repeat the activities every day.
Ages 6 to 14 stay all day and the treasure hunt will be an activity the age groups participate in once. The groups are divided up, such as: ages 6-7 is one group, ages 8-9 is another, etc. All together there will be close to 900 kids! Wow, that takes my breath away. It’s really a blast, kids have a ball and so do the counselors. About 300 counselors participate. There’s craft people, snack people, story tellers, water slides, zip lines, luge racers, all sorts of field games: soccer, races, etc.
A theme is established by a company called Gospel Lights where we purchase the course. This year’s course is ‘Sonforce Kids’. During the week we emphasize a different element of the course. Monday is Trust, based on Exodus 1-2:10: Moses: Boy in a basket.
Tuesday is Unite, based on Esther 2-8: Esther: Queen at risk. Wednesday is Train, based on Daniel 1: Daniel: Servant of God. Thursday is Follow, based on Jeremiah 36-39: Jeremiah: Prophet in trouble. Friday is Lead, based on Numbers 13-14:9: Joshua: Spy in a strange land.
The setting is on a space station full of adventure and high drama leading the children to make good decisions based on the day’s Bible stories. I’m going to attempt to fashion clues and puzzles with a space theme.
I’ll have some help during the treasure hunt itself, but it will be up to me to figure out all the details and logistics of the hunt. It should be great! Thanks for all you do, you’ve given me some confidence and the beginning of some ideas to pull this off. I’ll keep you posted.
Regards,
Patty Pynch, Washington USA
Monday, October 8th, 2007We are having our treasure hunt in Albuquerque and Corrales, New Mexico this Saturday about 1ish. It is a ‘back to school’ gathering for our 4th/5th grade class and their parents. Our theme is Knights and Castles!
Trish Nickerson, New Mexico USA
Thursday, October 4th, 2007Our treasure hunt is in Kansas, a birthday party with guests ranging from 4 - 14 yrs. We will be having a pirate theme
Selena Varady, Kansas USA
Sunday, September 30th, 2007Hello Nikki,
We are planning a party in Brussels, Belgium, which is where we are based although we are British and all the children are English speaking.
It is for my daughter’s 7th birthday party on 3rd July and we are expecting 14 (maybe 15) children between the ages of 6 1/2 and 7 1/2.
I have read through the book a couple of times and I think it looks good. Some of the games look at bit tricky for them, perhaps the message written backwards is too hard, but I guess we could substitute it for another.
The only real concern I have is that the children’s reading skills may not be up to it (they start reading late here - they’ve only been at it since September), so I thought I could incorporate lots of symbols to help them.
Also, does it matter if the teams are not of equal sizes? I was thinking of 2 teams of 4 members and 2 of 3 members. Will it still work?
I’d be grateful to hear any comments you have.
Best regards,
Philippa Stewart, Belgium
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007Hi Nikki,
I have been able to get the scavenger hunt downloaded successfully and just briefly looked at, looks good.
My task is to organize a lock-in for youth ( appro. 100 grades7-12) at my church, my theme is mission impossible eluding to the fact that without Christ it is impossible to get into Heaven. I was planning to use some of your ideas to make a week long mission to be accomplished before they could get into the lock-in. This is probably going to be a very elaborate event (I hope I can pull it off) in early April.
Thanks
Jim Abbott, Montana USA
Monday, September 24th, 2007Hi Nikki,
I have just started to go through the manual. I’m not in a hurry. I plan to do the treasure hunt somewhere between now and the end of March.
I’m planning to do the treasure for my two boys because I have 2 tickets for Disneyland and I want to give the tickets to them in a special, fun way.
They don’t know anything yet about the Disney trip. I would like to create special memories for the trip and I thought that including a treasure hunt to start with would be a good idea.
I will keep you updated on how it goes, I might have some questions for you though in the near future, I’ve never put a treasure hunt together before, but I do believe it will be a lot of fun for all of us….
Kind Regards,
Joke De Frenne, Idaho USA
Sunday, September 23rd, 2007Hi Nikki,
We live in the USA, in Moore, OK. The party is this Saturday the 23rd.
It is a surprise birthday party for my son who turned 13 last Sunday.
There will be mostly 13 to 14 year olds but a few younger and some older siblings at the party, and of course aunts and uncles to help drive for the scavenger hunt.
I have read over the planner and am trying to decide which one I want to do. I really like the one they have to find something for each letter of the alphabet.
Thank you,
Kim Rogers, Oklahoma USA
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007Hello Nikki -
I have had a chance to look over the treasure hunt info. I love this!! I am going on a Christian women’s retreat in Pigeon Forge, TN towards the end of March and wanted to come up with a fun idea. We don’t have a particular theme at this point so it will not really matter what theme we use for the clues, stations, etc. Age group is from late 20’s to early 50’s. I understand all of the info. pretty well the only thing I could not find was one of the bonus’s. I am looking for the ebook on your favorite 10 games.
Talk with you soon! Tina Franklin
Tina Franklin, North Carolina USA
Saturday, September 15th, 2007Mystery treasure hunt in Georgia for 7 year old’s birthday party
Sean Bates, Georgia USA
Thursday, September 13th, 2007The party will take place at Citigroup in Amherst, NY US in April. It is a Spring Pirate Treasure theme party for the employees children and every year we have between 100 and 200 children ranging in age from 2 through 14. In the past we always had a Easter, Halloween, and Christmas party. Due to our increasing size, we are now only having a Halloween and a themed Spring party. Each year will be a different theme. All children attend with parents and we usually have anywhere from 20 - 30 volunteers (without children) who run the party.
Judy McEvoy, New York USA
Wednesday, September 12th, 2007attached I have the list for the scavenger hunt. Most of the kids are 12 and 13. I thought I could come up with names for teams and have them draw them out of a hat to make the teams fair. I am going to try to get a digital camera for each team to take the 2 pictures from each list. I will have my sister come in and print the picture 8 X10 to hang up in the party.
We are planning on giving each team a walkie-talkie and a one hour time limit to roam the neighborhood.
Thank you!
Amy Evans, Texas USA
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007I am doing a treasure hunt for a bunch of 17 year old soccer players as a team bonding event before they leave to compete in a Regional tournament
Patty Seitz, New Jersey USA
Sunday, September 9th, 2007I’m having a party for my daughter’s 13th birthday party and she has invited boys which really threw me for loop when it came to deciding what activities to have to keep them all busy for 4 hrs. I could find no books at the library or bookstore that had the detail that you have in your treasure hunt planner.
Kim Leggett, Ohio USA
Saturday, September 8th, 2007Nikki, I am doing the pirate treasure hunt for my daughter’s 11th birthday. We are located in Leawood, Kansas which is a suburb of Kansas City. We are having twelve guests at the party and are also having a pirate dinner. The party is on Oct.7. I am in the process of getting the game ready. It sounds great!
I was going to come up with the game myself when I found your website when I was looking for ideas. I sure was relieved to find your game. It is exactly right. The only thing I am going to change is the challenge with the costume pieces because the girls are going to come to the party in costume already. I think we will do a challenge involving a message in a bottle. Thanks for the great ideas,
Beth Fields, Kansas USA
Thursday, September 6th, 2007Flashlight/tag treasure hunt in Newport Beach, California on Jan 28. My 12 year old’s birthday party
Diane Brown, California USA
Wednesday, September 5th, 2007It was so nice to get your email today! I have been stressing over the exact theme of my treasure hunt. I have decided to stick to the Winter Theme but need the names of the teams to not be related to Christmas. I will have four teams in lieu of six - RED, BLUE, YELLOW, & GREEN. I will still have six stations as we will have plenty of time to play. We will be in a three story cottage with four bedrooms and four baths. Main floor has kitchen, living room, dining room, and master bed/bath. Upstairs has two bedrooms and two baths. Downstairs has a family/game room w/ bedroom and bath. I thought since we would not be using the washer & dryer, I would hide the clue in the dryer. Thanks again for checking on me!
Tina Franklin, North Carolina USA
Tuesday, September 4th, 2007We are having our annual corporate Christmas Party (January) up north @ a ski resort (Ont-Canada) Our theme this year is Pirates and Wenches. 40 people all adult..drinkers?
Patti Allen, Ontario Canada
Monday, September 3rd, 2007In Concord, California we’re having a scavenger hunt around town for my daughter’s 17th birthday. It is a slumber party with swimming and scavenger hunt!
Cindy Johnson, California USA
Friday, August 31st, 2007Hi Nikki
Thanks for your interest in our scavenger hunt.
We are a small group of trustees for a small Green that was saved from building land. It is now a small haven for wild life in the village of Soulbury in Buckinghamshire England.
We are always looking for fun events on the Green to make people aware that it is there and also to raise some funds for the upkeep of the place.
We love the idea of a scavenger hunt, using nature as our theme. I am reading through all the info you sent and ideas are forming.
I will let you know when we hold the event and how successful it is.
Many thanks
Nan Chadwick, Buckinghamshire UK
Thursday, August 30th, 2007Nikki,
The reason I purchased the Treasure Hunt game was for use during our annual family vacation at a beach house in the Charleston SC area. The house we have rented for the week is directly on the beach and I am running a treasure hunt for our family.
Jack Taylor, Florida USA
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007Nikki,
I have been working on the Treasure Hunt all week, and I’m finishing the final touches on the map tonight.
I am going to have 18 children ages 5-10 years. We are having the hunt at our farm around a creek. I will set up the stations tomorrow. I am excited about using the mummy challenge. My son wanted to have all physical challenges so I put all the younger children in a group, all the girls in a group and split the boys into two groups. I think there will be less competition within the groups. Sometimes boys tend to get too competitive. I have chosen five other physical challenges including a multilegged race, a musical water glass, an egg race, a water balloon toss, the mummy challenge, and a water race.
I am going to hide a key for each team, which will open the treasure chest with their goody bags in them.
I have enough adults for each station. I think that will help.
The rest of the party includes a hotdog cookout, a hay ride, a hike in a really cool creek with caves, frogs, and lizards, and the treasure hunt, not to mention the cake and icecream and the presents. I hope it doesn’t get dark before we’re finished.
I used many good ideas from your ebook. I copied the station names onto yellow cardstock and laminated them. We will attach them to posts which are in place already.
Thanks for the great ideas.
Sincerely,
Shelley Grellner, Oklahoma USA
Saturday, August 11th, 2007The treasure hunt party is for my daughters’ 13th birthday. It will be the night of October 8th. We are in the East Texas area, Chester to be exact. I plan on starting the party around 5:30 pm; I am hoping for cool weather; with E. Texas you never know. The party will be around our pool, and we have about 15 acres of lawn to use. Because it is her 13th, we are planning to bar-b-q, and of course the kids will swim (weather permitting). I am unsure of guest totals, the minimum will be about 30 kids, and 20 parents.
I would love to include some of the parents on the teams. Safely I figure there will be 42 players, and had considered making 7 teams.
Krista Jernigan, Texas USA
Thursday, August 9th, 2007I am planning to use the treasure hunt for our annual family reunion July
I have a year to plan all this out.
Thanks,
Elizabeth Toole,
Tuesday, August 7th, 2007Nikki,
I purchased the Halloween game in addition to the treasure hunt. I am having a children’s Halloween party and maybe you could give me some pointers since you plan parties all the time. The agenda that I have come up with goes as follows:
Arrival 5:pm.
Upon entering the house each child will get a Halloween printed painter’s smock and flashlight.
Children will then go through the haunted house. (in the garage)
Once they come out of the haunted house they will go in to the living room which will be set up as a carnival, there will be different booths with different activities. These will include things such as, the fishing game (easier for the young kids), painting mini pumpkins and little wooden snakes, face painting, draw a pumpkin on a paper plate on your head, penny toss, we are still deciding on the others.
After they play and run around for a while visiting the different booths, getting little candies and toys to fill the pockets of their smocks.
Then it will be time to eat. (while the kids are eating, the Halloween game is being set up)
After they are done eating. The kids are split into their groups and the activity begins. They visit each station completing the activities. Once they have completed the activity they get a clue. (one of the cards from the treasure hunt game) once they have completed each station they will then fallow the clues on the cards they have received. At the end will be a treasure box hidden for each team.
The children then have the option to go though the haunted house a few times before the party ends.
I have never thrown a children’s Halloween party, so this will be fun. The ages range from 2 years to around 8 years of age. The majority of the children are between 5 and 8.
Kathryn Sepulveda, Nevada USA
Monday, August 6th, 2007Hi Nikki,
What at wonderful resource your scavenger hunt e-book is. The hunt is tonight and I have already spent about three hours prepping with at least 3 more to do. It’s raining here so we are keeping game inside the house, on the porch and in the screen in porch too.
The boundaries, rules and age appropriate list were extremely helpful. Our group is ages 8-9 girls. There are 9 girls coming all of whom will be randomly divided into three groups of three. Unfortunately one of the babysitters cancelled last night so I’m now wrestling with three teams and two supervisors…..
Got to go, but I will f/u with news and feedback.. You are amazing to have the care and concern to email me.
I dearly appreciate it.
Thanks,
Lee Anne McClymont, North Carolina USA