Archive for February, 2009
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009Hi Nikki,
It was a GREAT party!! We live in the bush, we had 2 teams of boys going to 6 stations to get the map to find the treasure….the theme was a dress as someone from a Medieval Castle…so it was the Shields and Spears….albeit we weren’t encouraging high competitiveness….swimming in the dam followed…
After the last ones left we were dancing the dance of joy, delight and exhilaration….a couple of boys came back to say it was the best party they had ever been too.
Thanks for spreading your expertise which in turn is spreading joy in the world.
Regards,
Belinda Gross, Victoria Australia
Monday, February 9th, 2009Yes, I’m working on setting up the Treasure Hunt. Have read it through twice and am making lists of things to do and items to buy, and understanding how to begin the game and follow through.
The party will be in Fairview Park (a suburb of Cleveland), Ohio, on Saturday, December 9, 2006 in my home.
The special occasion is the 43rd Annual Donahue Family Party- for immediate family only: parent, 5 children, spouses, and grandchildren. There will be a total of 22 people. The age range is 10 years to 70. There are 7 teenagers, 12 adults, 3 children. The theme of the party is ‘Memories.’ The theme will be played out with old photos, funny family experiences, music and penny candy from the eras of the attendees.
The party consists of cocktails and appetizers, followed by games, dinner, gifts, more games, and sometimes entertainment. Last year we had a juggler/magician. This year I think the Treasure Hunt, Mystery game, and a couple of other games will be enough.
I am still working on clues and challenges. I think I understand how the game works but will email you if I have a problem. Sounds like it will be fun.
Thank you for your email
Julie Donahue, Ohio USA
Monday, February 9th, 2009Nikki,
We are having a St. Patrick’s day theme. March 17th, they will be searching for ?the pot of gold?. I have purchased a black pot from Hobby Lobby and filled with candy with hopes of the children sharing (age 9).
I wrapped the candy in the top with gold wrapping paper to resemble gold. We have all the stations taken care of. The teams and stations all fit around St Patrick?s day. I now need to get the clue and the treasure map done. We have a huge back yard fenced and that is where we are planning to have the entire treasure hunt. I was just going to set stations up around the back yard.
My husband has said that he was going to put the treasure map around some bricks in the back yard. Also the pot of gold will be in the shed in the back yard. (my husband has built a shelf over the door and that is where the pot of gold will be! This is the first treasure hunt, and I will be planning another one (Easter) three weeks later for my 11 year old
Jennifer Hatcher, Alabama USA
Sunday, February 8th, 2009Nikki, thanks yet again for following up on our scavenger hunt. We did the first one, the one with our 12 year old this past weekend. We live in San Antonio and our plan was to do the neighborhood hunt but the weather got the best of us so we ended up doing the one designed for the house. We used the list that was in the original book and the kids had a great time with it. It was a great success. I’m on the road on business now but still plan on doing the adult scavenger hunt in the near future. I haven’t yet decided which one we will do but I’m thinking about the one the involves driving around town.
Norm Fox, Texas USA
Sunday, February 8th, 2009Hi Nikki:
We had a fantastic time. Our Pirate themed treasure hunt party was a ‘treasure!’ The hunt was superb and the tools that you provided made it easy to customize to our group. The children loved it! I appreciate that you kept checking with us to make sure things were progressing well as we planned the event.
Again thanks!
Youth Pastor, Bonsack United Methodist Church
Tim Burns, Virginia USA
Saturday, February 7th, 2009Nikki:
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
Saturday, February 7th, 2009I just downloaded the info and skimmed it - will seriously read it all today and start planning my party. I give lots of different types of parties, mostly for my family. We have had our own Survivor and Amazing Race parties, and others.
I plan to have the treasure hunt on Jan 22 for my husband’s 58th birthday. We live in Hawaii - have a 2 acre property at Mokuleia which is on the north shore of Oahu. The age range of my gang is 2-68…a real challenge for team games.
I will be happy to send you details of our hunt, if you wish, once we’ve done it. We have a very competitive and enthusiastic game playing family! Thanks for sharing your expertise with us!
Aloha,
Ibby Jenkins, Hawaii
Friday, February 6th, 2009Hello,
I recently ordered both the treasure hunt and pirate package from you. The material I received helped because this Treasure hunt is for 25 of my two sons close friends ages 12-14, which means the hunt is in a 3 mile area around our neighborhood and the clues (15 in all) need to be challenging.
I drew out 4 maps ( with burned edges !) giving the familiar landmarks different names, i.e… a church is renamed The Holy Ground, the firehouse is named The House of Hose and Ax, a big clay mound located near a baseball field is called Blood Mt…. The teams will have different colored bandannas and each team member will be giving a title and responsibility during the hunt.( I want this to be a team building experience) so..
The Captain holds and read the map, The Scholar is read all the clues out loud and hold on to them, the Pathfinder holds and uses the compass for the team, the Musician plays and holds an instrument (a plastic
flute) when called upon, the 1st Mate?s job is to make sure all rules are followed and to keep the team together.. etc…
Coming up with the clues was very time consuming because I wanted them to be challenging and to rhyme. (The first clue for one of the teams is ‘Proceed SW as swift as you can, till thou is standing on sacred land. Get close to the bronze statue made up of three, then search for a clue below the knees’ ) Also, the clues couldn’t be the same because each team?s path is different and I had to make sure that the distance traveled was fair (there are hills), as well as having them come from a different direction towards the ‘treasure’, and I walked each path myself.
The treasure is a real wooden chest, a size of a bread box, filled with play jewels and candy. It will be hidden near a bank of rocks under some foliage.
I’m excited for The Hunt to begin and I hope everything goes as planned!! If this turns out to be a big hit among the kids, I might start my own business planning treasure hunts!
Thanks,
Lisa, Alabama USA
Friday, February 6th, 2009I’m still working on the details. I have 12 9-10 year old girls coming to a birthday party. We are going to have the presents ’stolen’ while they are eating dinner and the teams have to work to find the gifts. I’m working on coming up with 6 or so different things they must solve to get a piece of the final clue.
Michael Cox, Illinois USA
Thursday, February 5th, 2009I am planning a picnic for our church group, and it will be over 100 people there. We are having it at a local park and will have access to it only 1 hr before people will start arriving. The park is a large grass area with a shelter in the middle.
Calvin Hairston,
Thursday, February 5th, 2009Hi Nikki,
I am just getting started on planning the pirate themed treasure hunt for my sons 6th birthday party. I appreciate all your email and hope it goes smoothly. We will be doing it in a park with different color pirate teams depending on how many kids are coming. I am changing the tasks a little bit. Also instead of burying the treasure we are going to have a hanging treasure box pi?ata in a secret location at the end of the hunt. I am in the process of collecting all the materials and need to decide where the treasure will be hiding so I can work on drawing a treasure map. I cant decide if the 6 clues are going to be actual pieces of a puzzle showing the place the map is hiding or 6 cards with riddles so they can solve them and put all clues together to find location of map. This is a lot of fun for me too! This is the activity for the party so I hope it will keep them busy for an entire hour. I will keep you posted!
Nomi Gilbert, New Jersey USA
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009Nikki,
Thank you for checking on me. I was really reluctant to agree to the treasure hunt, but after getting your manual, I am getting excited.
I have an idea where I am going to bury the treasure and have decided to prepare 6 individual treasure chests and these will be buried in a bigger treasure chest.
I purchased a disposable ice chest and will spray paint it black, brown or gold, not sure yet on the color. I bought the smallest one available because it had a rope attached to it and I wanted to make sure it is not too heavy for the kids to pull it up.
I will fill each treasure chest up stuff for the winners and place them all staked on top of each other in the ice chest. I will then place filled individual goodie bags on top of the treasure chests that the winners get to ’share’ their spoils with others. The individual bags will contain coins, gems, etc and a thanks for participating note.
I have read your instructions several times and think I have a good handle on it and feel pretty good about what I need to do to make it successful.
I haven’t told my children that I’ve planned this for their party because if I tell them anything in advance, they will ask day and night millions of questions and will not allow me a moments peace.
Angel Epps, California USA
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009Dear Nikki,
Just wanted to let you know we used your treasure hunt at a party yesterday and it was a big hit. There were twenty ten year olds and we put them in five teams which was great. It all went well and it really was enjoyed. Your pack was great and I was happy with the product and would do it again.
Thanks,
Monica Eskin, New York USA
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009Hi Nikki,
The party for our son turning 9 was a huge hit! Once the boys got warmed up they were running in and out of the house for clues. In order to have everyone feel included we rotated who read the clues. I also emphasized this was a ‘team’ approach. It worked out really well and it was fun to see which riddles stumped them and which ones they figured out with ease.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! It was money very well spent!
Thanks again,
Amy Anderson, Washington USA
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009Hello Nikki,
It’s taken awhile for me to respond, but my daughter reminded me of it today so I thought I should reply before I forgot again.
I had my treasure hunt for my 10 year old daughter?s birthday. It was a bit unorganized but hey I had to work the morning of the party. We had 17 kids over. My husband was uneasy about how we were going to keep them all entertained and having fun for 5 hours.
It was great! I scattered the stations all over the place. Finding the treasure map was the best. My husband hid it in a bird house. It took them like 10 minutes to clue in. They ran around it who knows how many times. The next best thing was the actual location of the treasure chest. Instead of burying it we strung it up in a tree. Of course, no one thought of looking up. It was right in the middle of all the action throughout the whole hunt. We were laughing. It was a blast.
This party took place middle of July. On this past Monday, one of kids mentions to my daughter that that was the most fun at a party. Now the other kids want treasure hunts too. Next year it will be even better since we had the trial run and it went over amazing. Thanks for your help.
Doris
Doris Traeger, Ontario Canada
Monday, February 2nd, 2009Hi Nikki,
I have logged on and played around with planning our first treasure hunt.
This one is for our son’s 6th birthday party on Saturday, October 7th. His birthday is actually the 8th but because of other activities, the party is a day early. I’m very excited about the treasure hunt. His party has a pirate theme and this is a perfect game. I was having trouble being very creative with clues for the hunt and while snooping around the internet I found your site and couldn’t wait to try it out. So…I’m off to fine tune the treasure hunt for the kiddos and I’ll let you know how everything turns
out after the party!
Thanks,
Anna Quist Anna Quist, Texas USA
Monday, February 2nd, 2009The Instant Treasure Hunt was very easy to use and the kids loved it! I did it twice once for the kid’s party and once for the family party. The first time the group was a bit big, next time I will do two teams so they all have a chance to figure out the clues.
Melinda Ayala, Oregon USA
Sunday, February 1st, 2009Well Nikki,
I had 6 ’stations’ and adults at each one, and we had a challenge at each station. (eat a donut that was hanging from a limb by a string, blindfolded and after being spun around, answer at least 80% of some tricky questions, get the cherry out of a cream pie without using your hands, 2 stations were Halloween scary where you just had to be brave enough to get your color-coded flag with the next clue attached and get out of there! And the final station where after solving the clue you knew that the next clue was under a chair, only to find out there were A LOT more then just a few chairs to look under!
The party was a great success (or so the kids & their parents say). Some of the kids are already asking for it to be an annual event. If I do the hunt again I will give myself even more planning time and make the teams smaller (I had 8 in each). I also will add some kind of ‘playing field’ map to START with, as some of the teams made it too hard by reading more into the clues and looking too far and wide. The Instant hunt was actually the most helpful, with the planning guide filling in some details. I will say your customer service dept has the world’s fastest response time.
Thanks,
Sandra Wellman, North Carolina USA
Sunday, February 1st, 2009I haven’t had time to read the book yet. Was hoping it wasn’t an on-line book, but…
We have a TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) group with 50 people. This is held outside on a large lawn. In case of rain, it is held in a large…huge garage. So teams are not a problem.
I’ll be in touch when we move on, but won’t review until after the weekend.
Thank you for asking.
Shelley Chorney, Maine USA