Scavenger Hunt Ideas

I am going to take the opportunity in this post to describe the various ways that scavenger hunts can be used to make an event more fun and enjoyable for everyone.  Subsequent posts will dive further into each of the scavenger hunt opportunities and provide you with specific examples on how they would be run :) For now, we’ll just skim the surface of each one…

 

Kid’s Birthday Party Ideas:
kid's scavenger huntIt’s your turn to host a kid’s birthday party.  The difficulty in this is normally:
a) keeping all of the kids entertained and
b) keeping all of the kids entertained :)
What do kids love? Prizes and winning things! By hosting a scavenger hunt for kids in either your basement, family home, or wherever the birthday party is taking place, you can ensure that the kids are entertained for the duration of the hunt, and be happy in the end by receiving a prize for themselves.  The best way to make this work, if there is a large group of kids, is to divide the kids in groups of 2 – 3.  Each group would be running the same type of scavenger hunt, with the same types of clues as the other groups, however in a different order.  This way – you won’t have kids running into one another while the hunt is in play and also, this minimises the number of hunts you would need to put together yourself. And of course, the end of the hunt will lead each kid to a prize they will enjoy winning.

 

Team Building Exercise:
Ahh… now team building exercises for the workplace don’t always have to be the same type of activities that you don’t enjoy participating in.  By creating a scavenger hunt for your company’s department group, this will allow individuals to:team building scavenger hunt
a) Put on their thinking caps to determine where to go for the next clues
b) Enjoy and have fun out of a workplace event
c) And most importantly… work amongst a team in a collaborative way and get to know some individuals within the company that much better! :)
The scavenger hunt can take place within the company compounds, within walking distance of the company, or a combination of both.  Depending on the size of the group, groups of 3 or 4 are most ideal.  At the end, the winning team to arrive at the last clue first can be eligible to win a small gift card like a $5 or $10 gift card.

 

Birthday or Anniversary gifts:
romantic scavenger huntI know we already discussed a valentine’s day hunt in our previous post, but the same concept can be done for other special occasions for your significant other (or even for your friend’s!!) for birthdays or anniversaries.  Having the clues relate specifically to the person will make the hunt all the more sweeter for them and for the hunt to lead to a gift will make this day all the more special for them and a day for them to always remember…  Check out the Valentine’s Day Scavenger Hunt Ideas post for more information and an example hunt of how you can set one of these up for that special someone :)

 

Easter Hunt:
With Easter approaching, the hunt for those chocolate eggs and bunnies doesn’t heaster scavenger huntave to be completely a blind hunt!  By using a scavenger hunt tool like www.textclues.com, the hidden goods can be systematically placed in specific areas of where the hunt is taking place.  Once the correct answer to a clue has been found/answered, it can lead the hunter to some of the delicious goods… or you can make them antsy by making the goods only appear after certain clues so they will never know when to expect a prize! ;)  By doing it this way, also, you won’t end up finding chocolate from last year hidden away under your furniture again…

 

We’re going to stop here for now but next post we’ll talk about a few more scavenger hunt ideas (On-Campus hunts for pub crawls or school tours, teenage or adult parties, retreats/church youth group activities, and even for educational purposes!) before getting into more detail about them all. Stay tuned! :)

Valentine’s Day Scavenger Hunt Ideas

There are so many different ways these days you can make use of a scavenger hunt, but with less than a week away until Valentine’s Day, let’s focus on how to make an awesome vday gift for your loved one.

So Valentine’s Day is approaching, and you don’t know what to do to make the day just a bit more special for that special someone. Have no fear though, we are here to help that day become a breeze for you and to put a smile on someone’s face :)

My strategy to begin a scavenger hunt is to think of how you want the hunt to end. Are you planning on having the hunt lead to a certain gift/object, or should it be a certain destination? Once you know where it will end, it will help give you an idea on where the previous clues should lead.

Keeping on the Valentine’s day theme, some suggestions on “end goals” of the hunt could include:

  • Flowers (outside the front door)
  • Chocolates (in a drawer)
  • Jewelry (underneath his/her pillow)
  • A letter written by you (in a pocket of clothing)
  • A restaurant (walk able distance from the starting point)
  • You! Standing somewhere holding a single flower; or they may just be happy to find you at the end of the hunt ;)

You need to add some personal touches into the scavenger hunt so that they will appreciate the time you spent on putting together this gift for them. If the individual can relate to the clues or think back on why some of the clues might be significant to the both of you, they will be that more appreciative of this hunt.

Think about:

  • Where you first met
  • What your first date was
  • What their favorite treats are
  • What is their favorite restaurant
  • What is their favorite movie

Once you have some of these things figured out, and you know that the hunter will know the answers to as well, you’ll be putting together a sweet scavenger hunt in no time.

To end things off, here is a sample of a scavenger hunt that can help you on your way to making one special person very happy on this day:

Clue: Hey baby, you are in for a surprise. Start by dialing my number (123-456-7890) and text back what I say to you to this message.

Answer: I love you

Clue: I love you too :) Now, go to your room. What is sitting on your night table?

Answer: Aero chocolate

Clue: Mmm.. delicious. Go ahead and eat it; I know how much you love it ;) Once you’re done your treat, can you remind me what your favorite snack is?

Answer: Chips

Clue: I’m kidding! How could I forget that? Go to the kitchen. What is in the snack cupboard?

Answer: Chips

Clue: See! Of course I didn’t forget! ;) We’ll save those for later tonight. Now go to the family room. What is in the DVD player?

Answer: Lord of the Rings

Clue: Sweet movie eh? Now, are you hungry? What’s your favorite restaurant?

Answer: Milestone’s

Clue: It is tasty. Making me hungry. Do you mind grabbing and putting on your jacket? What does the note say inside your right pocket?

Answer: Open the front door

Clue: Ok, go and do it now!!

That’s the end of the scavenger hunt, however at this point in time, you would be standing outside the front door either holding a single flower or some other treat, leading your significant other out to eat at their favorite restaurant, followed by a night in with a movie and some chips ;)

Now, that wasn’t too hard was it? Go and try out a scavenger hunt for vday, and come back to us and let us know how they enjoyed it. You won’t be disappointed! Happy Valentine’s Day!

Create a Scavenger Hunt Now!

Scavenger Hunt Tip: Three Keys to Good Clues

When creating clues for a scavenger hunt there are three questions you should ask yourself. Is the Clue Personalized for the hunter? Will the clue be fun for the hunter? Is the Clue entertaining? You don’t need and answer yes to all three questions for a clue to be great. However, if the answer is no for all three you might want to rethink your clue.

Is the Clue Personalized for the Hunter?

It’s great to add some clues to your hunt that are personalized to the hunter. It might involve an inside joke you both share, a memory you have together or trivia that they would find interesting. You might ask about the place where you first met or what animal you saw when camping together. Personalized trivia is another great clue to add to any hunt. If they are into art you can ask them a question regarding their favourite artist. For example “How many self-portraits did Vincent Van Gough perform between 1886 and 1889?”. Making this type of trivia is easier than it seems. Just take a few minutes to read about the subject on the internet and once you find an interesting fact make it into a question. Personalized clues are certainly one of the most impressive for the person receiving the hunt and they will be taken back by how much thought you put into the hunt.

Is the Clue Fun for the Hunter?

It sounds simple but it’s important to consider whether the clue will be fun for the hunter. This is similar to creating personalized clues but instead we are focused on general things they like. If the hunter really likes math then by all means add some math questions into your scavenger hunt. On the other hand if they hate dealing with numbers avoid that type of clue at all costs! This is also where you want to consider the difficulty of your clue. You want to make it difficult enough so that it’s not extremely easy but you also want to make sure that it’s not impossible for them to get. The right difficulty will get them scratching their head and then jumping in the air when they figure it out. If you’re not sure about the difficulty try it out on someone else and see what happens.

Is the Clue Entertaining?

Whether the clue is entertaining or not comes down to the wording of your clues. There are a ton of ways you can make a scavenger hunt more entertaining. You can make a fictional storyline for the hunt, maybe they need to find the deactivation code for a nuclear missile or find the toupee of their ungrateful boss. You can add some humour to the hunt with joke or sarcasm based clues and riddles. You can even add rhyming to your clues which is always fun.

These are just a few examples of how to make clues that are personal, fun and entertaining. The blog also has other ideas that will help you make hunt worthy clues. You’ll also come up with great ideas that haven’t been featured here. If you’d like to share your scavenger hunt ideas let us know at support@textclues.com and maybe we’ll write an article about them!