scavenger hunt birthday party
My son turned 8 this year and we had planned to have his birthday party at an escape room. Thanks to COVID-19 we had to regroup for a home version of an escape room party. Instead of escaping a room we did a scavenger hunt to lead him to his birthday presents. It was a huge it!
SUPPLIES
Sherlock Holmes Hat - I got small in gray for my 5 and 8 year old and they fit perfectly. Completely irrelevant to the scavenger hunt but they were fun and cute. I didn’t plan much for decorations for the party so these were kind of living decor.
Magnifying Glass - I probably should have used the magnifying glasses as a tool needed to solve a clue but it was too big to fit in the tool pouch so these were just for fun.
Detective Pipe - completely unnecessary but again so fun.
Puzzle Lock - This is a trick lock. It is decently sized and decent quality. It was a little tricky for me to get the hang of it at first but once you get it it’s easy.
1 Inch Scratch Off Stickers - These stickers have a scratcher top and a clear sticker bottom. Whatever you place the sticker over can be seen through the clear sticker once you scratch the top off.
Blank Puzzle - a puzzle is a fun clue but this one ended up being a little tricky because the pieces are all the same size. I probably should have made a picture of some sort to make it easier to solve.
How To
MAP IT OUT
I started mapping out the clues in a chart and then wrote out what I wanted each clue to say in more detail.
PRINT THE CLUES
I printed all the clues on cards and placed them in craft color envelopes. Not necessary for sure, but I was trying to recreate an escape room so I wanted this to feel “professional” because what eight year olds love in a birthday party is professionalism.
Have fun
This birthday hunt had 15 clues and it took about 30 minutes to get all the way through. I think that was about the max for an eight year old. I think if it had gone on much longer he may have gotten bored.
I set up the clues the night before and just made sure that they were in places he wouldn’t notice until it was time to get started.
I did another scavenger hunt for Easter to lead the kids to 48 cans of silly string. They had fun finding the prize and then they had fun emptying cans on cans on cans of silly string.
You don’t need an occasion to put a fun hunt or escape room together. Just a little bit of time.