Treasure Hunt

Audrey’s 3rd birthday party was by far her BEST party yet. Searching for ideas for her big day, I came across the blog “From the Blue Shed”, in which blogger Robin Gage sung praises of a recent treasure hunt party for her little girl. She had me at hello!
Initially I thought “Ok, keep the cake/food/decorations low key, no presents. Replace all the birthday fluff with a simple treasure hunt in the park, ta DA! Easy for me, fun for everyone!” Then I started planning and shopping and it got complicated, fast. Lots of brain cells burned on this one, folks! I quickly lost track of how many trips to Hobby Lobby, Target and Michaels I made until I felt good about what was in each kid’s treasure chest. All that AFTER I had researched, bought, reconsidered and returned a piñata, which was originally the final ‘treasure’. Bless little Audrey and Neve; they were so patient with all our trips to the store. Surprisingly Audrey didn’t pay much attention to what I was purchasing and was just as excited as the other kids when she got her treasure on the big day.

As I continued to plan, I started to think that the activity promoted materialism too much, so Graham and I decided to incorporate a bible verse about treasure. At the start of the hunt, we briefly mentioned that Jesus talked about ‘treasure in heaven’ and what that means for kids… sharing, being kind, obeying parents, etc. stores up treasure in heaven. In each kid’s treasure chest was the verse Mt 6:20. Not sure if the message stuck (those 11 kids were sooo ready to go!) But maybe it did.

To start, each child got a tote bag, a tool for digging and copies of a hand drawn map of the park that revealed where the first clue was hidden.

At each location, a rolled up paper 'clue' was near or attached to the object. It was set it up so that everyone heard the clue in a group before rushing off to the next location so the smaller kids didn’t fall behind. I found smooth round rocks in our back yard (we have a plethora of rocks to choose from!) and painted designs on them. These were buried in the sand for clue #1.

Little Neve was content with my friend Shawna for most of the hunt, which meant I could participate!

Graham and I (laaaate one night) test-popped a glitter filled balloon with a clue inside. Rrrouch! Warp speed glitter stinging eyes and face? I’ll pass. We ended up filling 11 balloons with 11 pieces of paper, one of which was clue 2. Much better. Clue 3 was rubber banded to a pine cone under a pine tree. I bought packs of splash bomb balls for clue 4 and scattered them in the grass around a big beach ball. All the kids ran excitedly from one location to the next, it was so cute!

The adults followed behind...

For the final clue, pink feathers were placed on and around a tree at the far side of the park. (Someone accused me of kidnapping a rare bird from the Denver zoo, a-la a recent news story. Nope, Hobby Lobby.) Audrey ran with dad - precious!

Finally, the BIG surprise! In the volleyball court, name tags attached to string were sticking out of the sand everywhere… and buried beneath were individual treasure chests filled with all sorts of fun stuff! The kids LOVED it! So fun!

Note to self: I couldn’t have pulled this off if every single detail wasn’t in place ahead of time. Maybe YOU could, but if I feel ill-prepared and guests start showing up, I’m a deer in the headlights man! But thankfully this time the details were all in place and it ended up being a really fun party – for kids, adults, and the hostess too! I most highly recommend this type of party for kids ages 3 – 10 and maybe even beyond (city-wide scavengers hunt anyone?) Good times, great memories. Happy 3rd birthday, Audrey!