Parties come with high expectations. Kids come to a party planning to be well-fed and well-entertained. With all the other stresses in your life, you may find yourself obsessing over how you are going to keep these kids having fun. Put together a scavenger hunt. With just a little effort, your guests will have a great time and will talk about this for weeks and months.
Participants
Kids can start participating in scavenger hunts once they are old enough to work together in teams. This is a social activity and requires group participation. Kids also need to be able to deal with a certain amount of disappointment. There will only be one winning team, even after all the effort that everyone puts in. Younger scavengers can be limited to the home, while teenage scavengers may be invited to a local mall or park for their scavenging.
Adults
Kids love the feeling of independence that comes with scavenger hunts. Adults are not there, hovering over them and telling them the best way to do it. For safety purposes, adults should be tuned in and aware of the activity. Place adults, even covert ones, at strategic places around the scavenge to keep track of everyone.
Features
Scavenger hunts consist of collecting and gathering items from a list. The kid are broken into teams and each group receives the same list. The team to return first or the team with the most items after a given time wins the game. This can be done nearly anywhere, any place items can be collected. Some hunts ask guests to perform tasks or take pictures of locations or items.
Needed Items
If you are asking teams to collect items, they will each need a bag or tote of some type for their gatherings. Each team also needs a written or typed note, listing what’s required. This is better than reading items aloud and asking the teams to take note, since this can lead to discrepancies later. If you are conducting a scavenger hunt using pictures of actions or items, give each group a digital camera.
The After-Party
Kids love to rehash the fun they just experienced. A projector or other display for pictures will let everyone enjoy the pictures taken throughout the event. If your kids are getting actual items, give each team a chance to show everything they collected. Have snacks and drinks ready for the exhausted hunters.
Photo Credit
- it’s birthday (8) party time 1 image by mdb from Fotolia.com
