"The Ultimate Treasure Hunt"

The clue to a great birthday adventure lies in silly riddles, clever hiding places,
and a big payoff. And one of the nice things about a treasure hunt
is that everybody wins, since the discovered goods get parceled out equally
among all of the participants. Although treasure hunts are a challenge to solve,
they're easy to construct, but they must be built in reverse.
If you adopt this principle and add your own whimsy to it,
your hunts will be a guaranteed success. But be forewarned,
treasure hunts are habit-forming. Once your kids taste the thrill of solving clues
and uncovering buried treasure, they'll want them to be longer and more intricate every year!

Setting up the Treasure Hunt
1. Gather Your Supplies
A really good hunt takes at least an hour to construct - and during that time, no little eyes must spy on you! If you want to start off the adventure with an extra-special clue (see step 6, "Coming up with Clue #1"), you really ought to work on that one the day before. Besides a treasure (placed in a can, plastic bin, or other buriable container), all you'll need to set up a hunt is a clipboard, a small writing tablet, and a couple of sharpened pencils.
When you're ready to begin, label one sheet of paper Master List and attach it to the clipboard. Then, as you construct the hunt, keep a record of where you hide the treasure and all of the clues. You may never need this list, but it's nice to have it just in case:
- you have concealed a clue too well
- a clue has disappeared (it can happen: clues can be spirited away by the wind, by dogs, by curious kids)
- you need the security of having it all written down on one piece of paper
-someone is planning to video-tape the running, hollering children (they'll know in advance where good camera angles are)
- you need supporting documents to explain to the officer on the beat why you're prowling the neighborhood
- you need a reminder of particular places to avoid or reuse in future hunts (you can always use a good hiding place again if you describe it in a completely different way)

2. Hide Your Treasure
Choose a hiding place for your treasure that's in or near your own yard. That way, when the hunt is over, your kids and their guests will all be at home ready for the next phase of the party. I usually bury treasure under a pile of leaves or some loose earth, but not so deep that the kids will need tools to unearth it.

3. Write Your First Clue
While standing right at the spot where the treasure is hidden, write a description of the location on a sheet of paper. It's easier to do this right there and then rather than later from some other vantage point. I like to use rhyming riddles. For example, if I were to bury the tin of treasure under last year's leaves, beneath my lilac bush, I might write:

Where purple, in spring, blooms out of the wood,
autumn's comforter covers the goods.

When you finish composing your clue, number it. Remember, this is the first clue you've written, but it will be the last clue the hunters find. So you'll need to think about how many clues you want your hunt to consist of. If you decide on ten clues (this is the number I recommend, particularly if it's your family's first treasure hunt), write #10 on the paper. Then fold the clue several times so that it is small enough to hide.

4. Hide Your First Clue and Write the Next One
Stroll around your house or up the street to look for a good place to hide Clue #10. Make sure that at least part of the clue is visible (you don't want the children to miss it altogether), and then write this location on your master list. Again, right then and there, compose a new clue (#9) describing the hiding spot. For example, let's say you have hidden Clue #10 in a sock or the pocket on a pair of blue jeans on your neighbor's clothesline (after asking her permission, of course). For Clue #9, you could say:

Our uphill neighbor is mighty fine
The next clue's on her private line

Label the clue #9, fold it up, and then go find another place to hide it - maybe on the fire hydrant by the big oak tree or wedged under a stone near the mailbox post.

5. Hide the Remaining Clues
By now the benefit of building the hunt in reverse will be evident - it's easy and fast because you never have to retrace your steps. Each time you hide a clue, record a description of the location on your master list and then write a new clue on a separate sheet to fold and hide. Continue to use this method, counting down, until you have hidden Clue #2.

6. Coming Up With Clue #1
Now let's suppose you've done everything properly - you've hidden the treasure, you've found interesting hiding places, you've described each one in a clear yet puzzling clue, and you've worked down your master list all the way to #2. Here comes the most fun part - making up Clue #1. This is the riddle that will set the tone for the whole hunt by inspiring the birthday group to set off in hot pursuit of what-it-is-they-don't-know in a place they've yet to find. As such, it's the perfect candidate to take a step beyond the other written clues. Here are some ideas I've used:
- A special letter arrives in the mail with a coded message. It could be an alphabet/number code, a message written backwards that you have to hold up to a mirror to read, or a mathematical game. Decoded, the message reveals where Clue #2 is hidden.
- The phone rings exactly on the hour. By prearrangement, a neighbor who is an experienced actress demands to speak to the birthday girl. Her message is a puzzling poem.
- You turn on the VCR, and a video of somebody heavily disguised delivers a spoken clue. Think of the possibilities - you could imitate Bogie in The Maltese Falcon, Jack Webb in Dragnet, or any of the Sesame Street characters. You can even use your children's puppets and not have your face appear at all.
- The first clue is hidden in some adult's pocket. A guessing game, either live or prerecorded, reveals whose pocket the kids must plunder. For example, "Who is Peter's mother's husband's son's wife's daughter's father?"

Getting the Treasure Hunt Under Way
On the day of the party, I recommend getting the hunt under way shortly after all of the guests have arrived and before the cake and ice cream are served - the hunt will be exciting enough without pumping everyone up with sugar.

1. Go Over the Rules
Before you deliver the first clue, take a moment to explain the rules of the hunt. At our house, they are clear, firm and few:
- No running across the street. If you're absolutely sure you have to cross, gather and wait for a parent and cross together slowly and safely.
- Take turns reading the clues in a strong voice so everyone can hear and help solve them.
- Don't run off before a whole clue has been read, because you will surely be heading to the wrong place. After reading it once all the way through, read it again in parts and solve it bit by bit.
- When you find the treasure, share it equally among all the participants

2. Monitoring the Hunt
Most children love to solve puzzles. Occasionally, though (especially with younger kids), a riddle may stump them, and you may have to offer a verbal clue to keep the hunt going. However, as the years go by and the kids get more and more proficient, you'll want to take two or three hours to build your hunts. You can even use elaborate clues that require compasses, measuring strings, math games, or scientific codes to figure them out. For example, one year, I wrote a clue that led the kids to an old bike in our garage and instructed them to roll the bike to a certain spot outdoors. When they did, someone noticed a piece of red tape on the front tire and solved the second part of the riddle, which indicated that the next clue was 100 revolutions away. The kids rolled the bike along the path and stopped when the red tape had touched the ground exactly 100 times. Voila. The next riddle was waiting. It's moments like that, I've come to realize, that are filled with the real joy of a treasure hunt. Each child has the chance to contribute his or her problem-solving talents or observations, and everybody gets to experience the satisfaction of working together as a team. Uncovering the hidden treasure is the goal, but the real, lasting reward is the hunt itself.

Clever Clues
The trick to writing a great clue is making it challenging - but not impossible - for the ages and characters of the kids in the group. In addition to riddles and puns, here are a few other suggestions:
- If your kids love crossword puzzles, try writing clues that require filling in the blanks.
- For photography buffs, create rebuses by using words and pictures cut from old magazines.
- Print your clues on white paper in white crayons. Then arm your young detectives with washable colored markers they can use to scribble on top of each clue to make the words visible.
- Come up with a code by assigning a number (1 through 26) to each letter of the alphabet. Then use the numbers to write your clues.

Great Hiding Places
When choosing hiding places, remember that a child's eye level is relatively low, so be sure to leave your clues in places the kids are likely to spot - and reach. For young children, avoid making the clues too hard to find by leaving a corner of the paper exposed. For inspiration, here are some ideas for hiding a clue:
- Bury it in a sandbox.
- Stuff it in a mailbox (put up the flag).
- Tuck it under a welcome mat or a rock.
- Tape it under a picnic table or to a flagpole.
- Pin it to a clothesline.
- Tack it to a porch railing or a doghouse roof.
- Slip it between the pickets of a fence, sections of a lattice, or porch spindles.

Custom Hunts
For a special touch, you can adapt the treasure at the end of your hunt to your child's birthday theme - or any other party, for that matter. Consider the possibilities:
A Garden Party: Fill a wheelbarrow or a window box with mini flowerpots stuffed with packets of seeds and foil-covered chocolate flowers.
Cinderella's Ball: Pack a plastic pumpkin with costume jewelry, plastic tiaras, and make-up samples.
A Beach Party: Fill plastic sand pails with seashells, sunglasses, and bags of saltwater taffy or dried tropical fruit, such as pineapple or papaya.
Summer Fun: Stock a kiddie pool with bottles of bubble solution, Frisbees, sidewalk chalk, and tokens for ice cream.

And why wait for a birthday party? What about a family reunion,
Canada Day or Fourth of July picnic, Hallowe'en, Easter,
a boring Saturday afternoon in the middle of March!
Let your imagination lead you to the Ultimate Treasure Hunt!

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