JacksMommy
06-05-2006, 03:20 PM
I thought I'd post what we did for anyone who's looking for ideas since a search here didn't reveal much in the way of concrete suggestions. I waded through a gazillion posts over at birthdaypartyideas.com (thanks to the ladies who recommended it) to find ideas for the treasure hunt we put on for DS's 4th birthday and wanted to share the fruits of my labor with someone!
Our eight guests (plus the birthday boy) ranged from 2 (only 1) to 5, wiht most of the eight guests being 4. Our "theme" (such as it was!) was dressing up, DS loves to do this so we encouraged all kids to come in costume. They did but it was so hot out that they all immediately changed into swimsuits and hopped into our pool (making the 6 ft round blowup pool we picked up at Target last year by far the party prop we had).
So pool-time took up the first hour, eating took up the second and the treasure hunt was the last. For the hunt, we called all the kids into the house to eat cake, sat them on the couch to take a picture and then I came out and said "Oh no! Jack's cake has been stolen! The neighborhood trolls were upset that they weren't invited to his party so they took the cake and left this basket." The first clue said that the kids would have to help get Jack's cake back. Each child then was given a xeroxed map of our backyard. Each map had an X which marked the location of a puzzle piece (fortuitously we had nine guests and a nine-piece puzzle). Each child went to find their puzzle piece (they were not too hidden since the mape was the main challenge for them) and then brought them back inside to put the puzzle together. We lost a few kids (including DS) at this point and had to call them back in, but from this point on they were riveteted. When the puzzle was put together, the next clue directed them to a basket of those plastic Easter eggs hidden in Jack's laundry basket. Each child got an egg with a paper in it but only one had the clue. That clue directed them to a bottle floating in the pool (they had to figure out how to get it out, with the butterfly net) which had the next clue in it. That clue directed them to oven to find the Troll's Favorite Birthday recipe. In the oven were buckets for each child along with a big bowl, spoon and the recipe. The recipe called for 15 snakes, 5 cockroaches, 4 lizards, 1 centipede and 1 batman, along with two cups of sand, 1 cup of water and 1 cup of woodchips. We had those little plastic insects/frogs/snakes hidden around the yard and in the sandbox. This was a HUGE hit and we eventually had to intervene and sto them from bringing yet more sand, water and woodchips to the bowl (I didn't have the heart to limit it to the amounts called for). Then each child got a chance to stir it. We left the "troll treat" outside on the front porch and then had the kids wait for "five minutes" while piling into Jack's tent to see how many could fit, while the "trolls" got their treat and exchanged it for the last clue, which led to the cake in the bathtub.
Every single child participated in this, although one girl was frightened (her mom also said she hadn't had her usual nap). We also had several requests to do it again. I hadn't been sure whether the trolls bit was necessary but loved the recipe idea and that seemed like a good way to incorporate it. Turns out several of the kids had told their parents how much they liked it, and my son's only "bad part of the day" was that "I didn't get to see the trolls."
Our "goodbye gifts" were hats and ears that I bought from Oriental Trading Company (they have a set of 7 "career hats" for $20 and a set of 12 "puppy" ears - although some are clearly cat ears and some look kind of pig-like to me, but this just increased the fun) for $10. These were a big hit also and I think will actually get used. One child asked to keep his pail (I kept the rest for future uses) and several kids wanted to keep their maps, which I hadn't expected since they weren't all that cute, but OK!
Hardly any of this is original to me, but it took me a while to find it and we were thrilled with how it worked out, so I figured someone else might benefit. This was a great way to have a fun activity while on a budget!
I looked everywhere for sample clues and couldn't really find any so I made up some really terrible rhymes. Another idea for this age group would be to use pictures. In this case it didn't really matter since I had to repeat the instructions several times anyway.
HTH someone!
Laurel
WOHM to Jack, 6/4/02
Baby Madeline 12/14/04
Our eight guests (plus the birthday boy) ranged from 2 (only 1) to 5, wiht most of the eight guests being 4. Our "theme" (such as it was!) was dressing up, DS loves to do this so we encouraged all kids to come in costume. They did but it was so hot out that they all immediately changed into swimsuits and hopped into our pool (making the 6 ft round blowup pool we picked up at Target last year by far the party prop we had).
So pool-time took up the first hour, eating took up the second and the treasure hunt was the last. For the hunt, we called all the kids into the house to eat cake, sat them on the couch to take a picture and then I came out and said "Oh no! Jack's cake has been stolen! The neighborhood trolls were upset that they weren't invited to his party so they took the cake and left this basket." The first clue said that the kids would have to help get Jack's cake back. Each child then was given a xeroxed map of our backyard. Each map had an X which marked the location of a puzzle piece (fortuitously we had nine guests and a nine-piece puzzle). Each child went to find their puzzle piece (they were not too hidden since the mape was the main challenge for them) and then brought them back inside to put the puzzle together. We lost a few kids (including DS) at this point and had to call them back in, but from this point on they were riveteted. When the puzzle was put together, the next clue directed them to a basket of those plastic Easter eggs hidden in Jack's laundry basket. Each child got an egg with a paper in it but only one had the clue. That clue directed them to a bottle floating in the pool (they had to figure out how to get it out, with the butterfly net) which had the next clue in it. That clue directed them to oven to find the Troll's Favorite Birthday recipe. In the oven were buckets for each child along with a big bowl, spoon and the recipe. The recipe called for 15 snakes, 5 cockroaches, 4 lizards, 1 centipede and 1 batman, along with two cups of sand, 1 cup of water and 1 cup of woodchips. We had those little plastic insects/frogs/snakes hidden around the yard and in the sandbox. This was a HUGE hit and we eventually had to intervene and sto them from bringing yet more sand, water and woodchips to the bowl (I didn't have the heart to limit it to the amounts called for). Then each child got a chance to stir it. We left the "troll treat" outside on the front porch and then had the kids wait for "five minutes" while piling into Jack's tent to see how many could fit, while the "trolls" got their treat and exchanged it for the last clue, which led to the cake in the bathtub.
Every single child participated in this, although one girl was frightened (her mom also said she hadn't had her usual nap). We also had several requests to do it again. I hadn't been sure whether the trolls bit was necessary but loved the recipe idea and that seemed like a good way to incorporate it. Turns out several of the kids had told their parents how much they liked it, and my son's only "bad part of the day" was that "I didn't get to see the trolls."
Our "goodbye gifts" were hats and ears that I bought from Oriental Trading Company (they have a set of 7 "career hats" for $20 and a set of 12 "puppy" ears - although some are clearly cat ears and some look kind of pig-like to me, but this just increased the fun) for $10. These were a big hit also and I think will actually get used. One child asked to keep his pail (I kept the rest for future uses) and several kids wanted to keep their maps, which I hadn't expected since they weren't all that cute, but OK!
Hardly any of this is original to me, but it took me a while to find it and we were thrilled with how it worked out, so I figured someone else might benefit. This was a great way to have a fun activity while on a budget!
I looked everywhere for sample clues and couldn't really find any so I made up some really terrible rhymes. Another idea for this age group would be to use pictures. In this case it didn't really matter since I had to repeat the instructions several times anyway.
HTH someone!
Laurel
WOHM to Jack, 6/4/02
Baby Madeline 12/14/04