I am having a Halloween party for my nieces and nephews who range in age from 9 to 2. I would like to have a scavenger hunt as the main activity at the party, but am having a hard time coming up with items to find. The parents will be able to help the kids with clues and items to retrieve. The venue is my rather small-ish backyard, but could be expanded to the immediate neighborhood for the scavenger hunt. Anyone have any great theme ideas or items to put on the list?
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My kids (11 & 12) LOVE this kind of thing!
When we were kids scavenger hunts included doodle bugs and worms! If you let them go to neighbors they can ask for rubber bands, paperclips, just about anything. Another idea is the type of game where you leave notes. My kids loved that. For example the first note says: go look under the rock by the crepe myrtle. When they get there they find another note: look under the middle couch cushion in the den........and so on. This way you can have two different age approprate groups going at once and an adult can be following along to be sure they don't get into trouble. The bigger kids will especially love it. At the end leave some candy or prizes.
That is a great idea, by the way. The first thing that came to my mind when I read your question was: Orange or black buttons or ribbons. It may sound corny, but if you expand it to the neighborhood and they ask some of your Pre-approved neighbors, it might be a neat thing. Hope this helps. I'm sure you will get many great ideas from other Moms.
For my oldest daughters 6th birthday we had a Scooby Doo party! We played "pin the glasses on Velma", had a Mystery Machine birthday cake, and the highlight of the party (which was held outdoors at a park) was when ALL the gifts disappeared. I left CLUES (torn wrapping paper, fake "footprints-cut from black cardboard, etc.)" around the pavillion and on other party guests that helped lead to the missing stash of presents and the guilty person. I also had my mother-in-laws boyfriend dress up as a ghost to scare them away from the presents when they got close. A few of the younger kids were surprised to see a ghost pop out but the older (5 & up) noticed his hairy legs and tennis shoes running at them immediately and knew it was all in good fun. The kids had a great time. I realize lots of kids don't watch Scooby like they did a few years ago but you take the theme idea and add in Dora/Diego, Blues Clues, etc to reflect whatever they are into. The notes are a good idea but harder for kids that don't read well yet. The clues and non-specific order of events is better for little ones, I think.
Good Luck!
