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I always want to come up of something different for the twins birthday that they'll remember. I mean, think about it... will they remember the 15th time they attended a birthday party at the roller skating rink? Disclosure... if you haven't seen the skating party page yet, we hosted one there as well...

This party was held just this past year (2014).

We were watching a syndicated episode of the Big Bang Theory and I got inspired. It was the episode, obviously, of Raj's treasure hunt. It aired on January 31st... the twins' birthday is mid February. Nothing like short timing (again!..) Oh yes, and with a surprise weekend trip to Disney for their 8th birthday tossed in there. Honestly, we've only been to Disney twice. I know I've mentioned Disney multiple times, but honestly only been there twice... and we went there this year partly because we anticipated moving back up north and thought it was probably the last time we would go.

I didn't get much sleep over the next few weeks.. Like the Tea Party, I had a ball planning this one. With twins, its always a big invitation list. The girls are in separate classes plus we invited their Girl Scout friends. In the end, 51 attended. Yes, 51. Luckily, Texas in February, is warm and pleasant because it was always going to be outside.

We live in a small neighborhood that is just one loop with two small cul de sacs. I asked several neighbors if they wouldn't mind us using their front walkways for the "challenges". All thankfully agreed. I knew I had 5 - 6 public areas within neighborhood as well, so I was good to go.

The girls could not help in the planning at all because if they knew any of the answers, it would not be fair. I didn't want to make it a treasure hunt that just sent them from place to place. Each stop had a challenge, anything from riddles to putting together origami to fishing... most of the kids are 8 - I knew they could handle it. For the most part, the kids all got it. They are sharper than we give them credit. I am so glad of it too.

Like the Tea, this got expensive, but we now have several props for any future parties... (insert Andy shaking his head). The girls already are talking next year and want to have one more like Amazing Race - yikes.

I spent a few days looking on the internet for some guidance and found one simple rule that kept popping up. You can have up to twice as many stops per the age of the child before they really don't want to finish the race. So, knowing this, I had up to 16 stops.

Before I knew there would be 51 kids (I knew there would be many, I estimated between 54 - 60), I decided to put kids in teams of 3. This allowed for some team building and camaraderie. Each stop had challenge to it, some challenges had a "clue" they would pick up that would be used later to solve the big challenge, each stop had "hints" as well.

As I was planning, all I could think was 51 kids going to each stop at the same time would never work. I decided to break it into 3 paths - red, blue, yellow. BTW - the colors were chosen purely because so many things I needed came in those colors. Within the paths, there would be 6 - 7 teams of 3. I bought everything to coordinate colors, from backpack bags, to little boxes, to all the paper for their clues.

I created a detailed map that was printed, laminated, and one copy given to each of the teams (fedex offices have the kinko services now). Luckily, zillow.com has a great overview that I could actually screenshot and capture. <insert map>

In each of the backpacks, I provided the kids with things that they could use for the treasure hunt but they didn't realize how they would use them. I provided them a small water bottle, a compass, a small pad of paper and pencil, and a Luna snack bar.

I'll go through the red line so you can see all the stops the kids went through, but remember the blue and yellow teams hit each of these spots too, just not the same time or the same order. I have to say that was one of the most challenging parts to all of this - making sure that no two paths were at the same location at the same time. I was in IT my former working life, so Excel spreadsheets are my friend.

We live on one of the cul de sacs. I had lined the cul de sac with the teams bags and a star with the number on it. I lined the kids up at the bottom of the cul de sac and told them to quickly pick two friends to be on their team. Once they decided, I had the newly formed teams line up in 3 lines (red, blue, yellow). They had no idea which team they would be on until I handed them a coordinating sheet of paper that told them they were Red Team 1 or Blue Team 3, etc. After I passed out the papers, I said "Ready, Set, Go" and they were to read their sheet and run to the coordinating pile of backpacks.

This was their first challenge. Like the Big Bang Theory, I had created puzzles to send them to their first stop. Some got it right away, some didn't understand the concept that the picture they put together would be their next stop. They were to use their maps to see what matched. I had identical copies on the maps as to what I hand drew on the puzzles. I made 18 of these puzzles. They took a VERY LONG time to make. You could fork out the $$ to have them made. I found blank puzzles on an educational website, Avery full sheet labels #, put them on the puzzles and cut each piece with an Xacto knife. This probably took me two days to do. It was long, but they looked fantastic.

I shopped many of the dollar stores in our area. I wasn't looking for heirloom quality items. I knew that many things would get damaged/destroyed at the party. With the volume of things I needed, I had to try and keep it as economical as possible. I also researched quite a bit online for supplies. Below will be a listing of the sites and places where I purchased items.

Avery labels used:

Each time the team came up to their next stop, I had a large plastic bucket filled with the clues.

Supplies needed:

Plastic bucket
Lawn ornament hangers

Rules:

Each team needs to follow their path (red, blue, yellow) and only take their team's clue number (1,2,3, etc) at each stop.

Red path:

1st Challenge: Puzzle leads to Fairy Garden

Fairy Garden:

Setting - One of the public areas of the neighborhood, there is a small cluster of low growing trees.
Supplies - I hung small red, blue, and yellow cellophane bags from the trees. Think goodie bag size. For this stop, I included a clue for the larger puzzle for the end of the treasure hunt as well as a clue for the next stop. Some bags were decoys with just stuffing and a "try again" sticker on the bottom. The kids had to hunt for the right color and right team number which was located at the bottom of each bag.
Hint - If they couldn't figure out the clue, this was the hint found nearby:
Supplies used from their backpack - none
Clue to Next stop - Question: What room has no windows nor doors? Answer: A Mushroom. Within eyesight of where the kids were standing, they could see a small grove of large plastic mushrooms.

Enchanted Forest:

Setting - Another public area of our neighborhood with an esplanade in the cul de sac.
Supplies - I created 12 large plastic mushrooms with supplies I found mostly at the dollar store. I bought plastic cocktail shakers for the base of the mushroom and large clear plastic bowls for the tops of the mushrooms. I found garden spikes at Home Depot and pressed them through the strainer portion of the cocktail shaker. I filled the shaker with play sand and using a hot glue gun, sealed the cocktail shaker lid to its base. I spray painted the cocktail shakers an off white color and bowls are darker tan color. Once dried, I glued them together to create the mushroom. I added Avery labels in red, blue, or yellow to them. To create the gills, I used card stock and affixed them to the cocktail shaker with paperclips and duct tape. The stock paper would have the next clue.
Clue -
Hint -
Supplies used from their backpack - Map
Clue to Next Stop - The card stock had map coordinates on it.

H. Hall

Setting - A neighbor's house
Supplies - I purchased several (24) 3D mazes, the ones that are given with gift cards and the person receiving it has to figure out how to open it before they can get the money or gift card inside. I had placed a small playing card inside with a clue to the next stop. The number on the playing card would be used later to answer the big challenge.
Clue -
Hint -
Supplies used from their backpack - None
Clue to the Next Stop - alliteration

P. Plantation

Setting - A neighbor's house
Supplies - Invisible Ink
Clue -
Hint - Another blank page (white crayon)
Supplies used from their backpack - water and pencil
Clue to the Next Stop - written on the paper

Windy Bottom

Setting - Cul de sac area where the mailboxes exist.
Supplies - I purchased several red, blue, and yellow plastic eggs. Yes, I found red ones online. I'm not sure if I'll ever use them again outside a treasure hunt party. Red doesn't really scream Easter. They were filled with some play money and a clue to the next stop. The value of the coin would be used later to answer the big challenge.
Hint - None needed, this was a straight forward hunt and find challenge.
Supplies used from their backpack - None
Clue to the Next Stop

Foggy Bottom Cove

Setting - Public area of the neighborhood adjoining the lake. For safety reasons, my husband was posted there through the party.
Supplies - Since we have a large lake near us, I knew our little "fish" would float away so I created small fishing ponds using laundry baskets I bought from the dollar store, spray insulation, and some rope to tether them to the water's edge. The fish were small tins with red, blue, or yellow fish printed on them. I bought the tins from Michaels for .80 each. I bought about 24 of them. Inside the tins were the clue to the next stop
Hint -
Supplies used from their backpack - Notepad and the map
Clue to the Next Stop

T. Tavern

Setting - Neighbor's House
Supplies - I found wordlocks online. I bought several - this got expensive, but now I have them for next time. I thought I was buying the travel version, but I bought the gym locker version instead. Unfortunately, I word I wanted to create I was not able to create on the gym locker version (in the 4 digit word I wanted to create the 4th digit did not have the letter 'N' as an option), but I was able to do something else which worked out well.
Hint -
Supplies used from their backpack - Luna bar
Clue to the Next Stop - Origami. Think of all the cootie catchers elementary kids make. Origami came quite easy to the girls, not as much for the boys, but still many did get it.

T. Tower

Setting - Neighbor's House
Supplies - Ok, I got ambitious with this one. I created a moving contraption using an old turntable and a two tier platform I fashioned from insulation foam and other various supplies from Home Depot.

Misty Circus

B. Manor

C. Chateau

Pinwheel Park

Harvey House