I had the terrific idea of doing a scavenger hunt all over town for my daughter who will be 17 and all her friends. I had everything planned when my adult supports bailed out. So here I am with just over a week for plan B. I had thought that we could narrow the playing field down to just the park, but again if I have to do everything by myself, I don't know that I can get it all done.
Does anyone have any ideas that I can use that won't cost too much and can be planned quickly? I'd appreciate any and all suggestions.
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone who responded.
We just got back from my daughter's party and it was great! Here's what we did:
We went to the local nature center and with permission we had a scavenger hunt. We hid a few things ourselves, but mostly had them find things that were already there. We tied in my daughter's passion for breast health and cancer awareness as her theme. We ended up with just a small group of teenagers (which actually I think made it better!). We had pink and white M & M's, pink bubble gum, pink Whoppers, pizza and a cake. As thank you gifts we tied pink balloons to bottles of water, added two different pink bracelets, and a key chain with a pink breast cancer awareness ribbon.
Again, I cannot say thank you enough for all the responses, but know that I appreciated every single one of them!
What about a spa/sleepover party? Make it a girls night with movies, chocolate, and a little pampering! You could do foot spas and they could paint each others toes!
How about a barbecue in the park with games such as badmitton, volleyball, touch football, horseshoes or washers? If you have access to the necessary equipment (tractor, wagon, hay, etc.) you could host a hayride with a bonfire, hot dogs, s'mores, etc. Good luck!
Just have all their friends over to your house. That was always my kids favorite parties. Both my son and daughter's friends just like having the opportunity to hang out. By 17 it is starting to set in that in a year they will start saying their goodbyes and go off to college.
I've made this suggestion many times but don't know if anyone has tried it. If your daughter has an interest, maybe you could do a "charity" party. All the kids really want to do is to hang out and eat. Have them make fleece blankets for a shelter, nursing home or hospital. Have them make Christmas card for vets, making goody bags for animal shelter.
If your daughter is very charity oriented, she may ask that the guest bring materials for the project instead of a gift.
How about a "spa" party. The girls could do pedicures, manicures, facials and hair. You could have finger food snacks while they are pampering and end with cake and ice cream. You could even research how to make everything or most everything you need right there at home from things you have on hand and the girls could make it then use it.
I would do a Pizza Party at home have some girls over guys too if allowed and eat pizza cake and ice cream rent movies and buy some girl items to do facials and manicures with some polish to go with.I'm sure they'll have fun.Good Luck
Maybe you could have your hunt at the mall. You could give them a list of stuff to find or do and then let them go. You could use digital cameras to do it. They could have to take pics of funn stuff you come up with or bring back little items. I just had scavenger hunt with my cousin who turned 13 and we did things like (we gave each team $10 /3-4 people/) drink a six pack of pop in 5 min. get on video...get a pic of a mullet...all sorts of fun stuff. they also each had to make a banner for the birthday girl and got points for how many random signatures they could get on it. It was so much fun. I still have my list and will give it to you to see everything possible to do. you could make it your own and suit the mall. have fun.
I would "second" the idea of a "spa" party at home, if it's going to be just girls. (If boys too...that might not be too popular! LOL) How many kids are we talking here? 5 or 20?
If it's not too many girls, I would do the pedicures/manicures, facials, "hair treatments" (There are a lot you can make at home) have everyone bring their robe and slippers. They get the chance to talk (and talk and talk and talk). Snack on chocolate covered strawberries, sip sparkling apple cider from champagne flutes, listening to favorite music. Maybe even steam up the bathroom with the shower as a "sauna" and use some scented bath crystals for "aeromatherapy"! Geez...sounds like fun for this 30-something too!
gather her friends & then "kidnap" your daughter...blindfold her & let her guess where you're taking her. My family likes to do this, & the kids/adults have a BLAST!! We kidnapped my husband & took him (around & around) until we hit his fav restaurant. He had a blast guessing where we were.
My niece was kidnapped by her friends....& they were not as nice! They ended up at Lowes....& when Jess removed her blindfold...she was sitting on a toilet display! We have photos to prove it, & she's a jr in college & still loves to tell this story.
How about just a nice dinner with all her girlfriends??
My son's friends were using their new camera phones to take pics send them to each other, then they had to find the object. You could do this by taking pics before the party of things in a certain area (be sure some are hard to make out because they are close up or don't include the entire object) You can do this in a park or neighborhood whatever, each team can get the same pics maybe in a different order, then the last pic brings them to the same place where the party takes place.
Another example of a fun game is to have a list of things or questions and they have to go to others at the party to find someone who knows the answer or the question pertains to. You could call the kids parents to find out something about each child that the others in the party don't know (nothing big maybe they visited a certain place or knocked a tooth out or know how to do something unusual) then they have fun finding out who each thing pertains to. We did this as a getting to know you thing at college when I started too many years ago, the two questions I remember are:
Find someone wearing boots.
Find someone who knows what 10-4 means (OK that's really telling my age since it's a reference to a CB radio)
I hope this helps, and I hope they have fun!
How about doing a scavenger hunt at the park? But maybe you could do it like a sort of easter egg hunt, have them look for fun girly things that you have hidden around, not sure that was just something I thought. And don't forget, Little Caesars has $5 pizzas.
I took my daughter (at about the same age) and her friends in a limo to a Japanese steakhouse where they all sat around the grill. It was a fun time that they all enjoyed, and many had never been in a limo before. Of course it limited the number of girls she could invite; I think the max at the table was about 10, but that also kept the cost under control. Just an idea. K
Since it seems all teens have a cell phone with camera, you could just make them take a picture of stuff around town and bring that back to you to check. Things like the city limit/population sign, the hight of a bridge, if you have a historic marker. That should eliminate the need for a lot of help.
Good Morning C., My Sister in law is planning a scavenger hunt for her monthly family activity. We were at the Sedgwick Co. Zoo last weekend for Alzheimer's Memory walk and she was snapping pictures of different signs and animals around the Zoo.
She said the pictures printed out really good and they would have to write down where that sign was or where the animals were found.
Also I have heard there is a jewelry shop that you can go into and make your own pin's necklaces bracelets. I am not sure where that would be in MO.
If you have a Mall close by you could use different shops and ask them if they would help with like a Great Race thing.
Each team or person gets the same starting clue and go from there.
I wish I could help more but that is what came to mind.
Good Luck and God Bless you and your Daughters daily
K. Nana of 5
Honestly, I think the scavenger hunt party is just too good to pass up. What if your daughters helped you instead? I don't know how old the other one is, but if one is turning 17, she can help you a ton.
The benefits are
1)she still gets an awesome party
2)you get the help u need
3)she finds out how hard it is to put together parties and as a result of that
4)gains self-esteem, respect and responsibility and
5)becomes that much closer to an adult. Oh! and not to mention 6)a chance for you all to work on something together that will rock!!!
good luck no matter what.
Kids in our church group love to do scavenger hunts. We usually just take them to the mall so there is lots of room for them walk around. As someone else suggested, you could have them take pictures of the items that they are supposed to find and then you can all look at the pictures together at home afterward when you do the cake thing.
Hi C.,
Looks like you've gotten alot of fantastic ideas, just thought I'd throw one more into the mix. When my daughter was 17 we had a scavenger hunt as well. At that age all her friends had cars and were able to drive so we had them divided into teams of four and they picked a driver. I had rounded up enough video cameras (from the other mothers of the invited guests) and each team had a camera, and they took off in the designated driver's car and found the items listed on their lists. When they were finished they gathered back at our home for pizza, ice cream and cake and we watched the videos together. It's quite amazing what 17 year olds can do with a video camera! The videos were hilarious and quite creative! Whatever you decide I hope it's an amazing bday for your daughter! Good Luck!
