Scavenger Hunt Party Ideas!

Hosting a Scavenger Hunt is a lot of fun, but also a lot of work! Careful preparation, however, will ensure a successful event. The following tips should help with your Scavenger Hunt planning. You can modify the items your guests are hunting for to fit your theme.

The first thing you will want to do is let your guests know in advance of the party that they will be involved in a Scavenger Hunt. They will probably want to dress in comfortable clothes.

Next, assign teams. You will probably want to have about three to four people per team. Gather supplies and a list of rules for each team member. The supplies you will want to include are a disposable camera, a map, a local phone book and a list of the items they are to find.

When your guests arrive, let them know what teams they are on and give them a while to get to know each other. You could serve appetizers and drinks during this time. Let players know that you will take points off if they return late, and that they will be disqualified if they attempt to prevent other teams from completing the event.

You will need to set up three different categories for the Scavenger Hunt.

PHOTOS

The first is photos. Compile a list of photos that each team must take. Make sure that there is at least one team member in each photo, and require that each team member be photographed at least once. Assign points from one to five for each photo (obviously you will give more points to the more difficult photos). Choose items in your community as well as generic items for your guests to take photos of.

Here are some suggestions:

Police officer
Local monument
Person walking a dog
Volkswagen New Beetle
Fire truck
Phone booth
Teddy bear

The list of photos should be about 20-22 items. Make sure the disposable cameras you give each group has at least 24 exposures!

THINGS TO COLLECT

The next category is things the teams have to collect. This list can be about 20 items. Again, assign points from one to five depending on the difficulty of the item. Include things that are both easy and difficult to find. Some ideas might be:

French fries container
Xerox of a hand
Chinese restaurant menu
Pine cone

Bank deposit envelope
Movie ticket stub

Be sure to give each team a bag to collect all of their items in!

QUESTIONS

The final category is a list of questions that the team members have to answer. Again, assign points from one to five, based on difficulty. These can be about eight questions long.

Some examples might be:
What movie is playing at XYZ movie theatre?
What are the current ice cream flavors at XYZ ice cream shop?
What is the current exhibit at XYZ museum?

Obviously, you will have to verify all of these answers before you send the teams out. Be sure to be as specific in this category as you can.

Set a time-limit of about two and a half hours. Tell teams that they must drop off their disposable cameras at a One-Hour photo shop before they return. (Give them directions to the one closest to you for ease.) When the teams arrive back, start reviewing the items they have collected and the questions they have answered. In the mean time, send one team member from each group to collect the photos. Once they return, complete the tally of points to determine your winner.

Have prizes on hand like gift certificates to local restaurants, and other fun items. To make the hunt more competitive, you could ask each team member to put a small amount of money towards the prize at the beginning of the game. The winner will receive the largest portion of this, and the second place team could receive a smaller amount.

Other options for Scavenger Hunts:

Video Scavenger Hunt

Give each team a camcorder and have a list of things to do at various locations. Be sure to put the list of each group in a different order so the groups don't all go to the same place at once. Take videos for proof that the task was done.

Examples could be - go to a certain gas station and help someone wash his or her windows,  Go to another business and sing a song, etc. Then have the groups bring their videos back to a central location and watch each other's films for fun while having refreshments!

For teenagers, you may want to setup a Mall Scavenger Hunt! 

Make sure the parents give permission for their daughters to go with an unsupervised team throughout the mall. You will be at the mall in a designated place for the girls if they have questions or get separated from their group during the hunt.

This hunt works well if you preplan with the "cool" stores in the mall as well as get the girls to go into stores they are less familiar with.  They can hunt for specific information (what is playing at the cinemas on screen #1, what is the soup of the day at the sit down restaurant, etc), or for particular items (red hair clips, purple toe ring, etc).

Be sure to give the girls the information and money up front as well as make sure they know the guidelines and rules ahead of time. A cell phone for each group would be helpful too!