Treasure Hunt Ideas

On my boyfriend's birthday, I organised a treasure hunt with his birthday present being the treasure. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos at that time or kept the riddles I used in this so I am going to have to share these ideas by memory.

It took a lot of time to prepare this. All the clues and riddle cards had to be prepared well in advance.

Stolen House Key
On the morning of his birthday, I asked him to run out and buy some milk. While he was in the shower, I replaced the house key with the mailbox key.

When he came back from his milk run, he obviously didn't have the house key to enter. Inside the mailbox, I had placed a scroll. This scroll was tea stained and the edges burnt. This made it appear more rustic. Untying the red ribbon around the scroll, the letter introduced the game. He had to find the treasure, with the help of his sidekick, a Bunny (me). In the scroll, was a chocolate coin, which may be used to feed the bunny if he needed help (hints). Throughout the game, he may find some more coins. The letter was written in a very piratey language with the "Ahoy Matey" etc. All the clues were clearly identified with a black pawprint on a bright yellow card (like Blue's Clues).

Costumes
To add the extra surprise in this role play, I had costumes. On the doorstep, was a red scarf and an overly large pirate hat I made from cardboard and black paint. The birthday boy was going to be a Pirate! It was rather comical seeing him trying to walk through the doorways with that hat on. As his sidekick bunny, I had the bunny ears and tail.

I had two housemates at that time. I got them to participate by being a parrot and an Indian. They also had exuberant head pieces for them and makeshift costumes. They played a role in this game which I will explain a bit later.

Raise the Flag
So as my boyfriend stumbled up the stairs in his ridiculous hat, I hopped behind him following him to his first clue. As described in the letter, his first mission was to "raise the flag". He had to open the shades/curtains on the top floor of our townhouse. Our curtains are vertical shade types. I had attached a flag to the bottom of the curtains. When the curtains were opened (they go up), the flag was exposed. Likewise, the balcony was also exposed, with the next clue attached to the balcony door.

Indian Thief
My boyfriend picked up the next clue on the balcony door, which was a set of three darts with the card saying "Beware of the Indian". As soon as he read that aloud, my half naked housemate acting as the Indian stole his darts and ran off. My boyfriend had to run after him and duel him in a card game to win it back. To add humour to the situation, the Indian was acting as if he could not speak English and so, my boyfriend had to use body language to communicate with him. Once he won the darts back, he went back to the balcony for the next clue.

Darts
On the balcony, was a bright yellow balloon with the signature pawprint on it. The next clue was attached to that balloon. However, the balloon was positioned really high up on the ceiling. Hence, using the darts...POP! The clue card contains a riddle that hints him to seek the sock drawer in our bedroom.

Polly wants a cracker!
In the sock drawer, was a packet of crackers and the clue card telling him to feed the parrot. With my big looming parrot housemate, that clue was pretty obvious. Feeding her the cracker, she tells him the book and page number to find the next clue.

Missing Button
Searching my housemate's abundance of books on her bookshelf, he is awarded with the next clue. The clue card has a button sticky taped to it.

What is that sound?
He searches our wardrobes to find that matching coat with the button (Note: I used the spare button that came with this coat. I didn't want to sew back the button on the coat after this game). In the pockets of that coat, is a recorder. He plays the tape, and hears a printer sound...

Magic Eye
In the printer, is a Magic Eye picture. I made the Magic Eye using this site. I drew a picture of the TV in our living room. I made sure that he was able to see Magic Eye pictures a few nights before this day. Of course, you'll need to be casual about it and pretend that you were just browsing the web and found out about Magic Eye pictures. Then ask him if he has the "eye" for it. If not, you may want to pass this activity in your treasure hunt.

A zoomed in picture of what?
Behind the TV, laid the next clue. It was a very zoomed in picture of my tea cup set.

A toast to...
My tea cup set had four small tea cups. All filled with a mysterious clear liquid. The card tells him that he has to drink each cup until he finds his next clue. Little did he know that three of these cups were concentrated vodka, and the one containing the clue, was a minty clear liquid (a clue to the bathroom, think toothpaste). Unfortunately, my boyfriend couldn't take more than one cup (apparantly, I put too much vodka in the cups), so I had to tell him (at the cost of a chocolate coin of course) that the next clue was the bathroom.

Die Hard Water Jug Problem
Remember in one of those Die Hard movies with the evil "Simon says"? There was one part in the movie where Bruce Willis had to get the exact amount of water in the jug using two jugs of a different amount? I used that same problem here. Unfortunately, my boyfriend wasn't very bright (he blames the vodka I forced him on earlier), so I ended up telling him the exact steps to get the right amount of water. Anyway, the next clue was a bitten apple in a lunch box.

Macbook
Using the bitten apple as the clue, he went to my Macbook. When he opened it up from the sleep mode, there was a game on screen. It was a short game. When he completed it, a message shows up. That was his next clue. "Nearly there! Go to the place I hate to go by myself".

Light the way
The garage is the place I hated to go by myself. Creeps me out. However, on the door to the garage, was a clue card. "Only light in the darkness will show the way". I had carefully positioned a torchlight and a mirror, so that when the torchlight was switched on, the beam from the torchlight aimed at the mirror and the reflected light pointed at the final treasure box. You'll need to sticky tape this torch though, to prevent the Birthday Boy/Girl from picking up the torch.

Finally, the treasure!
The treasure box I made was from very large pieces of cardboard. So it was humungous, like the headpieces we all wore on that day. And inside that huge treasure chest, was his tiny birthday present, a wallet I bought him. I suggest filling this with bean bag fillings or shredded paper so he has to dig his way through the treasure box to find his treasure. I didn't have quite enough time to prepare that bit.