A Gift She Won’t Forget – Mother’s Day Scavenger Hunt

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This Mother’s Day give you Mom a gift that will keep her smiling, take her on a walk down memory lane and turn into a memory she’ll never forget. We want to show you how, with a little bit of work, you can make your Mom feel like a million bucks!

Memories
Remember what a great Mom she’s been!

Buying a bouquet of flowers and treating your Mom to a fancy dinner is a popular way of celebrating Mother’s Day. We’re going to show you how you can design a scavenger hunt that will change an ordinary Mother’s Day into an extraordinary one. Taking the time to create even a simple scavenger hunt will show your mom how much you care and is sure to mean the world to her. Most mothers care less about material things than feeling the care and love of her children

It’s not too difficult to create a hunt that will have your Mom walking down memory lane and reminiscing on all the happy times she has had as you’ve grown up. Now is the perfect time to remind her how great of a Mother she has been all these years. You’ll want to think back to milestones in your life that you can use to create clues. We recommend finding old photo albums and any type of baby book your mom kept because it’s a perfect spot to find clues.

Look through the books and find questions you can ask like: How old were you when you learned to walk? What time were you born? When did you get your first haircut? How much did you weigh when you were born? Where was the family on page ten of the photo album?

Some of the questions your mom may be able to answer without looking at the books but add some hard ones so she will have to look them up. Then she can enjoy looking through the old books and photoalbums and look back on some fond memories. She’s sure to enjoy flipping through the pages of the books she worked hard to create.

A great idea is starting the hunt by handing her a vase. As she gets each clue right she will be led to a spot where you’ve hidden some flowers to start making her bouquet. That way as the hunt progresses she is able to add flowers to the vase and build up the beautiful bouquet of flowers you bought her. At the end of the hunt she can then be surprised by an invitation to a planned dinner with the whole family.

This inexpensive hunt will only require a few hours of your time and will really be something special for your mother. After everything your Mother has done for you it’s the least you can do!

You should consider using the textclues service which will help you create a really unique hunt and will save you time. A few of the benefits include:

  • Planning the hunt out in advance and starting the hunt whenever you would like
  • All the clues will be sent via text to your moms phone so there is no need to lay clues around the house (less setup and cleanup time)
  • You can ask multiple questions about one album or book which will be hard with physical clues
  • You’re mom will be shocked that she can text in answers over her phone and get the next clue
  • You’ll be able to use the service to make other scavenger hunts after Mother’s Day!

See how it works by trying out the Demo.

Why use Text Clues for your upcoming Easter Scavenger Hunt

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You’ve only got a few days away until Easter and you want to plan a really cool scavenger hunt for your kids, family, neighbours, friends, or anyone really!!! :) What do you do???

1) Don’t panic!!!

2) Use the quick and easy to use tool called Text Clues to make your next scavenger hunt!  Text Clues lets you create personalised mobile text message scavenger hunts for all occasions, and with Easter around the corner, what better time to starting using the tool?!

Why?

– It adds a little twist to the regular scavenger hunt (more fun and interactive – not looking aimlessly for prizes)

– Unlike a regular scavenger hunt, you don’t have to leave multiple paper clues throughout the hunt (i.e.: less set up time for you!)

– You can set up a hunt in minutes, and send it out to multiple numbers, thus again saving you time!!

– It works on any mobile phone :)

– It only costs $15 for 100 clues so you can create many many scavenger hunts for all occasions (and not just for Easter!)

– Great support to help you throughout your scavenger hunt needs and to ensure your scavenger hunt runs smoothly

Begin using Text Clues today and you and the huntee won’t be disappointed ;)

Ideas for a kid’s birthday party

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It is your turn to host an event for kids (e.g.: your child’s birthday party, a neighbourhood get together, or a fun fair, just to name a few events) and you don’t know what to do… Well, what do kids like the most? Games and winning prizes, of course! :) With a site like textclues.com, it enables you to cater both to the little and big kids by making a scavenger hunt adventure.  Scavenger hunts can be fun for all age-ranges, but using textclues.com, little kids will feel more important and like a “big kid” by using their parents devices (i.e.: their cell phone) to play a game. And, older kids will feel important to be able to use their cool gadgets to participate in some games.  So, how would this all work? A few things you need to think about:

Do you want one large prize at the end, or a few small prizes in between the hunt?

This fact will more just help you with deciding the type of clues you may want to create in between the scavenger hunt.  If it is a big prize for the winner at the end, the clues can be a build up to the winning prize.  If it is a few prizes in between, you’ll have to think of clever spots to hide these prizes, while incorporating them into the clues!
Example: “You’re getting close to winning the secret treasure! Your pot of gold awaits you where you can find three posts together within an “M”.

Do kids work in teams or individually?
Depending on the number of kids participating, this may be the determining factor.  However, even with 4 or more kids, groups can work in your favour as it allows kids to also work together as a team and co-operate with one another to help get through the hunt.

Do you want the hunt to run like a competition where there is only one (team of) winner(s) or everyone running in the hunt will win a prize?
Personally, because all kids love prizes, I think each kid should win *something*, even if it is a smaller prize than the grand prize winner.

Should kids all be running the hunt at the same time or should one child or team run at a time?
If all kids are running the hunt at the same time, it would be pretty straight forward because the person that reaches the last clue first will be the winner.  If you decide to have the kids run through the scavenger hunt individually, you can easily time each team or child to see who has the fastest time to finish the race.

Another idea that can add a little twist to your scavenger hunt can be as follows: Before beginning the hunt, tell each individual or team that at each clue station, they must pick up an object from the location. This means that you will need to ensure that there are an equal amount of objects at each clue location as the number of people/teams running in the race.  At the end of the race, you can do something silly like “The last requirement before potentially winning the prize is each team or individual must dress up one person as best as possible with all of the items picked up along the race”

Or, even other obstacles and games can be incorporated into the scavenger hunt.  For example, at the end of the race, there can be a puzzle that the kids must put together prior to winning; or, perhaps the first team that can throw 5 bean bags into a basket from a certain area on the field will be the winners! This will allow the teams/individuals that perhaps were running a bit slower in the race to catch up with the rest of the teams, making the possibility of winning for anyone! :)

As you can see, there are so many different ways to spice up a scavenger hunt for kids and make it just that much more exciting.  Go ahead, and try one out today with textclues.com.  Your kids wont be disappointed, and they will be asking you for more in no time ;)

Scavenger Hunt for Kids

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Ready to Go!

The textclues service is perfect for creating a scavenger hunt for kids. You can input all your clues online ahead of time and start the hunt whenever the kids are getting restless and bored. You can use it as quality time with the young ones. Since all the clues and answers are taken care of automatically on the phone you can also use it to free up some alone time for yourself.

If they don’t have mobile phones of their own yet you can let them use yours for the hunt. Kids really find it exciting when they are receiving a hunt directly tailored towards them through a phone. If you haven’t had a chance to check out our textclues product take a look at the demo!

Be warned, once you send them on one hunt they’ll be asking for more!

 

 

Setting up the Scavenger Hunt

Setting up a simple scavenger hunt for your kids is easy with textclues. The first step is coming up with the clues and answers for the hunt.

For this step grab a peice of paper and go through each room in your house one by one. In each room come up with as many clues as you can. Keep them relatively simple to make sure the kids will be able to figure it out. Clues like “how many wheels are on the desk chair” and “how many drawers are on the cupboard” seem simple but make great clues. Especially on the first few hunts you want to keep the clues easy. You should be able to come up with 10 – 20 clues for each room in no time.

Where to Next!

Next head to your computer and open up textclues. You’re going to want to make at least two scavenger hunts because your kids will be asking for more! Simply write down a clue and answer for one room then pick a clue from a room across the house next. Picking rooms far from each other will help the hunt last a little longer. You’ll have a few hunts set up before you know it.

Now when your kids are getting restless and bored you’ll be ready with a ready made scavenger hunt. Simply type in your child’s mobile phone number or your own and start the hunt. You should explain the concept to the children the first time they’re doing the hunt. It really couldn’t be easier! I always like to end the scavenger hunt by giving them a prize.

If you have any questions for us or any experiences you would like to share do so below!

Easter Scavenger Hunt

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Alright, so we have about a month away until Easter is here…  Why not make your Easter egg hunt just a little bit more fun and interactive for the huntee (and perhaps make them work a little to get the well deserved Easter treats)? ;) Use a text message scavenger hunt to hide your Easter treats. The huntee will have more fun going on the hunt so they aren’t just searching blindly AND because you will know exactly where all of the treats are hidden around the house/location, there won’t be any chocolate that is sitting unfound for many years to come :P

SO, how should an Easter hunt work? Really, it should work just like any other scavenger hunt, only you would more likely have various treats along the way of the hunt or you can just have one nice big prize at the very end of the hunt (your choice!) The good thing with textclues.com is that we provide you the means of providing all the clues and answers quite easily for the participant, without you needing to be there necessarily to supervise to see what is going on with the hunt :) All you need to do is find where you want to hide the treats, make up clues to get to these locations and you are done!

So, just to re-cap some components of this hunt:
– Determine if you want to hide treats/prizes throughout the hunt, or just one larger item for the very end of the hunt
– Think of clues to lead to the specific locations to arrive at the treats

With textclues.com, one even better feature is that you can setup the same (or different) scavenger hunt for different people and schedule the hunt to occur at a certain time. E.g.: If you have two kids, and are setting up this hunt for your kids, you can set up one scavenger hunt for each of your kids using the tool :)

Let’s end this blog post off with an example hunt:

Clue: Ready to have some fun on the hunt for some Easter treats? Reply with answer: “Yes” or “No”
Answer: Yes

Clue: Great! Start by going to the fridge. What has mom left in the fridge for dinner tonight?
Answer: Chicken

Clue: Yes! Now, what do chickens lay?
Answer: Eggs, Egg

Clue: Yes, they do. Go to where you can find the eggs in the house for your next clue.

(clue hidden in egg carton: No chocolate eggs here! But what is hidden under the kitchen sink?)
Answer: Cadbury egg, egg, chocolate egg

Clue: Woohoo! You got your first egg on the hunt :) Where is dad’s favorite room in the house?

Answer: Family room

Clue: That’s right.  Go there and look under dad’s favorite seat for the next clue.
(clue hidden under seat, along with treat: Yes, more treats :) Just to add an educational twist: What is 9 X 9?)
Answer: 81

Clue: Good job. You are learning well :) Go to where you do your homework for your next clue.

(clue: Thought you were off the hook after the first math question? Here’s another: 10 / 2 = ?)

Answer: 5

Clue: Excellent. Now, go to page 5 of your homework for the next clue.
(clue: We went on vacation last year to California. What is the capital of this city?)
Answer: Sacremento

Clue: Perfect.  Now, go to where we have our family photo from this trip and respond with the answer located at this spot.
(chocolate hidden by picture frame, with a note saying: “More Chocolate”)
Answer: More chocolate

Clue: You want more chocolate? That’s not enough for you? :) Alright, maybe a couple more… Go to your bedroom. What is hidden behind your favorite stuffed animal?
Answer: Toothbrush

Clue: Did we put that there? Oops. Must have put it in the wrong spot. Go to where you would place your toothbrush and text back to me what is hidden there.
Answer: Marshmallow bunny

Clue: We didn’t forget those were your favorite ;) Finally, what does the paper under the bathroom sink say?

(clue: Go to the family room)
Answer: Go to the family room

Winning message: Yes, go to the family room!! You’ll need that new toothbrush for a reason :) Happy Easter! (chocolate basket or bunny found in the family room)

Have some fun with your hunt. You can make it as easy or intricate as you would like the challenge to be for the huntee. If you want to add some educational touches to it for kids, go for it to make them earn the chocolate even more :P Or, if you have more space to work with for your hunt, or are working with an older crowd, make the clues a bit more complex and a challenge to find. You as the scavenger hunt maker should also have some fun making the hunt for others. Happy Easter everyone!

Try our text message scavenger hunt demo.

Scavenger Hunt Ideas Part Two

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As promised, I’m continuing my discussion on some brief ideas for making use of a scavenger hunt :)

On-Campus Hunts:
Text message scavenger hunts can be used in so many different ways on-campus (or really, at any university, college, school or general club/organisation :)
Student councils are always trying to think of fun and different ways of engaging students in activities.  Why not use a scavenger hunt to:
– Put together a pub crawl: use the hunt to lead students from one pub to the next, using different clues to help point students in the right direction
– Campus tour: Why not make a campus tour a bit more exciting? They don’t always have to be long and boring ;) Have the students follow along the hunt – this way, they will learn more about the campus and remember their surroundings better for the future

Teenage or Adult Parties:
I went to a birthday party once where it was setup like a city race.  We had to log all of our answers into a website (that was built specifically for this hunt) and the next clue would then show up once the correct answer was inputted.  Clues were setup to bring the teams to different locations across the city using public transportation.  Why not just use an easy-to-use and already-made tool like textclues.com to bring your party to life?

Educational purposes:
Do you want to try to make learning fun for your kids? Try making some practice homework assignments, such as the multiplication table, a bit more fun (and surprising) for your kids!  Make it into a game by creating a text scavenger hunt that can occur at any time of day.  This way – the kids will have fun at the same time as doing something educational.

I know, this was all somewhat brief however the next few posts will provide specific examples on how to make use of a scavenger hunt for any of these ideas.  We’ll start off with kid’s birthday parties and how you can make it fun and enjoyable for all participating kids.  Stay tuned ;)

Scavenger Hunt Ideas

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I am going to take the opportunity in this post to describe the various ways that scavenger hunts can be used to make an event more fun and enjoyable for everyone.  Subsequent posts will dive further into each of the scavenger hunt opportunities and provide you with specific examples on how they would be run :) For now, we’ll just skim the surface of each one…

 

Kid’s Birthday Party Ideas:
kid's scavenger huntIt’s your turn to host a kid’s birthday party.  The difficulty in this is normally:
a) keeping all of the kids entertained and
b) keeping all of the kids entertained :)
What do kids love? Prizes and winning things! By hosting a scavenger hunt for kids in either your basement, family home, or wherever the birthday party is taking place, you can ensure that the kids are entertained for the duration of the hunt, and be happy in the end by receiving a prize for themselves.  The best way to make this work, if there is a large group of kids, is to divide the kids in groups of 2 – 3.  Each group would be running the same type of scavenger hunt, with the same types of clues as the other groups, however in a different order.  This way – you won’t have kids running into one another while the hunt is in play and also, this minimises the number of hunts you would need to put together yourself. And of course, the end of the hunt will lead each kid to a prize they will enjoy winning.

 

Team Building Exercise:
Ahh… now team building exercises for the workplace don’t always have to be the same type of activities that you don’t enjoy participating in.  By creating a scavenger hunt for your company’s department group, this will allow individuals to:team building scavenger hunt
a) Put on their thinking caps to determine where to go for the next clues
b) Enjoy and have fun out of a workplace event
c) And most importantly… work amongst a team in a collaborative way and get to know some individuals within the company that much better! :)
The scavenger hunt can take place within the company compounds, within walking distance of the company, or a combination of both.  Depending on the size of the group, groups of 3 or 4 are most ideal.  At the end, the winning team to arrive at the last clue first can be eligible to win a small gift card like a $5 or $10 gift card.

 

Birthday or Anniversary gifts:
romantic scavenger huntI know we already discussed a valentine’s day hunt in our previous post, but the same concept can be done for other special occasions for your significant other (or even for your friend’s!!) for birthdays or anniversaries.  Having the clues relate specifically to the person will make the hunt all the more sweeter for them and for the hunt to lead to a gift will make this day all the more special for them and a day for them to always remember…  Check out the Valentine’s Day Scavenger Hunt Ideas post for more information and an example hunt of how you can set one of these up for that special someone :)

 

Easter Hunt:
With Easter approaching, the hunt for those chocolate eggs and bunnies doesn’t heaster scavenger huntave to be completely a blind hunt!  By using a scavenger hunt tool like www.textclues.com, the hidden goods can be systematically placed in specific areas of where the hunt is taking place.  Once the correct answer to a clue has been found/answered, it can lead the hunter to some of the delicious goods… or you can make them antsy by making the goods only appear after certain clues so they will never know when to expect a prize! ;)  By doing it this way, also, you won’t end up finding chocolate from last year hidden away under your furniture again…

 

We’re going to stop here for now but next post we’ll talk about a few more scavenger hunt ideas (On-Campus hunts for pub crawls or school tours, teenage or adult parties, retreats/church youth group activities, and even for educational purposes!) before getting into more detail about them all. Stay tuned! :)

Valentine’s Day Scavenger Hunt Ideas

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There are so many different ways these days you can make use of a scavenger hunt, but with less than a week away until Valentine’s Day, let’s focus on how to make an awesome vday gift for your loved one.

So Valentine’s Day is approaching, and you don’t know what to do to make the day just a bit more special for that special someone. Have no fear though, we are here to help that day become a breeze for you and to put a smile on someone’s face :)

My strategy to begin a scavenger hunt is to think of how you want the hunt to end. Are you planning on having the hunt lead to a certain gift/object, or should it be a certain destination? Once you know where it will end, it will help give you an idea on where the previous clues should lead.

Keeping on the Valentine’s day theme, some suggestions on “end goals” of the hunt could include:

  • Flowers (outside the front door)
  • Chocolates (in a drawer)
  • Jewelry (underneath his/her pillow)
  • A letter written by you (in a pocket of clothing)
  • A restaurant (walk able distance from the starting point)
  • You! Standing somewhere holding a single flower; or they may just be happy to find you at the end of the hunt ;)

You need to add some personal touches into the scavenger hunt so that they will appreciate the time you spent on putting together this gift for them. If the individual can relate to the clues or think back on why some of the clues might be significant to the both of you, they will be that more appreciative of this hunt.

Think about:

  • Where you first met
  • What your first date was
  • What their favorite treats are
  • What is their favorite restaurant
  • What is their favorite movie

Once you have some of these things figured out, and you know that the hunter will know the answers to as well, you’ll be putting together a sweet scavenger hunt in no time.

To end things off, here is a sample of a scavenger hunt that can help you on your way to making one special person very happy on this day:

Clue: Hey baby, you are in for a surprise. Start by dialing my number (123-456-7890) and text back what I say to you to this message.

Answer: I love you

Clue: I love you too :) Now, go to your room. What is sitting on your night table?

Answer: Aero chocolate

Clue: Mmm.. delicious. Go ahead and eat it; I know how much you love it ;) Once you’re done your treat, can you remind me what your favorite snack is?

Answer: Chips

Clue: I’m kidding! How could I forget that? Go to the kitchen. What is in the snack cupboard?

Answer: Chips

Clue: See! Of course I didn’t forget! ;) We’ll save those for later tonight. Now go to the family room. What is in the DVD player?

Answer: Lord of the Rings

Clue: Sweet movie eh? Now, are you hungry? What’s your favorite restaurant?

Answer: Milestone’s

Clue: It is tasty. Making me hungry. Do you mind grabbing and putting on your jacket? What does the note say inside your right pocket?

Answer: Open the front door

Clue: Ok, go and do it now!!

That’s the end of the scavenger hunt, however at this point in time, you would be standing outside the front door either holding a single flower or some other treat, leading your significant other out to eat at their favorite restaurant, followed by a night in with a movie and some chips ;)

Now, that wasn’t too hard was it? Go and try out a scavenger hunt for vday, and come back to us and let us know how they enjoyed it. You won’t be disappointed! Happy Valentine’s Day!

Create a Scavenger Hunt Now!

Scavenger Hunt Tip: Three Keys to Good Clues

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When creating clues for a scavenger hunt there are three questions you should ask yourself. Is the Clue Personalized for the hunter? Will the clue be fun for the hunter? Is the Clue entertaining? You don’t need and answer yes to all three questions for a clue to be great. However, if the answer is no for all three you might want to rethink your clue.

Is the Clue Personalized for the Hunter?

It’s great to add some clues to your hunt that are personalized to the hunter. It might involve an inside joke you both share, a memory you have together or trivia that they would find interesting. You might ask about the place where you first met or what animal you saw when camping together. Personalized trivia is another great clue to add to any hunt. If they are into art you can ask them a question regarding their favourite artist. For example “How many self-portraits did Vincent Van Gough perform between 1886 and 1889?”. Making this type of trivia is easier than it seems. Just take a few minutes to read about the subject on the internet and once you find an interesting fact make it into a question. Personalized clues are certainly one of the most impressive for the person receiving the hunt and they will be taken back by how much thought you put into the hunt.

Is the Clue Fun for the Hunter?

It sounds simple but it’s important to consider whether the clue will be fun for the hunter. This is similar to creating personalized clues but instead we are focused on general things they like. If the hunter really likes math then by all means add some math questions into your scavenger hunt. On the other hand if they hate dealing with numbers avoid that type of clue at all costs! This is also where you want to consider the difficulty of your clue. You want to make it difficult enough so that it’s not extremely easy but you also want to make sure that it’s not impossible for them to get. The right difficulty will get them scratching their head and then jumping in the air when they figure it out. If you’re not sure about the difficulty try it out on someone else and see what happens.

Is the Clue Entertaining?

Whether the clue is entertaining or not comes down to the wording of your clues. There are a ton of ways you can make a scavenger hunt more entertaining. You can make a fictional storyline for the hunt, maybe they need to find the deactivation code for a nuclear missile or find the toupee of their ungrateful boss. You can add some humour to the hunt with joke or sarcasm based clues and riddles. You can even add rhyming to your clues which is always fun.

These are just a few examples of how to make clues that are personal, fun and entertaining. The blog also has other ideas that will help you make hunt worthy clues. You’ll also come up with great ideas that haven’t been featured here. If you’d like to share your scavenger hunt ideas let us know at support@textclues.com and maybe we’ll write an article about them!

Scavenger Hunt Tip: Don’t Leave it too Late!

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Scavenger hunts are such great gifts because they are creative and original. Most people love getting scavenger hunts because it’s really a thoughtful gift. It shows you’re willing to put time and effort to make sure someone really has a great time.

This blog is here to help you make a memorable scavenger hunt in as little time as possible. That being said it’s still going to take some time if you really want to make a remarkable hunt. It’s certainly possible to make a great hunt the day before the big day but for a more substantial hunt we recommend you start at least a few days in advance.

The first step is to write out a quick draft of what you want the scavenger hunt to look like. Here you don’t have to go into much detail with the clues. It could be as simple as outlining the path you want them to take. The key is getting a general idea of what you want the scavenger hunt to look like. Once you’re done this step take a step away from the planning table for a few hours or days.

When you come back you’ll find that you came up with some great new ideas and you’ll be ready to put the finishing touches on the hunt. At this stage it’s time to fix up your clues to make sure they’re fun, personal and entertaining. Also you may find that you’ve thought of a totally new idea for the scavenger hunt! Don’t hesitate in changing your plan or creating a totally new one, the hunter will thank you. At this point all you need to do is prepare your physical clues and schedule a time for the hunt!

The free trial here on textclues.com is a great tool for planning a scavenger hunt even if you’re not planning on sending text message based clues. It allows you to save the scavenger hunt, access it from any computer with internet access and base a new scavenger hunt on an old one to easily make different versions.