Scavenger Hunt Birthday Party Ideas

Scavenger Hunt party is a lot of fun for teens and preteens. And it's not expensive to organize.

Below you'll find activities to use during your teen scavenger hunt birthday party, as well as some guidelines for planning a safe and enjoyable event. Let's start with...

Resources:

Invitations

For your scavenger hunt party invites, print images of magnifying lenses, question marks, and photo cameras on white invitation cards. Then write all your party details.

Or, type a list of about 10 action items and what every action is worth on a sheet of paper. For example, you can write "Dance with a stranger -- 10 points", "Take a picture of your team member eating donuts with a policeman - 30 points", and so on. Then add fun clip-art images on the front and write your party information on the blank side of the paper.

Remember to tell your guests to wear comfortable clothes and shoes to the party.

Decorations

Assuming that most of your scavenger hunt party activities will take place around town, you don't need to worry much about decorating the house. Just have a few simple paper streamers and balloons in the area where you'll serve food.

Favors

Posters, cool pens, notebooks, CDs, and t-shirts make great scavenger hunt theme favors.

Rules and Guidelines

• Split the party group into teams. Smaller teams are more fun! To make it fair, get participants to draw names from a hat to form the teams.


• There are 4 types of tasks: answering a question, finding an item, taking a picture of something or someone, and videotaping a specific action. Set up a point structure yourself for the actions listed under "Scavenger Hunt Party Games & Activities" below, so each task is worth a different number of points.


• Each team must have one digital (or Polaroid) camera with a video option and a cellphone. Make sure that the batteries are fully charged, and teams know how to use camera functions.


• Members of a team can't split up or work on more than one challenge at the same time.


• Set a time limit of 2 hours (or longer if you like) for the teams to get back to your house. Deduct 10 points for every 5 minutes they are late coming back.
  
  It's virtually impossible for the teams to complete every task on the list below, so they have to prioritize and use their judgement in order to get the most points possible.


• Teens can get reckless when driving under pressure -- so get adult drivers. They can be judges to make sure that the tasks are completed properly. Stress to the adults that they can guide, but under no circumstances they will complete the tasks for the teams.


• No cheating allowed. That means not recruiting friends who are not attending the party, sabotaging other teams, or doing anything else immoral or illegal.


• Give each team some money they can spend during the challenges.


• If a team is going to make a stop at any of its member's home, that person can't talk to his parents on the phone or leave the car. (That way other team members must negotiate with the parents to let them in the house to get needed items.)

Scavenger Hunt Party Games & Activities

Explain the rules to the players, and make sure everyone understand them.

Hand a list to each team. Give them 10 minutes to brainstorm their action plan. They could go to any of the following places: restaurant, local park, team member's house, gas station, fast food restaurant, mall, etc.

On the command go, start the clock and get the teams to run to their vehicles.

Bring back/Collect:

*5 business cards

*Deposit slips from 3 different banks

*Empty shoe box

*Pink eyeliner

*Drawing of a child under 10 years old

*An item made in Taiwan

*Completed crossword puzzle from today's paper

*Takeout menu from Chinese restaurant

*CD of T.A.T.U. (or write a name of other barely known band)

*Russian Dictionary

*Wallet of a member from the opposing team

*Samples from 3 different companies

*Name tag of someone who works at a store or restaurant

*1980 penny

*Phone number of a hot guy/girl and his or her picture with the entire team

Take Pictures of the Following:

*Teammate giving a hug to a greeter at Wall-Mart

*Entire team posing in sunglasses

*Car with a "Student Driver" sign

*Tattoo on a stranger's body

*Team member inside a fire truck

*Person of 85 years of age (or older) holding their ID

*Teddy bear

*Team member in a bathtub in a store

*Entire team posing near a public clock when it strikes a certain time

*Team member sitting on a motorcycle

*Entire team with a policeman

*Someone from the team trying on a piece of clothing intended for the opposite sex

Videotape the Following:

*Team member pumping gas for a stranger

*Entire team playing air-guitar in front of a store.

*Teammate walking through the drive-through and managing to order something

*Stranger dancing YMCA

*Team member doing exactly what a sign says (with him or her standing next to the sign)

*Everyone trying on white shoes at the same time

*Team member walking a stranger's dog

*Get someone to videotape the entire team singing a silly song (e.g. "Oscar Mayer Wiener" song) inside a coffee shop, etc.

Questions and Other Tasks:

*Get DJ on a certain radio station to play "Who Let the Dogs out?"

*List 10 restaurants in the area

*What is the soup of the day at XYZ restaurant?

*What movies are playing at ABC theater?

*Get a DJ to put you on live radio saying "Team ___ from ___ Scavenger Party Rules"

When the teams arrive back, collect all the items they bring. Upload images and videos from their camera onto a computer.

Calculate the points to determine the winner. Award gift-certificates to a favorite store for a winning team.

Food and Drink

Scavenger Hunt Party Food Ideas:

*Cupcakes
*Sandwiches
*Pizza
*Hot dogs
*Chips and dip
*Popcorn
*Pretzels
*Ice cream

Scavenger Hunt Party Drink Ideas:

*Water
*Sodas
*Fruit juices

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