{A few weeks ago we hosted a party for Ebby's 13th birthday. With
my mom as my able bodied co-hostess, we threw one pretty rockin' bash.
This week I thought I'd post about a few of the party details. Today it's the Photo Booth, you can read about the Sweets Table here and the Photo Booth here}
While I was most excited about the Sweets Table/Dessert Buffet, Ebby was definitely most excited about the mall scavenger hunt component of her party.
A mall scavenger hunt may not be an original idea, but it was certainly fun and a big hit with the girls. Here's how ours worked...
Preparation:
- Google 'mall scavenger hunt' to get ideas for items to put on the list
- Mall recon. The day before the party I went to the mall by myself and walked all over with a notepad and a pen, taking copious notes and plotting deviously difficult items for the girls to look for ;-)
- Make up The List. This was fun. There were 3 different types of items on our list: things to find/do and photograph, free things to collect, and mall specific questions to answer. I assigned a point value to each item and had a bonus section in case anyone had extra time.
- Print out the list and keep hidden.
Now, for the actual scavenger hunt...
We had 8 girls and 2 chaperones (me and my mom) so we split up and took two cars to the mall which is only about 15 minutes from our house. Once we got to the mall, we met up inside.
First, Bubbe let each girl select a handmade paper award ribbon that she had crafted. They were beautiful and so festive. Everyone put on their ribbons and I divided the girls up into two teams of 4.
The ribbons also identified the girls as scavenger hunt participants, but in a subtle way {Bonus: another take home party favor}. It was hard to get them to settle down to pay attention to me but finally I was able to go over the ground rules: no running, no shouting, be respectful, don't be disruptive. Then I handed each team a digital camera. Good thing we have plenty of them around...The rule with the photographs was that at least one team member had to be in each of the photos and each team member had to appear in at least one photo. I handed each team a list (folded), a pen and a small paper shopping bag. We synchronized our time pieces and told them to be back in the starting spot (a comfy area inside the mall with a couch for me and Bubbe) in one hour. Off they went!
Here's a sample of some of the things that were on each team's Mall Scavenger Hunt list.
Photos:
- Ronald McDonald
- something with Dora on it
- using the hand dryer in a public restroom
- wearing a hat (bonus: tiara, double bonus: boa)
- trying on a pair of high heeled shoes
- Taylor Lautner
- a bicycle (a real one)
- with a uniformed security guard or custodian
- with a store employee who is wearing a name tag
Free Things to collect:
- store credit card application
- 2 different business cards
- chopsticks
- catalog from a mall store
- a stranger's autograph
- something with the number 13 (because it was Ebby's 13th birthday) on it
- application for mall Kids Birthday Club
Questions:
- how much is a medium strawberry lime up at Cuppy's Coffee?
- how many flavors of Jelly Belly jellybeans are there at the Candy Zone?
- how many skee ball machines are at the arcade?
Bonus items:
- where is the tallest gumball machine in the mall?
- get a discarded receipt from a mall store
- take a picture with Smokey the Bear
Both lists were identical and I didn't tell them anything about going in order or not, just that each team had to stay together. During my recon visit I made sure to include things that were spread out all over the mall. I had a dual purpose for that: make the hunt take the full hour and make sure they got plenty of exercise so they'd be tired for the sleepover part of the party :-).
Ebby's team showed up at the designated 'checkpoint' first, about 5 minutes early, with every item on the list complete including the bonus items. The other team checked in right at the one hour mark, missing just one item but with an interesting story. There were prizes involved (granted, not terribly exciting ones) so there was definitely the air of competition. I looked everything over and declared Ebby's team the winners--which only meant they got to pick out the prize bag first. The other team also got prizes though did have to replace two of the prizes when we realized two of the girls couldn't chew gum because of their braces. Oops.
The Scavenger Hunt was a total blast, I would definitely do it again. In fact, I think Ebby would be amenable to having one every year. A total bonus: while the girls roamed (in a controlled and respectful manner) around the mall, Bubbe and I got to relax on a comfy mall sofa. Now that's what I call a good party activity. In fact, I think I can safely say that the mall scavenger hunt was so good that it can best be described as wicked pissah.
So that's a wrap on Ebby's 13th Birthday party. Thanks for checking things out and I hope you got some fun ideas for your next celebration!
