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Scavanger Hunt Ideas

A scavenger hunt may be just what you're looking for as a party idea. It's a way for grownups and kids to get out and about and build a team spirit. All a scavenger hunt requires is a list of items and several teams whose goal is to go out and find the determined items. You can organize a hunt around a particular area or a theme and pick list items suited to different age groups.

Outdoor
- Most scavenger hunts take place outdoors. For younger kids, a nature theme can be fun, educational, and as simple as looking for different types of leaves or flowers in the backyard. Older kids can visit neighbors to collect household items like twine, a 1999 penny or a wooden clothespin. For teenagers or adults you can also pick a specific theme for the hunt. For example, you could also send teams to local restaurants to collect specific menu items (appetizers, desserts or even condiments) and then have a potluck with the collected treasure. You could also send teams to historic or famous sites around town to collect souvenirs.
Photographic Scavenger Hunt
- For a photographic scavenger hunt, create a list of things to photograph; you can provide participants with either digital cameras or disposable cameras or ask them to bring their own. If you are using digital cameras you can download the photos immediately and post them online for guests to enjoy. If you are planning to provide disposable cameras for your wedding reception, adding a scavenger hunt element can give guests some ideas of what to photograph, for example, kids and grownups dancing together, a piece of cake or two people laughing. For a non-wedding photographic scavenger hunt you can ask teams to complete tasks in a creative manner and photograph the results.
Online Scavenger Hunt
- On a rainy day, an online scavenger hunt can save the day. If you have more than one computer with Internet access, divide kids into teams and give them a list of questions to answer or items to find online. For example: how many copies of the Gettysburg Address in Abraham Lincoln's handwriting still exist? You could also focus the questions on a topic that is particularly interesting to kids; ask them to find images of ten different dinosaurs or their ten favorite animals.

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