How to Make a Successful Treasure Hunt

Select the treasure you will hide. Use either individual prizes, such as small trinkets or food like cupcakes and candy, or a group gift, like a movie for the whole family to watch, a board game to play together or a cake to share.

Find a place on your property or wherever you are holding the treasure hunt where the treasure will be well-hidden and protected from outside factors. Consider the size of the treasure and look for a place large enough to conceal it. Hide any food items in a cool, dry place out of reach of pets, and cover them to keep them sanitary.

Choose of the route you want the treasure seekers to trace. Decide whether you will lead them indoors, outdoors or both, and what areas you want them to avoid because of privacy or safety concerns.

Select monuments along the chosen route that will be easy or more difficult to find depending on your clues. Make the monuments more recognizable for younger children or for a new environment and more obscure for older children or for a familiar location. Monuments can be distinct physical locations such as a large rock or items such as a favorite coffee mug.

Write a clue that will direct the seekers to each monument in sequence. The clues can be written as rhymes or drawn as illustrations, involve a code that the hunters must break or describe the monument in terms that have meaning to that particular group, for example, "The next clue is hiding in an object that Mom brings to work every day."

Hide the clues in order, with one leading to the next until the final location of the treasure is reached. Number the clues to help you and the seekers keep track.

Give the seekers clear boundaries of where they will search for the treasure, for example "only in the living room and kitchen" or "stay inside the park." Give the seekers the first clue. Keep an eye on the seekers as they hunt, giving warnings or removing anyone from the game who oversteps the established boundaries. If seekers become stuck, help by giving small hints.