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Common House Scavenger Hunts for a Children's Party

When its rainy, cold or otherwise not good weather to go outside in and you have a group of children to entertain, consider an indoor scavenger hunt. Indoor scavenger hunts keep children occupied during days home from school or special events like birthday parties. If you're the lucky parent hosting that indoor birthday party, consider a few creative scavenger hunt themes with common household items. The prize for the winning child or team can be as simple as the privilege of being first in line to get birthday cake (after the birthday child, of course) or a prize that you select beforehand such as a toy, book or game.

Boy's Party - Train Theme
- Get a group of boys excited about an indoor hunt for a train set. Before guests arrive, construct a simple plastic or wooden train set and number the pieces with washable crayon. Your set should include about ten pieces of track and two or three trains. Next, collect a conductor's hat, four or five whistles, four or five lanyards and a flashlight. Make a list of all the items you are about to hide. Finally, hide the items around the house. If you have more than four or five children coming for the party, make additional sets of materials listed above and instead of hiding them around the house, hide each set in a room of the house or on separate ends of the house. When the children arrive, split them into teams and direct them to separate rooms or areas of the house. Instruct them to find everything on their list and let them know that once they find all the pieces, they'll need to assemble the train set and don the conductors' hats and lanyards/whistles. Prize ideas for the winning teams could include train-oriented toys like a train car, train DVD or train book. All children can take home the conductor's hats and whistles as party favors.
Girl's Party - Princess Theme
- Get a group of girls excited about an indoor hunt for a hidden princess. Before your guests arrive, gather items that a princess would need: hair brushes, hand held mirrors, nail polish, lip gloss, glitter, sparkly shoes, headbands, gloves, nylons, a few princess dresses and some costume jewelry. Make a list of all the items and then hide them around the house (or in different rooms throughout the house if you will have more than one team searching for items). When guests arrive, give them the lists and let them search for them. Tell the girls that they will have to select one member of their team to dress up as a princess. You can have the birthday girl sit out of the hunt and judge the teams to select her favorite princess. The winning team members can each take home one of the hidden princess dresses as a prize.
Goulash Theme
- If you're short on time and cash, you can quickly throw together an indoor scavenger hunt with common items you have around your house. Before guests arrive, search your house for items like: rolls of toilet paper, paper towel rolls, paper or plastic shopping bags, socks, pencils, pens, school yearbooks, candy bars, paper airplanes, masking tape, crayons, birthday cards, soap, spoons, scissors, coupons and measuring cups. Next, make a list of all the items you gathered and hide them throughout the house in places where children would not think to find them. For example, put the measuring cups in the bathroom and the toilet paper in the kitchen cupboard. When children arrive, give them the list and allot 20 minutes for them to find as many items on the list as they can. The winner can pick one thing from the list to take home or, can have the privilege of eating cake right after the birthday boy or girl.

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