I know I don’t usually make it a habit of sharing too much personal information, but I’ll make an exception. We had a birthday party for my daugher this evening. It was a little over three hours long. Because I’m into memory building and also on a budget I decided to try something a bit different. I had this idea on Friday to do a treasure hunt. Since I always tend to go way over the top this was destined to be over-engineered. Thankfully it wasn’t terrible, but it was definitely over-engineered.

I wrote out a message using baking soda and water on a piece of art paper. When it dried it would, of course, be invisible. The message contained a hint to a location and basic instructions. I weaved (if you can call it weaving) a mostly ad-hoc story about a native american who stopped by when we first moved in who told me a story about a treasure trove. He, according to my story, left me with a piece of parchment he could not decipher and was too old to investigate. He left me with the words, “The fruit of the vine will reveal the sign” (the first in a series of period and region specific inconsistencies). I asked the eight or so children what they thought lived on a vine. Jade immediate said, “A Monkey!” while Emily and Wesley said “Grapes!”. We proceeded to the table where I just happen to have some wine and a brush at the ready. We slowly painted on the wine to reveal a series of words. The gasps were priceless and no I didn’t record a thing. I know, I’m terrible.

Following the clue led us to the volleyball court across the street that held the second clue and a piece of a map. This continued until the children had gathered the three parts of the map that led to the treasure. The map was, of course, full of native american english and dwellings, but nevermind that, it had an X! Once the children got their bearings the proceeded to the X and a mysterious and “ancient” inverted pot. Jade was too scared to see what was underneath, but brave Craig of clan Pale Moon investigated. Underneath was the most ancient and yet well preserved native american cuisine. Licorice!

The screaming did die down and we moved on to other things, but after writing silly rhyming clues, burning edges of paper (to get that ancient look), burying treasure and making maps I’m kind of tired. I think that the kids enjoyed it and I know the adults enjoyed making fun of my hack of a native american motif.