How to make a scavenger hunt gift

December 16, 2017

Personalized scavenger hunts are fun, they make good gifts, and they can actually be made pretty quickly. I set up the following scavenger hunt in about 3 hours, and you can make one too! Below are some suggestions for planning the hunt and some of my favorite clues. Click here to see the full example of a scavenger hunt with 20 clues.

Planning a scavenger hunt

• Walk around the house and make a list of potential places to hide clues
  • e.g. inside a coin bank, underneath that stupid plant
• Aim for objects that have a personal connection
  • e.g. that infamous Signals & Systems textbook you both used in undergrad
• Brainstorm clue types
  • e.g. word scramble, symbols, drawing, physical items (keys!)
• Create a clue for each item
  • e.g. “$” (to represent the coin bank)
  • make your clues as weird/fun as you can. not so serious and straightforward.
• Plan the order of the clues
  • start with something easy. Save the more exciting ones for the end.
  • connect the different items in your list together, if possible
• Logistics
  • allot sufficient time alone on the premesis to hide the clues
  • pick hiding places that likely won’t be uncovered before you want the hunt to begin
• Try not to make the clues too easy or too difficult
  • Ideally, I want there to be several wrong guesses, or 5-15 minutes of thinking
  • Offer clues when they get very stuck.
• Let the scavenger hunt lead them to a main present at the end.

My favorite clues

Below are a few of the clues I included in the scavenger hunt, as well as the answers. Maybe they’ll help inspire some fun clues for your scavenger hunt! (See full scavenger hunt)