I need some planning help, please.......

[snowgooseltd]

I'm not sure if this is the board for this question so, if necessary Moderator, please move me to the appropriate one. We're planning a large family trip to WDW on the Monday after Thanksgiving. The only thing is.....we've not told the grandchildren (5) yet. We want to surprise them with the trip yet give them several days to actually anticipate it, so we'd like to have a scavenger hunt on Thanksgiving afternoon with the questions and answers leading up to WDW. The ages range from 3 to 13 so we don't want the oldest to figure it out right away. Does anyone know of a link or site that has poems, questions, songs etc. that we can use to make up this game? All ideas will be greatly appreciated. My only thought, at this time, is to tell the five year old a word on Thanksgiving morning ( like "Haunted" ) and have it be an intrigal part of the last clue in the game. Something like...ask Lily for the answer to this question. Am I on the right track? What do you all think?

 

[Judy from Boise]

I am not creative enough to help with the hunt, but a must have for the kids to plan is the Birnbaums "WDW for kids by kids" look for the 2002 version !

you could also put this same question on the family board

 

[wbk]

Why not do a series of small boxes (wrapped or not)? In each one place items which would lead them to guess that they're going to WDW.
For example: Spanish moss, sand, sea shells, an orange or grapefruit,fanny pack, sunglases, swim suit, unlabled cassette with one of the Disney songs dupped on it (then play it), personalized ears, Disney Dollars.

I'm sure there are other things you could think of.

Good luck!

 

[ennazus]

*Brainstorming*
You could use a map in the theme of Treasure Island..

You could have each child have their own map so that there could be different levels of difficulty.

You could sprinkly glitter as 'pixie dust'

This site might give you some ideas for the older child... there are links for Disney Trivia:
http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/huntdisneywde.html

How about including the game "Pooh's Honey Hunt" for the youngest child?

A couple more links:
http://octopus.gma.org/surfing/imaging/treasure.html
http://www.epinions.com/gift-review-7A3D-2DA5E9A-388C9BD7-prod1?sp=ink
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/9912/05.blue.shtml
http://www.party411.com/forumkids/messages/166.html
Good luck!!! And let us know how it goes!!!

 

[AKASnowWhite]

We have done treasure hunts for our extended family, 9 kids ranging in age from 4-14. We found it worked well to devise several sets of clues and break the kids into teams...putting older and smaller kids together. Some of our clues were based on tv shows that the preschool kids watched - the olders had no idea what they were about!!! That made it so everyone was "helping" in solving clues, even though the little ones couldn't yet read.

Our clue sets led the teams each to a different "puzzle piece"....when put together revealed the location of the ultimate goal - the treasure. That way, one team couldn't get to the prize before the others had solved all of their clues.

Although the "prize" at the end wasn't NEARLY as fabulous as a surprise trip to Disney, the kids all enjoyed it tremendously.

One way to get clue ideas would be to buy the Disney Trivia game....it's like Trivial Pursuit. They have an add-on set of kids Disney trivia questions.....

What a wonderful grandparent you are!!! I'm sure your grandchildren will LOVE their gift!!! I know MY kids would!!!!

 

[bobcat]

You could also give each grandchild a piece of a puzzle and when they put it together it could be a picture of WDW. I love the suprise trip!