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Valentine’s Day Scavenger Hunt for Kids

Growing up, my parents always made holidays special. Valentine’s Day, although traditionally thought of as a day for lovers, was no exception. They would create the most amazing scavenger hunt for us using heart-shaped clues and candies until at the end we would find a surprise and a message written to each of us individually. They did this from as early as I can remember and it continued up until I was no longer home during Valentine’s Day because of college. Honestly, the older I got, the more fun it was to have these little scavenger hunts every year.  

Curious to try something like this with your kids? Awesome! So, here’s how it works. To do a Valentine’s Day Treasure Hunt, first take into account the age of your kids. If you have young kids your clues and treasures will need to be simpler than if you have older kids.  For instance, a 6 year old might be happy with candy, a 13 year old might like iTunes cards and if you have one in high school, he or she might enjoy cash or even a gas station card if they’re of driving age.

Once you’ve taken age into consideration, you’ll need to decide how many clues you want to have for your Valentine’s Day Treasure Hunt. You can really do as many or few as you would like, but a good starting point is at least 5 clues.

Examples of Some Simple Clues:

“Look up and down and all around where toys and games and fun is found”- toy box or closet

“We don’t want our food to grow mold so we keep it in here so it stays cold”- refrigerator

“A new day is here, oh dear, what will you wear?”- closet or drawer

Now obviously there are lots of options to make clues and they can be personalized to your household. But, once you have your clue ideas, it’s time to make them cute.  You can make simple cut-out heart clues or go as far as to find a Valentine design and print your clues out. One of my favorite parts of our scavenger hunt was finding the clues.  Not only would they be cute, but each clue would have a hole punched in it and a ribbon would be tied to a piece of candy or some other small reward.  This is obviously optional, but it’s an idea you might want to try as it makes the clues more rewarding to find and also look a lot cuter.

Once you have your clues made out, you’ll want to place them appropriately with the last clue of the hunt leading to the “treasure” at the end.  Now, my parents went all out with the end prize. There were some things we got every year, like a balloon, a heart-shaped box of candies and chocolate dipped strawberries. But, each year we also would get some items that were relevant to our lives.

As a little kid, I might have gotten a book, but as a teen I might have received a Barnes and Noble card or some cash or an Amazon gift card.  It’s up to you how little or grand you want to make the scavenger hunt.  Even a kids-sized box of chocolates is a pretty amazing find when you’re a kid. Even on a budget you can decorate the area where the prize is and make it feel pretty spectacular.

You can find balloons for a dollar, and candy hearts and confetti can be sprinkled around on the surface to make it bright and colorful. Whatever you decide to do, the one thing you shouldn’t forget is the letter to your child. Since Valentine’s Day represents love, take a heart-shaped piece of paper and write a love letter to your child.  Even if he or she is too young to appreciate it at the time, you can save it in your child’s baby book or a scrapbook for them when they’re older.

Doing this should help you make the most of this V-day holiday. You’re now ready to put on a Valentine’s treasure hunt for your kids and have it be an experience they won’t ever forget. Riddle Me makes this process easy, creating the clues and letting you focus on the love.

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