A Scavenger Hunt at the Mall 12th Birthday Party

What kind of birthday party do you throw for pre-teens?  The trend in our area is sleepovers -- a house full of hyper kids drinking pop and scarfing down junk food while watching movies and playing loud music through the night. Lots of squealing and tossing of pillows, with some pranks and dares mixed in.  Not much sleep, and a totally trashed house the next morning, with popcorn found in the hanging light fixtures, and puddles of soda behind the couch.  I've heard the horror stories from other parents.  I didn't want to go there.  Plus, our house is too small, yeah, that's my excuse.  No rec room or basement to banish the kids to.

So I decided to have a Scavenger Hunt at the Mall party.  What pre-teen girl doesn't like the mall?  We had 10 girls gather at our house for pizza, sliced apples (from our tree), rootbeer, hawaiian fruit drinks, and apple cider.  Pizza & beverages for 10 girls and 2 moms: $50.00.

Then we opened presents.  A got a lot of accessories, such as mittens, hats, fragrant hand sanitizers, and this wallet.  She also got 3 great games: SET, apples to apples, and Bop-it.  Rounding out the gifts was a stamp making kit, where you carve our your design into a rubbery block with sharp tools, then apply paint and stamp.

After lunch and presents, we loaded into two vehicles (one of the moms helped me run the party) and headed to the mall.  It was a Friday.  11-11-11.  Veteran's Day, so no school.  In the days previous when I'd scouted out the mall for things the girls had to find, the mall was deserted.  I forgot that there were big sales for Veteran's Day.  Even though only bankers, teachers, and government employees usually got Veteran's Day off, the mall was PACKED!  Where did all these people come from?  It took us nearly 30 minutes just to find a parking place, on the very top level of the parking garage, way off in the furthest corner!  

When we arrived at the mall we broke the girls into 2 teams and went over the rules:  No entering shops, except for the big department stores.  No running and watch out for other people.  Be polite.  Take turns and work as a team.  It's a test of observation, not a race, so don't rush or you'll miss things.

The girls each received an envelope with about 30 things to find or do as a team, and a map of the mall.  Each team had a chaperone that had a bag with money and other things, like a pair of shoes they had to take to get shined.

They had to drop off a pair of shoes to be shined, write the name of the shoeshine's name on their questionnaire, and then pick up the shoes, and pay and give a tip.

The girls were free to use the directories and maps, and could also ask at customer service.  Some of the questions they had to answer were:  "What color is the circle in the logo for the gymboree store?"  "What is the height limit for little kids visiting the play area?"  "How many wooden benches are there on the 2nd level of the mall?" and "What store has a gumball machine in their doorway? Your chaperone will give you each a quarter to get a gumball!"

One of the more complicated tasks was to go from the 2nd level of the mall, through a parking garage, across a sky bridge, and over to a movie theater, where they had to write down the names of all the films (11 of them!) playing that day.  

After about 2 hours we met back at a frozen yogurt place and compared answers.  Each team missed only 2 or 3 items.  Each girl got a frozen yogurt with 3 toppings ($45.00) and then we drove home where the parents were waiting to pick up their daughters.

Review:

I thought it was a great party, and so did A.  I spent $95.00, which was less than I would have spent to go to one of those "fun centers" with arcade games or trampolines, and about the same that I would have spent on food for a sleepover.  There were no "goodie bags," which I've always felt were unneccesary.  A said the response from her friends was good, though they probably would have enjoyed buying stuff.

One of the girls we invited had Autism and needed constant supervision and a lot of support.  I've known this girl since she was 3, and I had no trouble accomodating her.  When we invited her, her mother was so happy, because this girl is almost never invited to parties and has few friends.  Being in middle school, A is learning hard lessons about friendship.  Girls she thought were her friends are suddenly teasing and excluding her.  A is starting to worry about who she associates with, and apparently being at all friendly toward the special-needs kids is the kiss-of-death for your social life at middle school.  A was a little concerned about having this girl at her party, and what would be said at school after, but the girls we invited were some of her closest, longest-known friends, so I hoped it would be fine.  I want A to understand that friends who tease you about who your other friends are, aren't really your friends at all.

Comments

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1060463581]

Happy birthday A!!! It's hard to believe she is 12! And what a great idea for a birthday party. You have the best ideas!

[Rosalinda Hone]

Games are for all ages, but it’s a bit different when it’s for teens. A scavenger hunt at the Mall, what an effort! Your daughter surely enjoyed everything that you did! You’re one of the coolest moms I’ve ever known! Keep it up!

-Rosalinda Hone

[Shisomama.wordpress.com]

Hi Heather, I was searching for scavenger hunt ideas for a birthday party, and look where my search led me to! I hope you and your family have been well, and I may still try to plan a hunt for Otis this month!

Best, Mimi (shisomama)