It’s that time of year, the Fourth of July. The traditional Fourth of July Party just includes a cookout, some outdoor games, and fireworks. Try spicing up this year’s party by including a scavenger hunt. Here are some ideas. There are a variety of types of scavenger hunts that you can design when preparing one for your Fourth of July get together. When deciding what type of scavenger hunt you need to consider the number of people you will be hosting, the age range of your guests, and miscellaneous items such as how well they know the area the party is in.
The Photograph Scavenger Hunt
This version of a scavenger hunt will most likely require quite a few people to know the area the party is in. Have people form into teams of four to five people, as long as you have enough drivers. Ask your guests to bring digital cameras, so that each team has one person on the team with a digital camera. As the host you should create a list of items you want people to photograph and the point value to assign to each photo. For photos of hard to find items such as “someone dressed up as Uncle Sam” the point value should be rather high. Meanwhile, “a photo of an American Flag” could be rather low. Of course you could also have bonuses, such as if they find an American Flag with less than 50 stars and take a photo it has a bonus point value. Other items you could include in this type of scavenger hunt are cars decorated for July 4th, houses with patriotic decorations other than flags, stores with a “Happy July 4th” sign posted, and other items that you know exist in your area. Give everyone one to two hours to collect their photos. When all the teams return have them hand their cameras to designated checkers. These checkers will have the same scavenger hunt sheets that the teams did with the types of photos and point values for those photos on them. These checkers will score the photos for each team, and then you can award a prize for the team with the highest total of points.
Holiday Item Scavenger Hunt
If you can not obtain enough digital cameras to do the above activity, why not change it up a little. Instead of looking for photograph opportunities have people collect items with a Fourth Of July theme. Again have your guests divide up into teams. Give each team a budget, and inform them that they can not spend over that amount. Then give them a list of holiday themed July 4th items that they need to collect and the points for each. Items can be a simple as an American Flag, or more complex such as decorating one of your teammates as Uncle Sam. Obviously the simple items would have low point values. With the whole decorating a teammate as Uncle Sam idea, the best way to award points is for each team to present their person if they participated and have a judge award first place through last place points for that specific task compared to the other team’s entries. Other items you can have people get include banners, pendants, holiday desserts, post cards with firework displays, etc. Be creative when making your list and point values, have some items on the list that you think nobody will be able to find with very high point values to challenge them. For proof that they do not go over the assigned dollar limit, require your teams to turn in their receipts and have people check the receipt totals and verify their point totals for that team. The team with the highest score wins.
Scavenger Hunt Without The Need For Transportation
Of course not everyone will want to leave the party, so if you would like to create a scavenger hunt for your guests so they don’t have to drive there are other ways to do this. How about have a list of characteristics about other guests at the party. Something like “has a grey beard”, and then give that a point value and require people get a signature from another party participant that matches that category for the points assigned. This could include simple things like “is wearing a red shirt”, so something much more risque such as “has American Flag boxers on”. The only way people would know that last one is by asking other guests, imagine asking your 80 year old grandfather if he is wearing these? It could provide some fun moments of entertainment. You could also have points for getting the signature of the oldest male and oldest female at the party, the signature of the couple that has been married the longer and the shortest as well. Get a signature from the person who has traveled the furthest to arrive at the party, etc. The categories you create and point values you award are up to you, but the whole idea with this type of game is to get people to socialize with others at the party that they might not know.
It’s All About Fun
Regardless of the type of scavenger hunt you decide to have at your party, it’s all about having fun. Make sure you encourage your guests to drive safely and not use a driver who has been drinking if you do one of the first two scavenger hunt ideas. The prizes don’t have to be large for these games, just a little token prize for your guests to have as a memory of the fun and enjoyment they had at your party. Scavenger hunts can help your guests enjoy the Fourth Of July in some non-traditional ways.
