The Perfect Halloween Treasure Hunt That You Have To Try

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Best Halloween Treasure Hunt

This Halloween treasure hunt is for everyone, from kids to teens to adults.  It can be used at home, with a sports team, at school, or a daycare, the possibilities are endless.

I have seen kids jump right on board with this idea and have had the best time with it.

Those tweens and teens though, oh they can be a hard cookie to crack.  But go right ahead and suggest it anyway.

I can sympathize with that eye roll that you may get.  Honestly, do they all get together and practice it?

But once they get going with it, they will have a blast, even if they won’t admit it to you.

To make the hunt a little more Halloween festive, you can get these Halloween items that everyone can wear.

Snap Bracelets

Necklaces

Halloween Temporary Tattoos

I think these are a way better option than glow necklaces.

Don’t get me wrong, I love glow sticks, necklaces, and bracelets just as much as the next person but I feel like they are a waste of money since they work for such a short time.

And kids are so disappointed the next day that they ran out of glow power.

Where you want to have your treasure hunt should be based on the age range of who wants to do it. 

I mean, if you have young kiddos then I suggest either doing the hunt at your house or doing a nice walk altogether through your neighborhood.

Older kiddos like 10 and up, could handle many different locations.

If you go all out with the Halloween décor, then for sure make it easy on yourself and send those kiddos on the treasure hunt at your house.

My daughter has been hosting a family Halloween party at Grandpa and Grandma's house for the past few years and since everyone brings decorations to make it as festive as possible, we have done our hunts there.

If you are feeling extra lazy, you could also go on a Halloween treasure hunt drive, like when you go to look at Christmas lights.  This is fun since you can travel to different towns.

It seems like people start getting ready for Halloween as soon as October hits.  Before that, it is mostly fall décor.  1 to 2 weeks is the prime time for a Halloween treasure hunt.

Don’t shoot for after Halloween unless you are putting up the decorations.  People are quick to change their décor to Thanksgiving once Halloween is done.

The best time of day that I found for this Halloween treasure hunt is right after lunch/mid-afternoon on a weekend day. 

No one wants to go on a hunt with an empty stomach.  And many people will have their Halloween blow-ups up on the weekends.

If you have younger kids, you are a bit more limited since you have to fit in a nap and meals. 

Even though I loved it when my kids took naps, I am so glad that phase is over and we have a bit more flexibility with our schedule.

The time of day that you go is entirely up to you.  Fit it into your best schedule!

These are rules that have worked well for us.  You can choose to use as many or as few as you like.

If the people on the treasure hunt are a little older, we like to have more rules.  It is a bigger challenge that way.

If you have other amazing rules that you try out, let me know what they are in the comments below.

Everyone on your team needs to wear a costume.

I think this rule is amazing because I love seeing what costumes everyone comes up with.  Also, costumes can be expensive so why not wear them as many times as you can!

If people choose not to be festive and wear a costume, points can be taken off their final score.

These are the costumes that my family wore last year and we had so much fun with them.  Especially, my husband – he went as Bob Ross.

Bob Ross

Rockford Peach

The Flash

Army Man

Witch

Captain America

Set a time limit.

This is essential otherwise the hunt can go on forever!!!

Split up into teams.

Pair adults up with kids if you are going somewhere other than your property.  You can make the teams or let everyone pick who they want to be with.

Make it a photo Halloween treasure hunt.

We did this last year and it was so fun.  Someone from each team has to be in the picture with the item found.  We ended up with some great pictures!

Give bonus points for harder-to-find items or for something like who sees the most pumpkins.

Your hunters are going to become way more competitive if you put this into play.

As I was putting together this list of Halloween items, I realized that there are so many things that are symbols of Halloween.

You can pick and choose items from this list or make it challenging and try to find them all.

I like to add all of these because you never know what you are going to come across.

Happy hunting!

As everyone gets done with the Halloween treasure hunt, start adding up those points for the items found.

You can give extra points for things like the best Halloween costume and items on the list that you think would be difficult to find.

We get even more competitive by taking points away for not following the rules.  Man, some people get a little feisty about this but hey – rules are rules.

You can have those who get the most points win bragging rights or you can have some prizes for them.

This can be something simple like candy, but I like to put together a Halloween gift bag.

These are some items I have included in the last 2 years for the kids who were all under 8.

Halloween Bag

Stickers

Coloring Book

Crayola Markers

This year I am going to have to raise the bar a bit for the older kids that are going to do our treasure hunt.

Necklace

Party Glasses

Cookies

The best way to end any Halloween festivity, and calm everyone down a bit, is with a fantastic Halloween movie.

If it is near dark, or you can make it dim enough, watch it by using an outdoor movie projector and a projection screen.

We have done this during the day in a garage.  The windows just needed to be covered up a bit.  The kids went nuts over it.

My all-time favorite Halloween movie is It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.  I have never been a fan of spooky or horror Halloween movies though.

Let me know in the comments below what your favorite Halloween movie is.

Obviously, you don’t need to do the outdoor movie projector to have a great time watching a Halloween movie.  Pick the location that works best for your crew.

If you live in a cooler climate as we do, you are going to want to warm up after the treasure hunt. 

So go right ahead and make some hot cocoa or warm apple cider and pair it with a delicious movie snack.  We love some buttery popcorn and puff corn (for all our kiddos wearing braces).

I hope whoever tries your Halloween treasure hunt has the best time with it.  Make sure to take lots of pictures of everyone all dressed up in their costumes.

Happy Halloween

This post was all about the best Halloween treasure hunt for people of all ages.

Let me know in the comments below how your Halloween treasure hunt turned out.  What other Halloween traditions do you like to do with your kids?

I look forward to hearing from you and thanks for stopping by.