SoldierKraft

I don't know how much time you have before the birthday, but I'd be glad to help. I had bought my son a paperback book on cyphers and codes (I think it was titled "Top Secret") which shows famous codes and cyphers going back through history and talks about techniques for writing and breaking codes and cyphers. Best of all, it was written for kids, so it's entertaining and educational. I'd be glad to share some ideas with you if you like. (I bet the book is still available and somewhat cheap; might make a good item to either leave in the box or have it be found at the first cache of the birthday multicache.

A cool idea would be to tell him that someone hid a cache that nobody ever found because the geocachers didn't understand one of the clues. You would explain to him how geocaches are "archived" when they're lost or not maintained. A missed clue could be about a local landmark which is why it was overlooked. Anyways, the point of this cache is to find another cache that the finder could claim and publish as their own. So, you have found the listing for the archived cache, and you think you know that you two can find it. It could be a puzzle cache that might appear easy to solve, but perhaps everyone missed something obvious, or perhaps you would have to go to the library to find the one missing clue. (Definitely go to the library, find an old book/encylopedia, and figure out your clue ahead of time.) You could even make the clues about a subject that would come naturally to a 9-year old. You could even make a clue be about a local landmark which is why few people recognized and understood the clue. So you would start the whole thing by taking him to the landmark to solve the puzzle. Another idea, going away from making him believe it's a real geocache, would be to have a mysterious trunk or box (secured with a key lock) appear on the doorstep, with clues on how to find the key hidden in a small geocache. the box has a note for him telling him that this is all about him proving he's a worthy geocacher. From this point you could make it as long and involved as you like with multiple caches and puzzles to solve. It could be part scavenger hunt and part multicache. I hope this is helpful!

Interesting idea -- this might be one of the harder ideas to pull off. But how about a slightly different idea -- what if you asked cachers to bring swag that represented different years gone by -- I'm sure it would be really easy to find small, inexpensive things at thrift shops or even in their own attics. I just think of the comments that would be left by subsequent cachers as they reminisced about what is now residing in the cache, or trying to guess what year a certain item was produced. Posting pictures of the items as a gallery would in essence be the "time capsule".

Geocaching: Stalking Free-Range Tupperware in its Natural Habitat. Why do I need satellites to find tupperware? I just do. Geocaching: Feeling smug by finding a small, hidden object in the woods from miles away, and then not being able to find your car.