Geocaching Birthday Party for 11 year old boy

[+CampRCache]

Good morning. Our family is new to geocaching and we LOVE it! My son wants to have a geocaching birthday party and I am hunting for ideas. Has anyone done this before? We were thinking about a local park that has several caches in it. Goodie bag ideas I've got so far are trail mix, compass, water bottle, lanyard. Any tips or ideas would be greatly appreciated since we are newbies. Thanks!

[+Harwell5]

I say turn it into an event cache and have people come from all over. Will need to specify on the cache page that presents are NOT required, but that it would be a birthday party event for your son. Find out from your reviewer the best way to approach it. I'm sure you will have cachers come. It's a great way to meet others like us.

Edited January 15, 2010 by Harwell5

[+4B4JESUS]

How many kids (boys) are you planning to invite, and do you have additional GPSr's (or can youi borrow or rent add'l units)? Do you possibly have private land available (a friend with a ranch, maybe?) Can you come up with digital camera for team photo-cahing?

I went to a birthday party in the 4th grade (I'm now 37) and remember a scavenger hunt that was a blast. Even if you can't swing the Geocaching side, a scavenger hunt will be a definite hit!

[+CampRCache]

How many kids (boys) are you planning to invite, and do you have additional GPSr's (or can youi borrow or rent add'l units)? Do you possibly have private land available (a friend with a ranch, maybe?) Can you come up with digital camera for team photo-cahing?

I went to a birthday party in the 4th grade (I'm now 37) and remember a scavenger hunt that was a blast. Even if you can't swing the Geocaching side, a scavenger hunt will be a definite hit!

 

There will be 5 boys total. 3 of them have been geocaching before. We will have 2 GPSr's. No we don't have anyone with land but a local park here has 20 caches in it so I would think that would keep them busy. Some look real easy and other are a small hike (those might be to muddy). What is team photo-caching? That sounds like fun! We could get several digital cameras. I like the idea of a scavenger hunt. I have been on a few myself and they are tons of fun. I need to think some on how/what I could do for that. Thank you for your help.

[+CampRCache]

I say turn it into an event cache and have people come from all over. Will need to specify on the cache page that presents are NOT required, but that it would be a birthday party event for your son. Find out from your reviewer the best way to approach it. I'm sure you will have cachers come. It's a great way to meet others like us.

 

That sounds like lots of fun but I'm having a hard enough time getting 5 boys together! LOL!!! What a neat idea tho. I really would like to go to a local event and talk to some people that have been doing this for awhile. We have been having so much fun. Thanks for the help.

[+pigpen4x4]

Here is what am planning for my DD in March.

I am going to place caches in several yards of neighbors, participants of the party and common areas.

They will be laid out as a big multi cache. The Kid's will be divided into 2 groups, each going in the opposite directions. I wonder which gets the Delorme?

There will be clue cards to the next stage, of 2 colors, one for each team.

Once they are out of sight, the big finale will be hidden, probably on the front porch, or, hmmmmm, maybe on the deck.

But there will probably be some polishing, but that's the the basic plan.

I also like the idea of the Geo Event. All the plans may change........

PP4x4

[+4B4JESUS]

What is team photo-caching? That sounds like fun! We could get several digital cameras. I like the idea of a scavenger hunt. I have been on a few myself and they are tons of fun. I need to think some on how/what I could do for that. Thank you for your help.

 

Photo-Caching (it may have a "real" name but that's what I call it] is where you could divide the boys into teams, and with either GPS coord's or a scavenger-hunt-like description, they have to bring back photos of the "finds". You can use simple things like "green car" and they would have to have a pic of one, some, or all of them with a green car. You could have coords pointing to a certain area landmark- say a statue in a neighbors yard (with permission) or a nearby bridge or stream- and a pic with the boys interacting somehow with the "cache site".

I was working at Wal-Mart a couple years ago and I was in the lobby taking my break and a group of girl scouts came in on a photo scavenger hunt. They had to have a photo of them playing leapfrog with a Wal-Mart employee. They asked, I consented, and they got the point.

So then back at the party, while the kids have cake and ice-cream, someone quickly downloads the photos, shuffles 'em (so that team one isn't all at the beginning and team 2 at the end), and runs a simple slideshow for all the kids to see. Photos could even be sent with the kids (or a photo-share site for the kids or parents to download) so that 20, 30, 40 years down the road the memories won't be forgotten.