Alright guys, sorry it’s been a loooong time since I posted. My Mother-in-Law and Grandfather were both in the ICU for weeks (not with covid but with other issues.) Sadly my Grandpa lost his battle with pneumonia/MRSA, but my MIL is on the mend thank the lord. Anyhow, I wrote this Easter weekend but am just now getting to adding the photos in because that’s how this month has been going. How about yours?

I know you sonsabitches read this blog title and went, “Treasure hunt? Does this chick know where to find all the TP and Clorox wipes?” The answer is no. But I do have an awesome idea for you to use that allows your kids to have fun with the neighborhood kids while keeping a safe distance. I made a treasure hunt for the kids on the street and bought them all treasure chests that they could decorate a couple days before the actual hunt. And then I set up stations in all the yards of my neighbors who were willing participants, and left each family a sheet of clues on where to go to receive their next treasure. So hold on to your dirty butts, and let’s roll.

First, buy these treasure chests and once they arrive, leave them on the doorsteps of all the kids who are going to participate. I liked that it’s a craft for the kids to partake in that builds up the anticipation of going on the actual treasure hunt.

Next, get some booty! I got bouncy balls, necklaces, pirate themed balls, candy sticks, pirate tattoos, rings, bubbles, and the most fitting item for these times of Covid-19 bullshit – bandanas. I got these cute ones from Oriental Trading since they went with the pirate theme and fit kids.

Then, I enlisted my creative neighbor, Sydney, to help me make up clues. I used different houses and landmarks on the street to think up rhymes on where the kids needed to look next. For example, for Christmas, we go fucking bananas with yard decorations and my husband fills the yard completely with inflatables. So one clue was, “Head to the house that goes overboard with Christmas cheer. Go to the yard where hundreds of inflatables are and you’ll find your first clue here!” For us, I have 7 families participating for a total of 12 kids. And since we are in the shit storm of Coronavirus, I set up a schedule for when each family can go out hunting for treasure. So each family gets 15 minutes to read the 7 clues and go to the 7 stations to collect loot at each one. Then once they’re back inside their homes, the next family comes out. This treasure hunt would of course be WAY more fun during times where we aren’t quarantined in our homes. But to be honest I wouldn’t have gone nuts with this idea if these were “normal” times anyways.

To keep things germ free, when I received the boxes from online, I wiped them down as well as all of the goodies with Clorox wipes. Then, on each basket of loot, I used my handy-dandy laminating machine and laminated tags telling the kids how much of each item they could take. I figured that was more hygienic so that people could read the labels from afar without touching them. You can go down a rabbit hole with this stuff obviously, so I digress. Anyhow, in lieu of our usual neighborhood Easter egg hunt, we did this on the Saturday before Easter and it was a huge hit. You can take all the precautions away and still use this idea during normal times for birthday parties, or just a fun activity for the kids to do!