The Cake/ Treasure Hunt book recommendation

Not bad, huh? ;)

And here's the birthday boy with his birthday crown (he picked it on Friday at the dollar bin at target):

The party was awesome! Thanks to this great Klutz book that I cannot recommend enough:

The treasure hunts all are ready for you, all you have to do is to remove each clue (they're read to be torn off the book -- I don't know which word to use in English for pre-cut paper that you "tear" off) and then hide them according to the instructions.

The first time I saw this book was back in 2001 when we had K's 30th birthday party at a friend's house and she had a treasure hunt for him and our other friend's kids. I thought it was so much fun that bought the book the following week and saved it for my then future children. I've only used it two or three times before because most clues were too hard for my boys years ago (there are two that can be used with very young children -- a color one and another with pictures, the others are more complicated).

Today, I selected three of the hunts and hid the clues around the house. Then, I divided the 15 kids in three groups and had each group do one of the hunts. I didn't have any "treasure" (except at the end of the last hunt -- the box of favor bags) -- the hunts themselves were their reward. It worked really great and kept the kids entertained for about 30 minutes (because the last hunt took quite a while).Then, we had a simple craft (EVA sheets and adhesives, including letters for their names) and that by this time we were ready to eat.

The only drawback was the storm that we had about an hour before the party and which soaked a few chairs that we had already set up under the deck. My dad had put tarps and other large plastic sheets on the deck to try to keep the water from dripping below, but it didn't work at all! Thankfully, by the time we had to eat, the weather had cleared and we could do it under the deck.

I'm exhausted, but we're talking to K's best friend who is visiting from Brazil -- when you see a friend only once a year for a few days, there's no way not to be talking into the night. He was here when K read that fateful email from the Georgia school last year and which let us hanging until last October. I'm so thrilled that we stayed here, everyone LOVES out house (most friends who came to the party were seeing the house for the first time). I will try to post some house photos soon, OK?