Introduction
If you’re up for a laugh and you and the girls grew up watching Challenge Anneka (Millennials may need to google…), you may want to consider a hen party scavenger hunt or treasure hunt to kick off the wedding celebrations in truly competitive style. Whether you book a hunt with party planners like The Foxy Hen or you DIY your own, they’re a great opportunity to personalise the whole experience to the bride.
Have a read of our handy guide on what you’ll need to plan or book the perfect hen party scavenger hunt.
Before deciding on this activity
What is a hen party scavenger hunt?
A scavenger hunt involves creating (or using) a list of clues and challenges that your group take on individually, in pairs or in small teams. The list might include locations or landmarks to find, dares to complete (with photo/video evidence), riddles to solve or objects to obtain. For a hen party, the clues and challenges will usually relate to the bride, the couple or their passions and interests.
Is a hunt the right activity for my group?
Before deciding whether to choose a hen party scavenger hunt, consider:
- Age and ability: It’s worth pausing to think quickly to make sure your group’s ages and physical abilities are suited to this kind of activity. You don’t want anyone to feel excluded and you definitely don’t want to explain to your fiancé that his mum had that heart attack because she was running around the city centre taking selfies on cathedral rooftops.
- The bride’s tastes: A hen party scavenger hunt is suited to a bride-to-be who loves a puzzle, a challenge and a laugh! However, if she’s looking for a fancy night out, pampering or plans to wear stilettos all day, then this might not be the right choice for your group. You know her best but, if you’re not sure, it’s best to ask!
Planning a DIY hen party scavenger hunt
1. Decide the date and time
If you’re ready to start planning the hunt as your hen activity, then we’re betting you’ve already got a date chosen. If not, now would be a good time – just to make sure everyone in the group is available and keen. If yes, kudos!
To choose the best time, we recommend a day scavenger hunt for the most flexibility in finding clues, taking photos and getting around. Something like 11am or 2pm would work well.
2. Choose the location
You shouldn’t choose your hen party destination simply for the scavenger hunt – it should match your needs for cost, distance, accommodation options and other considerations.
Having said that, we find larger towns and cities make better choices for a hen do scavenger hunt as there are more landmarks to use and more local people to involve in the hijinx.
3. Choose a pre-made or custom hunt
Planning a hen party scavenger hunt can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be.
If you’re short on time, there are a ton of printable hunt lists on the internet (like this free one from us!)
If you want to do your own, you’ll need plenty of time to decide where, when and what. Often, the hunt can be incorporated into whatever else you’re doing. If you have a spa weekend booked with the girls, the hunt could be done around the grounds. If you’re having a night out in the city, there are plenty of local hotspots or tourist attractions you could incorporate. Whatever your preference, you need plenty of time to get it all arranged so it goes off without a hitch.
5. To Theme or Not?
We love a theme for a hen party scavenger hunt. It can help give clarification of what’s expected and help you to work out the finer details. If you’re off on a beach vacay, your hunt could be spotting and potentially taking photographic evidence of a list of beach-related stuff. This could be sun loungers, beach huts, Hawaiian shirts, and the like.
Alternatively, it could just be hiding various clues around the local park and giving everyone a map of where they can be found. It’s entirely up to you just how you want to run things.
The rules
It may seem a bit obvious, but rules are a good idea to have in place before you start. If it’s as much as whoever comes back with the most hidden clues, or the most photos of targets, then that’s all that’s needed. However, in the spirit of fair competition, put in place a few ground rules, just to make sure everyone knows the playing field is fair and unbiased. This is especially pertinent if you’re planning on presenting prizes.
The last thing you need is any arguing about whether people cheated on the route or got outside help. A few basic rules should keep everyone on the right track.
Personalisation ideas
If you want to add some special touches to your hen party scavenger hunt to personalise it to the bride, here are some of our favourite ideas:
- Tourist attractions: If you’re going on a trip or weekend away, check out the local area and make a list of attractions to be checked off. Evidence can be in the form of a photo of the building or, even better, a team selfie in front of it.
- Museums or galleries: If you’re in town for the day having bottles brunch or generally pub crawling, why not base your hen party scavenger hunt in a local gallery or museum? Find out about the exhibits or artworks and make a list of those to be ticked off. This is slightly more difficult to take photographic evidence of (if you’re in a gallery) as cameras aren’t always allowed. In this event, take a snap of the accompanying story or artist information as that should suffice.
- Local park: Grab yourself a bucket of toy soldiers or small coloured balls and stash them around your local park. Issue the teams with a homemade map and a set of cryptic clues on where they can find the treasure. Whoever comes back with the most within the allocated time wins. NB: coloured balls might not be great if you’re in a park where people regularly walk their dogs. You’ll certainly have happy pups, but maybe not happy ladies.
- Home and garden: You don’t need to be out in public to have your hen party scavenger hunt. There are usually more than enough hiding places in your home and/or garden to squirrel away some items, or just ask your teams to bring you back something that’s already yours, like a roll of Sellotape or a bottle of perfume. If you don’t mind people rummaging through your stuff, you’ll be good.
Or book your hen do scavenger hunt
If you love the idea of a hen party scavenger hunt but want to take enjoy it without the stress and hassle of planning it, then why not book it with us here at The Foxy Hen? This way, you can be chill AF, knowing that everything has been taken care of and you won’t have to mediate between your Mum and your Mother-in-Law once it’s done. Bliss!
You can book your hen do treasure hunt in almost all of the destinations we offer.
Other fun hen party games and activities
- Check out our top list of hen party games
- Hen Party Bingo (check out our version on Etsy)
- Guess The Dress (check out our version on Etsy)
- View all of our most popular hen do activities
Conclusion
Whether you book your hen party scavenger hunt or you create an incredible DIY experience, we know that the bride is going to love this one. It gets the girls outside, working and laughing together, and produces some of the most Insta-worthy photos and videos we’ve ever seen!
