Previously, I wrote about holding a Princess Tea Party as part of a Princess Party. The next event at my daughter’s party was a quest.

My husband, Jason Pomerantz, ran the quest, so I asked him to write a post about it. Here’s what he wrote…

Whenever a group of princesses get together, it’s traditional that they be presented with some sort of quest. My daughter’s princess party was no exception.

The basic concept was that we would scatter clues around the house, each of which would lead to the next. The final clue would lead to some sort of grand prize.

The first thing we had to decide was what would the grand prize be? We choose the heart shaped “princess piñata” Lisa had bought.

The next step was to prepare the clues. Originally, we had considered making very elaborate, colorful envelopes, with streaming ribbons or what not. Maybe we’d roll sheets of paper into little scrolls and tie them to princess figurines.

As it worked out, the reality of time constraints set in and we couldn’t get nearly that fancy. I just hand wrote most of the clues on plain paper and folded them into simple envelopes. Each envelope was labeled “Clue 1”, “Clue 2”, etc. Since the princesses were all around five years old, the lack of ornament didn’t really make any difference.

We decided where the clues would be hidden and I wrote each one so that it contained a very simple hint where to find the next. Nothing at all complicated since my daughter and her guests were still very young. I carefully kept a separate list of where each clue should be placed.

To do the quest right, it’s helpful to have confederates. In my case, they were my twelve year old son, a family friend, and my mother. While Lisa conducted the Princess Tea Party, I made plans with my son. At my signal, he would sneak out of the house and lie an envelope containing “Clue 1” by the door. Then he’d ring the bell several times and run away.

It worked perfectly. As the tea party wrapped up, I gave him the signal. A few moments later the bell rang and, in my loudest, most hammy voice I said “What’s that? Someone at the door? Let me see who it is.” All the girls turned to watch. I opened up and said “Why, no one’s there! What’s this? A letter? Let’s see what this is.”

I stepped back to the tea party table, opened the letter and began to read. “Dear Princesses, The Heart of the Princess has been lost! Can you help find it? Follow the clues. The first clue can be found on the fence in the back yard. Love, the Fairy Godmother.”

When I finished, the little girls got very excited and they all leapt up and ran to the backyard.

I had given my son the pile of clue envelopes and the list of the locations where each should be hidden. We agreed that he would stay a few steps ahead of me, and carefully place the numbered envelopes in the appropriate places around the house and property. So, after he had rang the door, he had run to the fence and scotch taped the envelope there.

The girls arrived, screeching and squealing, and soon spotted the envelope. Since they were too young to read by themselves, I had them hand it to me. “Good work!” I read. “You’ve found the first clue. The next can be found on a soft place where a princess rests her head.” They had to think about this for a while, but, eventually, with a little prompting from me, they hit upon the pillow on the bed in my daughter’s room, where, sure enough, my son had placed the next envelope.

And so it went, for several clues. One was hidden in the “coldest place in the house”, which turned out to be the refrigerator. One was “beneath a comfortable place to sit”, in other words, under the couch.

For the last two clues, we did something special. We have a room we use as a sort of combination office and playroom. In it, there’s an electric piano and a computer. The hint for the second-to-last clue said “It’s hidden on top of something that makes music”.

My mother plays the piano and, earlier in the party, she had led the girls in some songs, so they all knew where to look.

They ran upstairs and found the envelope right away. It said “The last clue will be on the computer screen, after you all sing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star‘.” I had planned this out with my mother, so she had come up with us and was ready to play. The girls sang with great enthusiasm. (It could have been any song. I just wanted something simple that they were all sure to know.)

When they finished, we stepped over to the computer and I turned on the screen. Earlier, I had typed the message in Microsoft Word. I had set the characters to a fancy font, and made the letters very large and simply left them on the screen with the monitor off. I knew it was unlikely that any girl would turn it on by themselves.

The message said “Congratulations! You’ve solved all of the clues. Now you can find the Heart of the Princess. Just look outside on the swing set!”

All the girls ran downstairs and out to the backyard. I had arranged with our family friend to hang the heart-shaped princess piñata there while the girls and I were upstairs. Of course, they were very excited when they saw it, and they immediately set about attempting to retrieve as much candy as they could.

The Princess Quest was a success!

Thanks Jason! I just wanted to add that my daughter still asks if the fairy godmother really came to her party! I’d say The Quest was the highlight of the party. I’d highly recommend fitting some sort of quest or treasure hunt into your kid’s party, whatever the theme may be.

-Lisa