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Food Adventure Friday- Week 5

01 December 2011


I am so excited to share this week's Food Adventure: Scavenger Hunt Dinner!!

Yesterday, my December issue of Family Fun Magazine arrived. As I scanned through it, one of the articles caught my eye... it was about how a mom planned an impromptu scavenger hunt dinner. She planned several courses which would each be eaten in a different room of the house. She wrote up clues to lead the kids from room to room, and after each course, she had a simple activity for the kids to do, while she and her husband quickly got everything ready for the next course.

I couldn't wait to give this idea a try... so I didn't. I proposed the idea to my husband and we pulled it all together using the dinner we had already planned, with a few revisions.

We called the kids in for dinner and told them that we were doing something different for dinner... we were having a scavenger hunt. This idea was met by huge excitement, even the two year old stopped crying (he woke up crying from his nap begging for pancakes.)

After reading the first clue, they took off to my youngest's room for carrots and dip (hidden in a plastic container under the covers in his bed.)  I've never seen my kids so excited to eat carrots before!


Next they had to search for their activity. They found a box of Fuzzoodles and quickly got to work creating creatures while my husband and I slipped downstairs to finish the chicken.


After getting their next clue, they brought their creations down to the table for our "centerpiece" and we all enjoyed garlic lime chicken on skewers.  I've made this chicken many times, but never has it received so much fanfare! They just kept saying, "This is soooo good," "This is the BEST dinner."


While we cleaned up from dinner (which wasn't too taxing since we used wooden skewers and paper plates) the kids worked as a team to complete an alphabet train puzzle.



The next clue had the kiddos heading back upstairs to my older son's room for Asparagus. I put the plate inside a Ziplock bag and hid it under the bed!


The next activity was "Build a Bug," which kept them busy enough for us to finish the desert. They even improvised and created a hide and seek game with the bugs while they waited.



The final clue brought the kids to my daughter's room for warm "Apple Donuts," topped with coconut sugar and cinnamon.


At this point, we revealed the big surprise, there was no activity in this room. Instead, it was time for them to put on their swim suits because we were going swimming!


And the best part about an evening swim... by the time we got home everyone was showered, dressed for bed and ready to cuddle up and hear their first Christmas Book of the Advent season!


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10 comments:

  1. Thanks Julie for your sweet note!!! My kids are about the same age as yours! The skewers are a GREAT idea! I'm your newest follower!!!

    XO, Aimee from ItsOverflowing.com

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  2. I absolutely LOVE this idea! I'm gonna have to try it with my girls! I think our readers would love this too. Would you mind linking up with us? Thanks! http://www.toysinthedryer.com/2011/12/fun-stuff-fridays-2.html

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  3. Thanks Jamie- If you do, I'd love to hear how it goes. It wasn't as much work as I thought it would be and the kids had so much fun that before we had even finished they were asking when we could do it again!

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  4. I love reading about your adventures with your kiddos. I have really enjoyed seeing all of the neat activities and ideas on your blog. I would like to pass on the Versatile Blogger Award to you. http://keithaschaos.blogspot.com/2011/12/versatile-blogger-award.html

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  5. Thank you classic-casual-home! I just checked out your blog, and I absolutely envy your eye for design!

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  6. Mo'Betta-- you've got to give it a try- One of my friends keeps calling me an overachiever for having done this, but it seriously was one of the easiest dinners and simplest evenings I've had in a long time. Everyone was so excited, they forgot to whine and fight, and they were so busy with the "activities," that we were able to clean up between courses!

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  7. What a FUN idea!! Thanks for linking up to TGIF! See you Friday,
    Beth =-)

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  8. Thanks Beth! I Love your T.G.I.F. link-up, I always find such fun ideas!

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