The Ultimate Teen Scavenger Hunt Review

A while back, I was sent an opportunity to review The Ultimate Teen Scavenger Hunt. This is a print-and-play game which is great if you have a bunch of teens at your house that are bored and wanting something to do. I had downloaded everything from the PDF files and started reading a planning.

This is the entire Scavenger as it prints out...stock up on paper and colored ink!

My teenage daughter is very active both in school and out. Plus, with my husband gone frequently, planning a scavenger hunt in the middle of the week is out of the question. So, after looking at our calendar, with every weekend planned, we decided that Spring Break would be the best time to plan this Scavenger Hunt with her friends.

The invitation

As we sat down to plan, we realized that some friends would be out of town, some would be busy...bottom line, it was going to be hard to find enough to do this Scavenger Hunt the way it should be done. So a slight modification would be in order, but still we were excited about it.

Then as it came down to talking to parents, getting permissions, questions were asked about what kind of things we would be doing. This is where this particular game has some flaws, in my opinion.  Reading through many of the Dares, they weren't so bad....

• How many stores are in the mall?
• How many public toilets does Wal-mart have in total?
• How many dining tables does McDonald's have in total? (they are referring to the exact restaurant you are at, not in total of all the McDonald's)
• How many chapters does the book "Pride and Prejudice" have?
• How many working washing machines does the Laundry Mat have?
• What on the menu (at the Ice Cream Shop) has the most calories?
• What type of animal in the store (Pet Shop) has the longest expected life span?
• What would it cost to buy everyone on the team a can of coke and a snickers bar? (at the Gas Station) 
• What piece of playground equipment is farthest north (at the Playground)?

But when we got to some of the dares, I had some parents that were quite concerned. Maybe we are just old-fashioned, or hang out with old-fashioned people, but most parents told me that they would not allow their child to participate with some of these Dares. I had thought of re-creating the scavenger hunt in order to save the adventure, but by then the parents were too disenchanted. Here are some examples of the Dares:

• (At the Pet Shop, to be on video) 2 team mates walk up to a stranger in the store and start petting them as if they were a kitty and talking about how "cute and cuddly they are." Wonder out loud about "how much you think this one would cost."
• (At the Gas Station, on video) Convince a customer to let you give them a tour of the gas station. Talk like a tourist guide and show them all the "attractions" in the station: pumps, candy aisle, coffee maker, bathrooms, lottery machine, etc.
• (At the Playground, on video) Entire team swinging together on one swing.
• (At the Mall, take a picture) Get 4 strangers to spell out "YMCA" with their bodies.
• (At Wal-Mart, take a picture) One team mate completely mummified in toilet paper pushing a grocery cart while "shopping" in the clothing department.
• (At McDonald's, on video) Write "TIPS" on an empty cup. Stand up and do an interpretive dance and/or other performance art for at least 5 minutes or until a stranger actually tips you.

I think most parents were concerned that with each group having 5 members, some with no parental supervision, some of these actions would lead to their teens getting in trouble with the establishment: getting kicked out, security called, or worse. Some of these, like the pet shop and gas station could put a teen in danger with strangers. The one on the Playground, with all the team members on one swing...that is bound to break the swing, so who would be responsible? These were just some of the concerns that parents discussed with me. 

For some families, these types of things would be harmless fun, but for our group of friends , these were just too much to play along with. I know the teens we were going to involve would love doing all this, but as parents, some of these actions go against the values that we are trying to instill in our teens.

I love the idea of this Printable Scavenger Hunt and I think the Truth's were great! I just wish that there were more "innocent" Dare's so that my daughter and her friends could have participated. Another thought would be if the game could be personalized some, based on the stores around you, the number of kids involved and how far do you want to push the boundaries on a Dare.

There are many more Scavenger Hunts that can be found at Print To Play. The price is great and would be perfect with summer coming up and kids that are "bored." There are several on this website that I would be willing to try again...just because one did not work for my family does not mean that there are not any other ones that would work! Check them out and see what you think about it. 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.