Excited? Running for your life? Daunted by what to do with your kids and their 2 friends at home?
Don't worry, you've got this!
If you're short on time just download a ready to play kit (printable). Otherwise, this guide has everything you need to get started and crush quarantine boredom.
Don’t believe me? That’s what video games do!
Sure, it looks like they’re shooting zombies or fighting the evil empire, but they’re also using their critical-thinking skills to devise strategies and (often) work with other players as a team.
An escape game offers the exact same mental challenges and exciting “a-ha!” moments, but in a live setting where all the kids can participate at once.
They’ll have puzzles to solve. An imaginary danger to overcome. Opportunities to revel in imagination and show off their ability to think on their feet.
And don't worry, just because it's an escape 'room' game, doesn't mean you have to lock the kids inside. You can play all of these games outside for some summer escape room magic!
Plus, kids can be like a pack of goblins - the more kids you invite, the more likely it is someone is going to feel left out. Many a parent has rued the decision to invite most of a son’s or daughter’s class only to realize they now have to invite the rest of the class members to be fair.
The perfect number of kids for an escape adventure group is four to six. If you have more than six, you can divide them into teams and let them compete to finish first. So no matter how many guests you invite, it’s easy to make sure everyone can join in the fun.
Sure, your kids would be delighted if you pulled out all the stops: hired a clown and a magician, rented a bouncy house, and served a four-foot-tall minion cake, but it’s not necessary. For example, you can print a complete escape game kit for less than the cost of party snacks.
Plus, birthday parties are supposed to be celebrations (dare I say 'fun'). If you’re finding yourself dreading the event, you’re doing it wrong.
Kids escape rooms are the perfect balance of being awesome without breaking the budget.
Sugar happens.
I’m afraid you’re on your own on this one. My advice? Put a definite end time for the party on the invitations, and encourage parents to pick up their kids promptly.
Generally, a game will take kids around 45 minutes to an hour, which is a perfect amount of time for a birthday party. You can plan on 30 minutes to arrive and greet each other, an hour for the game, another hour for cake and presents, and just as the sugar is kicking in, your party is coming to an end.
The easiest way to host an escape adventure at your kid’s party is to download one of our ready-to-play escape kits. Our printable escape kits come with everything you need to host a full 45- to a 60-minute game.
To set up the game for your party group, you’ll print the game PDF on a color printer (or take it to an office store like Kinko’s and have it printed for you) and gather a few supplies (scissors, tape, some scratch paper, and pens or pencils).
And you can set the stage with the included posters or themed “dollar-store” party decorations if you want.
That’s it.
When the kids are ready to play, you hand them the introductory game cards and let them start solving the puzzles. When they solve a puzzle correctly, you give them the next challenge and so on, until they’ve completed the game!
All the answers to the puzzles (as well as how to solve them) are included in your setup and gameplay instructions, so you can provide help if the kids get stuck.
Yes. It really is that easy!
The kits are incredibly versatile.
If you have a larger group, you can print more versions of the game, divide the kids into teams, and challenge them to see who can finish first.
You can add urgency by setting a timer and challenging everyone to finish the game within the time limit.
You can use the designer kit to adapt the puzzles for different age groups.
If you want to add some extra excitement to the game, instead of handing out the challenge cards, you can lock them in boxes with padlocks programmed to the previous puzzle’s answer.
And, of course, once you’ve purchased the game, it’s yours. So you can print it out and use it as many times as you want. (This can come in especially handy if you’re expecting to host a birthday party for a younger sibling in a couple of years!)
It's easy. Just Grab one of these ready to play birthday escape room kits.
They download instantly and are ready to print & play. All you needs is 2 people and you can even be involved and play with them.
Best of all you can even customize them with the super simple Game Builder. Why not use their birthday year as one of the 4 digit combination solutions? Or add their name as a cipher key. You can change anything, or nothing at all, it's totally up to you.
Pro-tip for the holidays: after you've played, give the simple Game Builder to your kids for them to modify. That's days of fun in your back pocket!
$49
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