11175

Gold Rush Party - Mine for Gold

May 2005

Erin in Livermore, California, USA

Honorable Mention

This is a Gold Rush Themed party.  The party was a camping party.  It was by a creek. 

First I sent a book out to the kids coming to the party.  It was a family party so I told the kids that their Great, great grandpa had saved this mans life when he was coming to California to pan for gold.  The story first started off with the path that the two men took and how one mans life was saved.  Then we talked about how this man had made a fortune and wanted to share what he had earned with his family.  It said that if you follow the clues then they will be found worthy of the prize and they would get it.  In the book I talked about gold rush terms that miners used and had some fools gold and told them not to be fooled by it.  I also sent out a map of the area that they would be in and named places unique names.  It showed where the railroad was, rattlesnake creek, bear creek, you-be-trail, and where this man was attacked by bears.  To make it look older I burned the edges of the map.    

At the party the children had to go on a treasure hunt.  The first part of the hunt was where they had to go around the camp and find the combination to open the trunk.  In the trunk there was gold mining pans, a shovel and a stake to stake their claim.  The treasure hunt had them put together a puzzle, pop balloons filled with shaving cream, and follow clues around camp.    

The next thing the children did was go to the creek and mine for gold.  While the children were mining we stuck gems and fools gold in their pans.  They really thought they had collected the gems and fools gold out of the creek.  It was great.      

Then when the children came back from camp there was a map posted on the side of a tree.  It had a trail with an X that marked the spot.  The children had to go on a nature hike around the camp and creek following signs to the treasure.  Before that day a group of us buried the treasure then put a bid X spot on top of where it was buried.  Towards the end of this nature hike we had them follow a huge arrow pointing around the corner where the X was.  T

he children took the shovel that they had gotten earlier and dug the treasure up.  They found a huge bag of loot.  They went back to the camp and opened the bag; in it they found goodies that I had gotten from a local party store.  It had glow sticks, bouncy balls, candy, and other fun stuff.  The Children loved getting all of the goodies at the end of the hunt.   

For lunch the children had a miners lunch that included chilidogs and gold nuggets (tater tots).  Then for dinner we had pork and beans, corn bread, and a hearty stew.  For dessert we had smores.  For a snack at the creek the kids made a trail mix.  Then they put their trail mix in a plastic bag and wrapped a bandana around the bag.     

Some decorations that we had were signs around the camp.  One was a wanted sign for every kid that was there.  We had a Polaroid camera and when the children came we took there picture and put it on their wanted sign.  This party was very memorable and we had a great time being miners.

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