Treasure Hunt Influences. Planning Your 2025 Treasure Hunt

Posted on: 02/10/2024

By Tim Carter (Owner of Black Cat Treasure Hunts)

Over the last week I have had two enquiries for treasure hunts in 2025. The first one was for a team building treasure hunt in Worthing for a group who are remarkably familiar with the town, whilst the second one was for a video game themed, stag do treasure hunt in Westminster, London. It actually made me think about the different influences on people for choosing a specific type of treasure hunt and how far they plan in advance for that treasure hunt based on those. Set out below are five further treasure hunts that had quite different beginnings and how they might inspire you to make your own treasure hunt choice.

1. Hen Party Treasure Hunt Booked Over One Year in Advance.
Usually, hen party treasure hunts are booked 3-6 months in advance. I was happy therefore when I saw this one come in. When I thanked the person for the booking, I also congratulated them on their organisation. Her response caught me off guard when she said that she lived in the Netherlands and her co-organiser lived in Australia! Now obviously group emails are a great form of communication but even so I can understand why they felt the need to get things moving early on. The added benefit was that I was able to get ideas together over a long time which I thought would help the personalisation of their treasure hunt.

2. Last Minute Team Building Treasure Hunt.
From the sublime to if not ridiculous then certainly slightly stressful. This company were very understanding how late their enquiry was and the fact that I might not be able to write the treasure hunt for them. They were extremely grateful when I said I had enough time. Last minute in my book is 1-2 weeks.
I never quite found out what had caused them to leave it that late. I feel the reason was one of the following: Either somewhere else had let them down, they coudn`t decide what to do, the person responsible for actually making the booking had left it slightly late, a budget for a Summer social had been made available or maybe they had a change of heart on where they wanted to visit. A Brighton treasure hunt is always a winner!

3. 26th Birthday Treasure Hunt.
I`m happy to write a treasure hunt for any age. Normally it will be for a significant number 21,30,40,50,60 etc so it was unusual to see one for a `random` number. Clearly the birthday person wanted to have a day out with quite a large group (16) and do something a bit different for entertainment.
It took her about a month to decide that a treasure hunt was what she wanted. With so many choices this was understandable and to get `buy in` from the majority of her friends. This left 6 weeks for the treasure hunt to be written and checked ready for their visit. I would say this was spot on for what is needed. For example, I needed to research a number of things and decide how to incorporate the anecdotes her friends had sent into amusing challenges. The feedback I got suggested this had worked really well.

4. 80th Birthday Treasure Hunt in The V&A Museum.
I`m not going to say what you might have thought when you saw the age. This lady was in fine health, looked 70 max and gave me plenty of time to prepare and visit the museum myself. This one was more to do with the choice of venue and linking it to where she lived and her interests in travel and interesting objects. Obviously, a museum is easy for a treasure hunt compiler to find quirky items to set questions to, although the main problem is selecting from so many options and spreading things out.
The birthday girl`s guests came from all sorts of places but were excited of course to go to an iconic venue.

5. 167 Treasure Hunters on a Team Building Treasure Hunt.
You might think this was planned years in advance and in a way it was. I had written several treasure hunts for the same company up to 5/6 years ago through the same person but for smaller numbers. I had to first establish my credibility that I could write a fun treasure hunt for them and organise the activity by myself on the day. Fast forward to January 2024 and an enquiry for this large number to be taking part in a treasure hunt all at the same time . Bexhill became awash with all sorts of colour coded teams! Place, time and `after activity` venue took about a month to confirm which left me four months to think about and write a treasure hunt which would seamlessly intrigue and involve lots of people at the same time. I think I pulled it off! I was at the presentation to teams afterwards which was a lot of fun and an essential way to complete that kind of activity.

Some treasure hunts need less lead in time like a Brighton Bank Heist Treasure Hunt. This has a set format and a fast and furious nature.
If you already know what sort of treasure hunt you want and when for then please contact me on info@blackcattreasurehunts.co.uk 
If you need a bit more help on deciding how longs will take or what is suitable for you then please call me (Tim..or..Black Cat if you want to be mysterious!) on (01323) 655346.
Calls answered immediately or within 24 hrs if I don`t pick up. This most likely means I am currently on the road on treasure hunt business or maybe doing some shopping!