iPhone Scavenger Hunt

My daughter Ashley wanted to do something a little different for her 16th birthday party with her friends, so I reached into my old youth ministry toolkit (TheSource4YM.com) and planned something just a little different than the same ol’ same ol.’ We called it the “Great Hunt.”

It was a blast! (I embedded the video below)

We didn’t tell her friends anything in advance other than, “Be here at 4:30 sharp” on a Saturday afternoon. I called three of my friends, who happened to be parents of some of the kids coming and reserved them as ‘drivers.’ At 5:00 I gave them the lists and sent them off!

It was nothing more than my age old video scavenger hunt from our Fun Event & Activity Ideas page, but thanks to modern technology, we didn’t need cameras… because every kid has one in their pocket these days. So I made sure each team had at least one iPhone, and handed them this list:

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The Great Race!
VIDEO HUNT LIST

(ALL VIDEOTAPED ITEMS MUST BE IN ENOUGH LIGHT TO BE CLEARLY SEEN!!!)

Mandatory Category (Must have all of these to qualify for prize!)
Video of…

• A creative introduction to that particular team’s video
• 2 team members being pushed in a shopping cart
• Entire team searching frantically on the ground for a contact lens while someone walks by
• Someone in group chugging an entire can of Dr. Pepper and belching
• Team hanging upside down singing a few lines of the theme song to any TV show

1000 point items
Video of…

• Team member hugging a stranger
• Lady scolding child
• A guy coming out of the girl’s bathroom
• A grocery clerk singing a recognizable song
• Two teenager’s kissing
• Anyone specifically ordering a bean burrito without the tortilla
• Lady walking her dog
• Fitting your entire team on one tree

1500 point items
Video of…

• Person peeling out in a car (team vehicles not included)
• A fireman in uniform
• Someone (other than a team member) buying “Depends”
• Someone making a citizen’s arrest
• Little kid singing Mary Had a Little Lamb
• A team member asking a grocery store employee where the hemorrhoid medication is
• Team member hugging a gas station attendant

3000 point items
Video of…

• A dog relieving himself on a fire hydrant

• A policeman in uniform to singing the theme to COPS, “Bad Boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do”

• Old lady beating a team member with her purse
• An ambulance driving with its siren on
• Someone crawling out of a manhole
• Entire team coming out of a VW bug

25,000 point item
Video of a 300 pound Rottweiler eating an entire Carl’s Jr. salad bar

500,000 point item
Video of an alien spaceship abducting someone

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Then I gave them the following instructions:

1. All videos must be shot ‘landscape’, not ‘portrait.’ Portrait videos don’t count.

2. All videos must have at least 1 second of pre-roll before the event shot (this was so when we watched the videos at the end we could actually see what took place. People always hit the button as the event is happening and you miss half of it)

Then I told them, “Back here at 6:21PM sharp. Every minute you’re late is minus 1,000 points.”

I handed them their lists and they were off!

The kids had a blast. Even my parent drivers had a great time. When they came back, I plugged in their phones to my Mac and edited the videos together really quick while they swam and at pizza. Then I showed them the video of all their footage. They loved seeing themselves and the other teams. HERE’S THE VIDEO:

Fun stuff! Something you could definitely do at youth group… but plan on about 60-90 minutes to slap the video together at the end (maybe even show it the next week).