As I mentioned a few times already, my husband and I got to take a child-free trip last weekend with a bunch of couples from our church. We try to do an annual Couples’ Retreat in Pigeon Forge, TN but the last time Brandon and I were able to go was February of 2010, a few weekends before Spencer was born.
#9 – Wearing an animal hat (20 points!)
This year, we wanted to do something fun with the group, because the majority of the time during the couples’ retreat is spent just walking around and shopping with your spouse or a small group. So while we’re all in the area together, we aren’t with one another the whole time.
We decided to do a photo scavenger hunt during our weekend and I figured there was a smartphone app that would help us collaborate on the hunt. I stumbled upon the Scavenger Hunt with Friends app, available for iPhones and Android devices. It comes in a paid, full version for $0.99 or a free version with somewhat limited features. For our purposes, we were able to set up a free basic scavenger hunt for up to 10 users (we had each couple share one account). You can do larger scavenger hunts for a small fee with added features, but we didn’t need that this time.
# 5 – Pushing the ball in front of Ripley’s
Brandon and I came up with a list of 16 items for couples to find, with different point values depending on how difficult we figured it would be to get the photos. Here’s our list for the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, TN area:
- Fireworks store – 10 points
- Apple fritters – 10
- Talking to the timeshare booth people – 40
- Something personalized with your name on it – 30
- Pushing the ball outside Ripley’s in Gatlinburg – 30
- Posing with a UT fan (UK was playing UT that weekend) – 30
- Stuffed bear larger than you – 20
- “As Seen On TV” item – 20
- Wearing an animal hat – 20
- Airbrushed shirt – 10
- Mullet – 30
- Posing at a wedding chapel – 30
- Magician – 30
- Stack of pancakes – 10
- Cupid (It was Valentine’s Day weekend) – 10
- Dolly Parton – 10
Some couples really got into the hunt and even got up early on Saturday morning to get started. It was fun to be able to see one another’s photos and see how they interpreted the instructions. The hunt wasn’t totally void of flaws, as we had one couple who didn’t get into the hunt because of a mixup with their username. There was no way for me to add them once the scavenger hunt had started. The app requires 3G or WiFi to work, which in most cases was fine, but at times people had to take the photo and wait for better service before uploading them to the hunt.
We didn’t have a prize for our scavenger hunt winner, but you could easily make this very competitive with a group and have a lot of fun staying connected through the game even while you’re doing different things!
*I wasn’t paid to do this review, I just found the app and genuinely liked it.
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