Wanda Witch

I threw a Halloween Party this year.  It was no ordinary party.  It was a Halloween Scavenger Hunt meets Amazing Race and I, the host, was to remain anonymous.  My friend Jenna threw one last year and being that we were in Virginia we couldn't attend (it was in Logan, UT).  It sounded amazing and I knew I had to do it.  We had almost the perfect set up here in Cville with so many awesome couples around us.  So we anonymously invited about 35 couples.  We couldn't leave anyone out, but we also anticipated about half to decline the invitation.  But that wasn't the case.  We had 27 couples and about 30 kids RSVP to come. It was a lot of fun and here is basically how it happned:

I used the name Wanda Witch (meckmom.com is the original lady who came up with this), and printed up my invitations.  My good friend Stacey was so kind to come with me late at night and deliver the invitations to everyone's door. It took us two nights to do it.  Here is what part of the invitation said:

Once again, the coveted GWC golden broomstick is up for grabs.  In order to claim the prize, you and your spouse (along with your team) must follow our clues and gather the necessary ingredients for our infamous witches’ brew.  Be the first team to accomplish this test and you will win the golden broomstick and be invited to sit with us on the Grand Witches’ Council.

I set up an email account for Wanda and had people RSVP through email and evite. Of course I sent an invitation to us as well and RSVP'ed too.  I also set up a facebook page for Wanda with some fun facts about her.  She went to school at Hogwarts, is a Twilight and Justin Bieber fan, loves Honey Boo Boo and is in a complicated relationship with Dracula.  I tried to build some hype and would post things every now and again.  It was very tough to stay anonymous and apparently my personality gave me away.  By the night of the party and a good number of people suspected it was me, but I did fool a few people.  

Next I broke everyone into teams and notified them.  The day of the party was pretty crazy because Logan and I had to sneak around town setting our clues up hoping we didn't get caught and they wouldn't be disturbed.  Logan finished setting up the final clue and as soon as he got home we headed to meet everyone at the starting location for the party.  Because there are so many couples with children (basically everyone), I chose to do the whole hunt around the law school and by foot.  If I ever do it again I would like to try it without kids and send the teams all around town.

I wish I would have taken pictures of everything but I didn't want to give myself away.  The starting location was a baseball field called Copeley Field.  Logan had climbed the fence and had each teams cauldron hung up high.  Once the teams got their cauldron down, their first clue was inside.  There was also emergency clues in the cauldrons so if a team couldn't figure a clue out they could open it to lead them to the next location, but you got docked points for opening emergency clues.  The teams all had the same clues to decipher but in a different order.

This first clue read: 

I went to this place to check out a book on spells and potions, but all they had was a bunch of lame law books.  To locate the next clue you must find the book with the call number:

KD_ _ _.W56 _48 1967

The first three blanks can be filled by solving this mathematical equation:

Take the year Edgar Allen Poe was born

Divide it by the number of lives a cat has

Multiply it by the number of eyes Voldomort has

Subtract the day of the month on which Halloween falls.

To get the last blank solve this clue:

Edward Cullen’s fiancé’s last name begins with this letter.

Now that you have the call number, go find your book and turn to page 31 for more instructions. (Hint: 2nd floor, East side)

The clue led them to the law library where they had to find a famous witch trials book.  Inside was a paper leading them to the flagpole to find their clue hidden in the bushes.  This was our only clue that got messed up.  The first team to get there took the paper out of the book.  All the other teams ended up using their emergency clue.

The second clue:

To get your next clue you must text 6 digits to the number 41411.  The first four digits will be found by solving this riddle:

Here’s the next riddle –

You must find this RIDDELL.

He’s no longer around,

But his name’s on the ground

In the garden named “many a spy.”

The next two digits are the numerical month on which Halloween falls.  The number you text will be in this format (i.e. 6 digits, no spaces):

 __ __ __ __ __ __

This clue lead them to the law campus Spies Garden where there are a couple hundred of bricks with names engraved in them on the ground.  They had to find the brick with Riddell's name and use the number on the brick to text it in.  There were a lot of bricks for everyone to scan. Once they sent the text, a reply would come that told them to go to the bike racks and find their next clue there.

The third clue:

When I need a snack, a child will do,

I head to the place where they play.

There are upper and lower, but of the two,

lower kids are much more tast-ay!

It’s tricky you know to capture the beasts,

but when I finally do,

I go under the bridge to enjoy my feast.

You will find your clue there too

This clue took them to the playground in our apartment complex.  The clue was hidden under the bridge.

The fourth clue:

This picture was cut into puzzle pieces.  They had to solve the puzzle.  Once they got there, there was a bucket filled with syrup and water beads and fake body parts.  They had to dig inside to retrieve a key to unlock a lock box that had their next clue.

The fifth clue:

When I’m in the mood for a sport,

I fly on my broom to the court.

I shoot hoops while I’m here,

The softball field’s near –

drink up, I swear it’s not beer!

I loved this one.  This lead them to the basketball court where a container with numbered cups and another lock box were hidden.  

A note read:

Take a straw and drink up!

Your taste buds will reveal the combination.

The combination is:

• chocolate milk

• root beer

• tomato juice

There was about 12 different drink concoctions that they had to take a sip of to find the right drinks and corresponding number to be able to open the lock.  Some of our drinks included: vinegar, soda drinks, bbq sauce. Once they got the combo they could open their next clue.

The sixth clue read:

Don’t not do what Dracula Don’t doesn’t do.

There was a map of Dracula Do and Dracula Don't.  You had to solve the riddle and follow the right Dracula to the next location.

The seventh clue:

Across the street from the north grounds gym you'll find a forest of trees

The rock bed at the bottom is where crazy Joe shot'em

find their remains would you please

This lead them down to a rock bed and a culvert where there was a bucket of body parts and their clue inside. 

The last clue to lead them to the ending location was a google map we altered by changing east to west and adjusted a few other things.  It led them to the pavilion at the Park by campus.  Once they arrived there was a paper Wanda Witch greeting them with instructions to tally up their scores and enjoy the food until all the teams arrived and then I would reveal myself.  

It was fun to see our team figure out the clues.  It was hard to not to help too much without seeming worthless.  Our team came in fifth out of seven teams.  It was a LOT of work, but lots of fun as well.  It was fun to plan it with Logan.  We were constantly on the lookout for new ideas, and coming up with riddles.    

A few people had left before we took the picture but this was most of us.  We will be so sad when the day comes to leave Cville and all these wonderful people.

We dressed in red since we were the Red Ravens.