How to Host a DIY Escape Room Birthday Party for Kids at Home
DIY escape room puzzles are fun. Try them yourself!
Escape rooms are the perfect venue for celebrating a birthday as they present unique challenges for the entire group.
You must work together as a team to solve the puzzles before time runs out.
But in an event like a pandemic when social distancing is the norm, DIY escape room games are the next best thing.
DIY escape room puzzles are the perfect blend of adventure and madness.
So, it’s hardly surprising that kids love them!
We’ve compiled a list of exciting puzzles and a step-by-step guide to help you host an elaborate escape room birthday party for kids at home!
How to Plan a DIY Escape Room Game?
When planning a DIY escape room game for kids, you must include clear goals.
This helps the young escape artists focus on the target in the ensuing chaos of a kid’s birthday party.
The goal in real escape room is to find keys or solve riddles for codes to open doors.
For a DIY escape room, you can create a lockbox and store the key inside.
The initial steps to creating a DIY escape game are:
- Create a lock and a set of three keys.
- Select an escape point. The front and back doors are ideal as they’re easy to locate.
You can use a regular bike lock in the game. But kids find them difficult to handle.
Locating the right props for the players is one of the primary challenges of creating an escape room game at home.
Make your own locks at home using plastic cups, shoe boxes, or even a giant bowl.
You can decorate it or keep it simple and hide the keys inside.
Make sure that the keys are noticeable and the kids can access theme easily.
The keys are equally easy to make. You can use clay, cardboard, pipe cleaners, straw, or paper to craft your keys.
Just make sure that kids know what they’re searching for.
Set Clear Goals
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Every participant must know what to look for.
If you’ve picked the front or rear doors as the exit, decorate it with streamers, balloons, banners, or something even more obvious.
Once you’re done, place the lockbox near it.
Place prizes on the other end of the door to make it even more interesting for the kids.
You can place goodie bags, candies, toys, pinatas, and any else that the kids might love.
Prizes are a crucial element of a DIY escape game.
Have Clear Instructions
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The kids must have two pieces of crucial information before they start playing.
These are:
- The total number of hints they get
- The time limits
Both of these depend on the participants’ age and competitiveness.
Real escape rooms give players an hour to solve the puzzles and find their way out.
The kids can have three hints and 60-minutes to escape the room.
Hide the Keys in Plain Sight
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Where you hide the keys will define the type of puzzle you create and the solution.
For instance, if you hide the key inside the closet, the solution must lead to the puzzle.
Since most DIY escape room games are hosted at home, the solutions include objects that are commonly found lying around the house.
For instance, vacuum cleaners, book cases, TV stands, fridges, fish tanks, window sills, flower vases, shoe racks, and fruit bowls are excellent props.
For birthday-specific escape games, try leaving hints around birthday banners, cupcakes, treats, pinatas, goodie bags, and other related items and decorations.
Disclaimer – Since the participants are young, make sure the hiding spots are easy to reach.
How to Create an Escape Room for Kids?
Now that you’ve made your lock and keys, it’s time to join the dots and set up the puzzle.
Here’s a step-by-step guide explaining how the puzzle connects so that the story flows flawlessly.
For the first puzzle, hide the keys at three locations.
The first key by the cupcakes, the second by the freezer, and the third one by the pinata.
The goal is to lead the players from the first puzzle to the second and then the third.
How to Connect the Puzzles?
For our challenge we’ve picked the following games:
- Jigsaw Puzzle Balloon Pop
- Cupcake Surprise
- Birthday Banner Tangle
- Pinata
Jigsaw Puzzle Balloon Pop Game
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For this game, you’ll need a lot of confetti, balloons, and a paper jigsaw puzzle.
Stuff the balloon with the jigsaw puzzles and confetti and once the game starts, blow them up.
The jigsaw puzzle should point to the location of the first key when solved.
Round up the kids in an enclosed space and free the balloons.
The players must pop the balloons, gather the pieces, and solve the jigsaw.
The solution should lead to the cupcake waiting in the next room.
Cupcake Surprise
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Creating this puzzle is a messy affair, but the kids will surely love it.
Have a set of cupcakes specifically made for the challenge and place it far away from where the treats are kept.
Hide the first key inside one cupcake and a puzzle leading to the second key in another one.
The second puzzle can be anything as long as it fits inside a cupcake.
Secret codes in plastic bags and riddles are your top options.
The solution should lead the kids to the second key kept inside the closet.
Birthday Banner Tangle
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You’ll need several banners for this one.
Write the next clue on the back of one banner.
Since you’re trying to point them to the closet, you can provide hints like vacuum cleaner, broom, etc.
Once you’ve written the clue, tangle the banners together so that the clue isn’t instantly obvious.
Inside the closet, the kids should discover the location of the third and final key, which is hidden in the pinata.
Create a scramble using the letters of “pinata” and ask the kids to solve the riddle.
Pinata
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If the exit is the back door, place the pinata in the front yard or vice versa.
Let the kids take a swing at the pinata under adult supervision.
After all three keys are placed in the lock, the game is over, and it’s time for collecting prizes.
Ready to Host Your DIY Escape Room Birthday Party for Kids?
DIY escape rooms puzzles are easy to make and can be created out of household items.
Don’t shy away from getting creative as long as the kids are having fun!
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