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Desperately wanting to celebrate Halloween, but found yourself without the time to plan anything? Take on Natalie’s no-thought Halloween party with her scavenger hunt cards. There are three! This is just one!
Have a safe, happy, fun Halloween weekend everybody!
I really don’t like the “fur from a cat” and the “dead animal.” There is already a lot of animal abuse going on during Halloween, especially at the expense of black cats, and who knows what people might do to get these things. I think it’s mean and disrespectful to bring back a dead animal as well. Why don’t we just make it a dead person?
I know you didn’t make it but I’m just aggravated about the animal portion. I would suggest changing those to something else.
I feel good about the ability of our readers to make this sort of decision. 🙂 If I needed to find a dead animal, I’d probably look for a dried up fly carcass in a windowsill. Or, you know…any of the skeletons in my studio, all found in the woods and gathered sustainably.
As the person who made this list, I can assure you that none of the people who I would ever have in my scavenger hunt would ever hurt an animal. The cat fur is usually obtained by someone who has a cat, and cat owners know they are always have cat hair on them somewhere. As for the dead animal, it’s something of a running joke, and has been on the list for 9 years. We’ve been holding these hunts for almost a decade, between a very close group of friends. Also, we did have a dead person on the list for years. It was worth thousands of points. No one ever brought that back though.
I would move heaven and earth to bring back a dead person. Would ashes count?
Ashes totally would have counted- and that’s part of the creativity of the list!
A dead animal could have been a chicken leg from KFC, or even a hamburger patty… all of which you could find at fast food places- you’d be surprised what people will give you if you say you’re on a scavenger hunt 🙂
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I apologize but my geekyness is gnawing at me. I’m a Mortuary Science student soon to graduate, and I can only speak for CA, but “ashes” or more appropriately, cremated remains (ashes & bone fragments left from cremating a dead human body), definitely count as a form of a dead body.
I participated in one of these halloweenie scavenger hunts many moons ago and also had a “dead person” as part of the list. My group just so happened to have someone who was wearing a locket containing a picture of a recently deceased family member and some really pretty stones encased around the locket. Those stones were synthetic diamonds that were made from the cremated remains of the deceased family member. We totally won with that & we also crossed off “creepiest & coolest item obtained” off the judge’s list also! 🙂
It seems as if there will always be people who get upset with anything that might be a little different than what they are used to. Being different is what being offbeat is all about. A simple and close-minded person may see the list as an arduous torture fest, while those who can appreciate the uniqueness of the hunt can turn it into an afternoon of great fun with good friends. A little creativity really does go a long way, and if you have to worry about what your scavenger hunt’s participants might do because if your oddball list, then perhaps you truly need to reconsider whom you are hanging out with in the first place.
As someone in the scavenger hunt, without a soul and/or human heart I desperately looked for an animal I could run over with my car for 50 points. Just kidding.
I guess I understand not letting this list into the hands of assholes, but this group of people aren’t them. Thanks for the concern of black cats. As a caretaker for a black kitty, I absolutely appreciate that concern. I also happened to get a few points from taking the cat fur off of my jacket [because said cat used it as a blankee] and got my 10 points, sans-cruelty [unless you count waking a kitty cruel!] :]
I did something like this with some of my friends one year. Most of the list actually consisted of photos of us with things (which meant someone in the group had to have a camera). There were things like, find an orange car, or take a picture with someone in a costume. It was a lot of fun, and no animals were harmed 😉
We do a photo section as well- the entire list this year was actually 3 pages long 🙂 It had a “things to collect” a “things to photograph” and a “trivia” section. Some teams are better at different sections. The team who won this year did so by getting all of the trivia correct!
Ooh, I love this idea, especially the “taking a picture of you with the thing” the above poster suggested. Everyone has camera phones these days, and it would be a great team game for those too shy to try to get a phone number from a stranger or not wanting to bring a dead animal up to your house (and who would want that?) Really though, animal fur and dead animals can be found WITHOUT shaving your cat, or killing the animal yourself, especially if you live near a busy road. Maybe next year, we’ll throw a big neighborhood party, and I’ll totally steal this idea and print it on spooky stationary.
I’m just picturing a kid coming back holding some roadkill bird in his bare hand. Eww.