We love escape rooms! The little puzzles and code boxes are so satisfying to decipher, it was only natural that our little girl would ask for an escape room for her birthday party! As it turned out, putting together the clues was just as enjoyable as figuring it out myself!
As guests arrived they came into the kitchen and started a craft. But about 5 minutes in, one of my kids came in and declared that someone had taken all the presents and left a note!
The clues in the note led them upstairs to the game room where there was a lock on one of the doors, and a balloon.
Popping the balloon revealed a key and a note that read, “Harry Potter loved to read…”
This led them to the bookshelf where there was a hidden key inside of a decrepit duplicate copy of Harry Potter. (While several party guests expressed shock over the damage to Harry Potter, I promise, the book was already on its last legs!)
Next, they needed to break the code to the bike chain that was around the door. (If I were to do it again, I’d use a different chain, because this didn’t securely hold the doors, and I had to remind the guests to open the lock, rather than rip it off.) The code was written on a party banner hanging on the wall.
Opening these doors revealed the kidnapped sister in handcuffs with a make-believe “explosive device” around her neck.
These two devices and several others that I hid around the room, came from The Ultimate Operation Escape Room Game that was a gift from my sister. It’s great for younger kids, but the older party guests just broke into most of the devices, rather than trying to figure out how to open them.
Once the victim was free, the kids began searching the room for clues.
They found a hidden key that opened a violin case revealing another set of keys.
Those keys unlocked the cooler, which revealed another game device.
They found a box inside of a backpack that was shut with zip ties. Another option would be to just secure the backpack with zip ties, but putting zip ties around the box gave another element to figure out.
They also found some scissors inside a drawer that had a combo lock around them.
The combination code was the playing cards taped to the desk. (For older kids, I would put the cards in another spot in the room, but it took the younger kids a long time to figure this one out.)
Cutting the zip ties opened the box and revealed components that went to another part of the operation game. And inside of that device was a black light.
I had several codes hidden around the room written in black light.
We already owned this safe, and they had to search the room for the clues to open it.
Inside was another game device that revealed a hidden black light message.
The kids had to use this decoder ring to decipher the clue.
The decoder ring gave them the word “Read” which opened this master lock.
The birdcage revealed another device from the Escape Room game that they had to figure out how to open.
That device opened to reveal another black light message that they needed the decoder ring to crack.
The decoder message led them to the guest bedroom where they found all of the confiscated Birthday presents.
We had 19 kids, ages 6-11 trying to do the room, which was probably too many, because I noticed some kids just sitting around while others figured out clues. But for the most part, I think everyone had fun!
The Humble Chair 