Our son, Tim, just celebrated his ninth birthday, and we thought of a great alternative to a "normal" birthday party. As my wife, Michele, and I were discussing what should be done for his party, she came up with all of the typical children's celebrations such as a bowling party, a skating party, a Chuck-E-Cheese party, etc., all of which I answered with, "Oh, No!"
She then challenged me with, "Okay, smarty, what would YOU suggest?" So, in my typical sarcastic manner, I said, "Since Tim enjoys the 'sport' of Geocaching, let's hide his present in the forest somewhere, let him invite a few of his buddies, and I'll give him the coordinates for him to try and find it!
Well, I was fully expecting to get a smack for the remark, but Michele said, "Wait a minute, you may have something there." Since we go geocaching as a family and the kids absolutely love it, why not? So, we refined the idea over dinner. What we decided was to establish a personal "cache"; not to be published the normal way online and not to be posted as a challenge to the general geocaching community. This was created solely for our son and four of his friends, just for his birthday celebration.
I settled on Washington Park in downtown Albany, not far from our home, for the event. The party cache consisted of five separate cache components where the boys had to answer questions or solve simple math problems for the missing coordinate numbers for Tim's present. For example, the first requirement: "Go to this monument and look for a plaque in the ground with a date listed as 1893. But, you won't need this number. Instead, count the number of ADULTS on the monument in front of you. Then, count the number of CHILDREN on the monument. Subtract the number of CHILDREN from the number of ADULTS and this remainder will equal the T." The coordinates for his present were N. 42 39.4 B D, W. 073 46.T I M, and the boys solved for the B, D, T, I, and M.
When they successfully solved all five components, they keyed in the numeric answers for the missing coordinate numbers and found the present, in the form of a 30 cal. ammo can, filled with goodies. What a great sight to see the five boys, ages eight and nine, running through Washington Park, through the five cache parts, solving the posed questions, and masterfully operating their Garmin GPS receivers. They had a blast outdoors on a perfect, sunny December afternoon, and I didn't have to suffer through some conventional, indoor, manufactured party.
A final twist for Tim was in the final cache. Along with some party favors for the boys was a certificate for each boy, and on each was a set of coordinates to a local Friendly's Ice Cream shop where they had to navigate me to claim their ice cream sundae treats. They loved the challenge, and the ice cream! Then, just for Tim, on his certificate, was a final set of coordinates which led back to home for some gifts from Mom and Dad. He told us, "this was the VERY best day in my life".
I'd like to acknowledge that We're Dead inspired this party through their RPI cache, Not Too Large a Burden. We hope this idea can guide others to give their children a very enjoyable way to celebrate a birthday!
