The Treasure Hunt Grand March.
Hide peanuts or small favors or covered candies in every conceivable spot. Guests are lined up with partners as if for a Grand March. The line of march is around the room without coming up the middle. When the music begins leaders start marching. Suddenly the director’s whistle sounds as the signal that the hunt is on. They break ranks and scramble to find the hidden peanuts. Two whistles sound sharply, the signal to discontinue the search at once, find your partner and get into the line of march, which is straggly and uneven at best, but it makes no difference as long as everyone is in it and no one is hunting peanuts. The music and marching continue until another single whistle proclaims an open season for peanuts, the last one.
At the double whistle they continue their marching as before except that the leaders bring the line down the center, and all halt while the director finds out who didn’t get any peanuts and who got the most.
The winner is called out, stationed in front of the line, and they are all obliged to pass by him and give him all their peanuts. They do this with weeping and wailing until they hear your announcement at the end that as a punishment for his greediness he in turn is to give up all his peanuts to the unfortunates who didn’t get any!
The Harmonious Hunt.
Are you looking for the kind of game that leaves guests exhausted with that comfortable exhaustion that comes from helpless laughter?
Divide your group into teams, each team having a captain and an individual team call. Calls may be braying like a donkey; mooing like a cow; cock-a-doodle-doo-ing; whistling; cat-calling; meowing; barking; quacking; baa-ing; gobble-gobbling; or imitating sounds of instruments like the drum, rubba-dubb-dubb; the piccolo, tweedle-deedle-dee; the trombone, boom-boom-boom; the triangle, knick-knock-knock; the mandolin, plank-plank-plank; the cymbal, zum-zum-zum; the accordion, yea-yea-yea, in each case pantomiming the action as well as imitating the sound. The action for the accordion inflicts real punishment on its imitators. Arms are bent upward and elbows are thrust out sideways and drawn in rapidly. This is particularly good for stout people.
Each team is assigned one of these calls and must use only that way of calling to the team captain. Peanuts or candy or favors are hidden in every conceivable spot. When the signal is given the hunt is on. No one, however, except a captain, is allowed to touch a peanut. That is the reason for the call. As soon as a person finds a peanut he stands beside it and sends out an S. O. S. for his captain, using his team call as the signal for help. The captain answers each call by running to the spot and picking up the peanut. After a definite length of time the closing signal is given and the hunt is over. Each captain counts his find, and the losing teams must give up all their peanuts to be divided equally among the winners in spite of inevitable protests.
This game may be used for either indoor or out-of-door parties.