If there is a children's birthday party on your horizon consider planning a treasure hunt party.  Taking on the challenge of preparing a treasure hunt party can be as relaxing or as strenuous as you make it.  You don't need to invest a lot of to time to prepare for treasure hunt party fun.  In fact, you can prepare for treasure hunt party fun entirely on the day of the party itself if you so choose.  No matter how complicated or simple the rules are, how elaborate the clues are, or how extensive the rewards at the end of the search are, throwing a treasure hunt party for your child all but guarantees a great time will be had by all.

A treasure hunt party provides an activity which all the guests can participate in.  This discourages the formations of cliques and exclusive groups during the party and encourages everybody to mingle equally and work together.  A treasure hunt party is equally good for groups of children who know each other well and for groups which may be pulled from many circles of a child's life and therefore may not have a lot in common.  When you invite people to a treasure hunt party, you don't need to worry that they will be left out of the fun, because a treasure hunt is by its nature inclusive.  Everybody gets to play together, and everybody gets to know each other.

If you want to do everything in your power to ensure that every child at the treasure hunt party is involved in the hunt, prepare for treasure hunt party fun with that goal in mind.  There are many ways to structure a hunt, and perhaps the simplest way is also the best way to get everybody to work together.  To prepare this treasure hunt party, create one clue to where the treasure is and then give every child who attends the treasure hunt party a piece of the clue.  When all the children put their pieces together over the course of the treasure hunt party, they will be able to find the treasure.  This is a good way to structure a treasure hunt party if you are afraid that your child's friends may become competitive, because with this kind of treasure hunt party there is no way for anybody to win before anybody else.  If you have some time to prepare, you can buy a jigsaw puzzle and write the clue on it, then give each child some of the pieces.  If you are in a bit more of a hurry, consider giving each child a scrap of paper with a few words of the clue written on it, then leave it to the children to put their pieces together in order and unscramble the meaning of the clue.

A treasure hunt party can be adapted to provide fun for all ages, but in all likelihood children under seven or eight won't appreciate a treasure hunt party as much as their slightly older counterparts.  If you have a very young child, consider having a treasure hunt party without clues, perhaps one that has simpler rules or is based on looking around to find visual symbols, such as flags, rather than deducing locations through verbal clues and advanced logic. 

When you are planning your treasure hunt party, be realistic about the level of reasoning and the amount of patience which you can expect from your guests.  Remember that a treasure hunt party is no fun for anybody if the hunt is so challenging that the treasure can't be found!