How this family hosted the escape room party of the decade!

Our kids grew out of the preschool Halloween party games, so we started searching for a new and super fun way to celebrate the season. Five years ago I came across a virtual escape game on the computer and my mind started working to figure out how to make that a 3D experience.

This is our fifth year making our home into an escape house and The Lost Mummy game was the perfect jump start to our inspiration this year.

My kids were the first ones to go through the escape game that had slowly been taking over our house during the month; they were anxious to figure things out and they loved it! Since they knew how everything worked, we were so grateful for their help in giving clues and resetting the rooms as quickly as possible before the next group entered.

Our younger two enjoyed playing with their friends as they were waiting for their turn in the Oasis. Our older three helped in the rooms.

It was a great experience for them to learn when to give clues and when to wait and let them figure it out on their own. Kind of like parenting - lol.

This is what my kids said about the experience with huge grins on their faces and lots of excitement,

"It was so much fun to watch their faces in total confusion and give simple clues when they got stuck. Watching their faces when things clicked was the best part. We loved helping out!"

It was fascinating to see how some groups worked together and others did not.

You could spot the leaders pretty quickly and those who were just along for the ride. It was great to get two leaders in a group and see how they delegated responsibilities to each other.

Families did a great job including their younger kids in the process, even though they didn't understand the puzzles.

Absolutely!

We've enjoyed doing this for five years and we are pretty sure you never grow out of it, since the adults love it just as much as the kids and teens! In fact, we have done this game three different ways so far.

The first time, we used the "Lost Mummy" as it is. The second time, was our escape house. The third time, we took our house down and transferred it to the children's theatre fundraiser where it got tons of attention and use as well.

Great question! After five years we are getting great at this! As I create I think about the set up and how we can make things work and still be able to live pretty normally.

Our secret is to use refrigerator boxes as walls!

They paint up really great and can be moved with very little effort. When you are done-you can toss them.

I've learned what NOT to block off (like the hallway to the living room) and even though it was blocked when the game was up, all we had to do was fold the box in half and lean it up against the wall so it wasn't in the way.

I also use yards of fabric to block off areas that still need to function with little disturbance.

The props for each room fit into a bin.

We left them in their rooms and the set up easy.

We certainly know how to create an 'experience,' and everyone loves to come! They are fully drawn into the experience and love to get close up to the props.

However, we aren't the only party people in our community. Every summer we volunteer as the prop directors of our local Children's Musical Theater. We put on some pretty epic shows/events. They are also great at putting on parties/events and we feed off each other's ideas and borrow each other's props.

We support each other and it's nice to attend a fun event you didn't have to plan.

For a cardboard box set and foam props - great!

We put "the Mummy" soundtrack on during the event and the music added a great mysterious mood. It would have been fun to add crashing noises and such; maybe we'll figure that out this year.

We also tried to create things they would have had in the movie, like the scarab beetles, canopic jars, Egyptian murals, treasure, sarcophagus's, and the 'Book of the Dead.'

While waiting in the Oasis, we had "the Mummy" (with Brandon Fraser) playing and that kept people occupied. We also had a snack bar several of the nights, so they could just chat and eat also. It worked great! The teens didn't want to leave (which we loved).

We could put a new group of 4-6 people in every 15 minutes, so they didn't have to wait long to get in. We rigged the game to have 4 groups in the house at one time (yep that's 16-24 people in the escape house all working on clues). Each room took 15 minutes to accomplish roughly.

With a little trial and error, the kids and I knew which clues people needed the most to keep them moving along in their 15 minute time slots, so no one got frustrated.

Once a group moved to the next room, another group was entering the one they left (with a 30 second reset up time in each room). It was a smooth transition.

We also had each group set a timer on their phone. The game was, "who can get through with the best time!" If they had to wait a minute or two for the previous group to clear a room, we just had them pause their timer. This way everyone got through the whole game in a timely manner, and no one had to wait for a long time.

Tough question…

... we loved the original ideas from lock paper scissors!

We used every part in some part of our house, just took them from paper to 3D and added a twist or an extra clue to get the pieces they needed for it.

My husband loved making his puzzle boxes (like 'the Book of the Dead') and creating the sarcophagus and snake.

I enjoyed making the canopic jars, the maze in the hall with scarab beetles, and painting everything.

Do it! It's super fun!

• Use an existing escape game to get ideas from or piggy back off of; it saves time and brain power (lock paper scissors has several that would be great).


• Plan in advance. Map what you're doing out on paper, then plan out how you will accomplish each task and set aside time for it.


• Get your family involved. They don't have to know how the puzzles work to help you modge podge, paint, or create; and they'll learn a thing or two along the way.


• If you are going to put this big of event together, invite everyone you know to enjoy it. Or plan your kid's birthday parties around it, so several kids can enjoy it. We did this for 4 weekends, including 2 birthday parties.

We are so grateful for Lock Paper Scissors great idea and are honored to be featured here to inspire you! We hope you have a great time and try out some of these great suggestions.