{"id":101,"date":"2005-11-14T18:40:00","date_gmt":"2005-11-14T16:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thisnormallife.com\/?p=101"},"modified":"2009-12-29T15:02:02","modified_gmt":"2009-12-29T13:02:02","slug":"bat-mitzvah-treasure-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thisnormallife.com\/2005\/11\/bat-mitzvah-treasure-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"Bat Mitzvah Treasure Hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nMerav\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bat mitzvah had been going great\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d finished the first round
\nof dancing and the guests had loaded up their plates with homemade
\nravioli and teriyaki salmon. The bat mitzvah girl was beaming from all the
\nattention and we were generally feeling like everything was under
\ncontrol and proceeding according to our carefully crafted plan.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nIndeed, after all the months of organization leading up to the big day,
\nkeeping the evening flowing was critical. There were speeches to give
\nand songs to sing, not to mention my world-famous PowerPoint
\npresentation to project.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nThen my brother Dave stood up, took the microphone, and made an announcement to the assembled crowd.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153On your tables you will find several strips of paper,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said with a
\nglimmer in his eye. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153These are clues. They are part of a puzzle for you
\nto solve for Merav\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bat mitzvah.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nMurmurs immediately began gurgling forth.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But let me give you a hint,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Dave continued. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have all the
\npieces of the puzzle. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to have to work together to solve
\nit.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nHe promptly sat down\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6and total pandemonium broke loose.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nNone of this was new to Dave. He does this all the time for a living. His business Dr. Clue<\/a>
\nruns team building activities focused on treasure hunts and puzzles for
\ncorporations all over the world. But this was his first bat mitzvah and
\nnone of us quite knew what to expect.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nWithin seconds, the room had exploded into a frenzy, with guests no
\nlonger sitting nicely at their tables chatting about the stuffed
\nmushroom hors d\u00e2\u20ac\u2122oeurves or the latest political pleasantries.<\/p>\n

No, about
\nhalf the guests were running from table to table, swapping strips of
\npaper, while other members of each \u00e2\u20ac\u0153team\u00e2\u20ac\u009d were working out the riddles,
\nscribbling frantically on napkins.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nDave genially floated between the tables, offering help when needed and
\ngenerally marveling at what the influence of 35 twelve-year-old girls
\ncan have on one of his Dr. Clue activities.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nI sat back, took in the scene with no small amount of whimsy, and helped myself to some more ravioli.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nThe clues were all rebuses<\/span><\/a> – word puzzles that involve the adding together of pictures and subtracting letters to create a final message.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nNow for those of you who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to play along with the “home version” of
\nthis game, here are the clues (the answer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little bit further down
\non the page – now, no peeking!):
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#1 \u00c2\u00a0\"\" + D +<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#2 \u00c2\u00a0\"\" \u00e2\u20ac\u201c J \u00e2\u20ac\u201c N +<\/span><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\"\" \u00e2\u20ac\u201c BA<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#3 \u00c2\u00a0\"\" \u00e2\u20ac\u201c<\/span><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\"\" +<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#4 \u00c2\u00a0\"\" \u00e2\u20ac\u201c<\/span><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\"\" +<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#5\u00c2\u00a0\"\" +<\/span><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\"\" \u00e2\u20ac\u201c<\/span> H<\/span> +<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#6 \u00c2\u00a0\"\" \u00e2\u20ac\u201c<\/span><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\"\" \u00e2\u20ac\u201c S +<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#7 \u00c2\u00a0\"\" \u00e2\u20ac\u201c A +<\/span><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\"\" \u00e2\u20ac\u201c W \u00e2\u20ac\u201c A +<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#8 \u00c2\u00a0\"\" \u00e2\u20ac\u201c FU<\/span> +<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\"\" \u00e2\u20ac\u201c NEAT<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#9 \u00c2\u00a0\"\" +<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#10 \"\" – RE –<\/span><\/span> \"\"+ E +<\/span> \"\" – GAN +<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#11 \u00c2\u00a0\"\" \u00e2\u20ac\u201c<\/span><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\"\" +<\/span><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\"\" \u00e2\u20ac\u201c A +<\/span><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\"\" \u00e2\u20ac\u201c MANIC<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#12\u00c2\u00a0 +<\/span><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\"\"\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c CR +<\/span><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\"\" \u00e2\u20ac\u201c M \u00e2\u20ac\u201c H +<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#13 \"\"\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c C<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#14\u00c2\u00a0 +<\/span><\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\"\" +<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#15\u00c2\u00a0\"\"\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c<\/span>\u00c2\u00a0\"\" + Z +<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#16\u00c2\u00a0\"\" – L + H<\/span><\/span>
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nDid you get it?<\/p>\n

It took about twenty minutes before the table #6 erupted in applause and excitement. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We got it! We got it!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d they cheered.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Now go do<\/span> it!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d my brother yelled back.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nThey looked dumbfounded for a moment before realizing that getting the
\nanswer first didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean they’d actually won<\/span> anything but rather they had
\nanother activity in front of them. Dave had conveniently provided each
\ntable with paper and crayons.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nThe answer to the puzzle, in case you haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gotten it yet…<\/p>\n

Wait for it…<\/p>\n

I said, no peeking…<\/p>\n

OK…here it is:
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n#1 – FIND
\n#2 – A PART
\n#3 – NER
\n#4 – OR
\n#5 – TWO AND
\n#6 – WORK
\n#7 – TOGETHER
\n#8 – TO GIVE
\n#9 – MERAV
\n#10 – A POEM OR
\n#11 – PICTURE
\n#12 – ABOUT
\n#13 – HER
\n#14 – BAT
\n#15 – MITZ
\n#16 – VAH
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nTable #6 got busy, as did Table #8 and Table # 12, and before long, the poems and pictures started flowing.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nAfter a few minutes, I took to the microphone myself and began inviting
\nup those tables who had something they wanted to share. I heard rhymes
\nfor \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Merav\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I never dreamed of before. Such as:
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nThere once was a young girl called Merav
\nWhose family showered her with love
\nHer Torah reading was hearty
\nSo they threw her a party
\nWhere the dancing and entertainment was so suave
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nThere was also\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nMerav reads books and has such good looks
\nShe lains from the Torah and dances the Hora
\nShe watches National Geographic and she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so fantastic!
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n(If you’d like to send your own poem to Merav, you can leave it in the Comments section at the end of this blog post or send me an email<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Afterwards, a number of people came up to us and said they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never been
\nto a bat mitzvah party quite like this. I had to agree. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never been
\nto one like this either!
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nIndeed, if there was any downside it was that everyone was so busy,
\nthey didn’t have time to go back and get seconds on the food. At the
\nend of the evening, the caterers presented us with nine large containers
\nof leftovers.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nLooks like we’ll now be doing a treasure hunt through our fridge for homemade ravioli and salmon.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n—————————————-
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nI want to give a big thanks and shout out to my brother: bat mitzvahs may be new but Dr. Clue<\/a>
\nis the world leader in treasure hunt-based corporate team-building activities.
\nThey’ve even put a couple of new hunts together for Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. If this sounds like something
\nyour organization would enjoy as a fun and productive day out, contact Dave Blum directly at
\ndrclue@drclue.com<\/a>. And tell him you heard about it here from This Normal Life!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Merav\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bat mitzvah had been going great\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d finished the first round of dancing and the guests had loaded up their plates with homemade ravioli and teriyaki salmon. The bat mitzvah girl was beaming from all the attention and we were generally feeling like everything was under control and proceeding according to our carefully crafted plan. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisnormallife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisnormallife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisnormallife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thisnormallife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thisnormallife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thisnormallife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1284,"href":"https:\/\/thisnormallife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions\/1284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisnormallife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thisnormallife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thisnormallife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}