2011 - Snitch Hunt
The one that started it all.
While we were in the temporary house on Hutchinson Court, I made a scavenger hunt for my daughter for her birthday. We were both very enamored with the Marauder’s map (and the Prisoner of Azkaban in general) and I was fortunate to find a template from Britta Peterson that she very kindly shared on her site. For this first scavenger hunt, I just cut and pasted Britta Peterson’s map to make something like the rental house with a changed banner labeled Morgan and feet going to where her present was hid.
As it went so well, I decided to do one for our first Christmas in the newly rebuilt house on Westwind.
I created seven maps, one for each of the books. Each map had the middle section replaced with the area of the house where the next clue could be found, with footsteps leading more or less to the spot. Each of these were done in the Marauder’s Map style with words for lines.
Suzy had bought some gift boxes designed to hold a bottle of wine and so I put a tag labeled “For Morgan—I open at the close” and inside were some instructions and map number one.
Note the feet leading you to the correct location.
This was from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and in my office was a chess set, with the second map under it…
There is no Boggart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I should have come up with something to represent a Basilisk or even just a bathroom. My only defense is that I was very new to this—and I really liked Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In any case, following the footsteps led you to a cabinet in the Guest room with the third map…
The Shrieking Shack is from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Note the feet go outside, toward her tree house (and in a fortunate coincidence, Britta had placed the Shrieking shack approximately where her tree house is.). Inside, under a candle, you would find the fourth map…
A nice reference to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In a cabinet in the dining room, you would find an odd wine glass and the fifth map…
The Phoenix is a reference to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. After we rebuilt the house from the fire, we referred to the house as the Phoenix (rising from the ashes)—with my wife and daughter both being Dragons. My wife made me a bar sign to commemorate this and so behind the bar sign was the sixth map…
The Room of Requirement was first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix but we have already established that I wasn’t sticking particularly closely to events and the book. In any case, at least the Room of Requirement makes a good appearance in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. If you have not read any Harry Potter books (and really, why are you here?), the room of requirement is a secret, hidden room, and fortunately, there is just such a secret, hidden room in her bedroom with the seventh map…
This is an easy clue, and her present is inside the empty box that the Harry Potter books came in…
At the end of it, she found the snitch - a round ball that opened to reveal a USB flash drive with the Stephen Fry version of the Harry Potter audiobooks. The ball was the same one I had used (oh so many years ago) to hold the engagement ring when I proposed to my wife - it survived the fire!
The first map, the snitch and the USB flash drive - I think the ball didn’t quite close as the key was just a bit too big!
The snitch, closed and ready to be found.
The snitch and the audiobook on a USB flash drive - this smaller form factor was relatively new-fangled in 2011.