Food Scavenger Hunt Ideas

A scavenger hunt is an easy way to liven up a school event or a party, and to get people talking. The traditional scavenger hunt involves giving teams a list of items to find and bring back to the event venue. A food scavenger hunt can work the same way, but you also have other options. For instance, ask teams to find items relating to a specific type of cuisine, or ask that they bring back items to share with the other teams.

For a fast food hunt, you need to write out a list of questions relating to fast food restaurants in your area. Ask questions about both the food and the restaurant itself. For example, ask how many stalls are in the woman’s bathroom of one restaurant, and how many windows another restaurant has. Ask teams to find the prices for certain items, the name of a restaurant manager, names of other employees or even the type of car the manager drives. To ensure that the teams actually went to the restaurants themselves, ask them to bring back something from each restaurant, such as a branded sugar packet or plastic spoon.

Create a canned food hunt, donating all the food found to a charity or food pantry in your area. Make a list that includes specific types of canned food, and diversify the list. Ask for items such as green beans, tuna, canned soup and other vegetables. If you’re worried about the groups finding everything too fast, include a few harder-to-find items, such as a specific brand of canned food found at only one store. You can even get the community involved, by advertising the event and encouraging your teams to ask neighbors and others in the community to donate some items.

For an adult party, make a gourmet food scavenger hunt. Decide ahead of time on a certain cuisine for the party, like Mexican or Italian. Make a few dishes that relate to the cuisine and ask your teams to find dessert and appetizer items. Create your lists ahead of time so that each team knows what to find. For example, if you’re having a Mexican food party, ask guests to find green peppers, jalapeno peppers, tortilla chips and flan. Your teams may need to venture into lesser known stores to find everything on their list.