A good multi-chapter event! Break everyone up into pairs or small teams. You can have them in one location such as a shopping centre for an hour, or have them search around a small town for a bigger hunt that takes several hours. As this can cause disruption if you have a very large group, you may like to check with someone in charge of the area you’ll be hunting in (centre management/council) before planning a large hunt.

Give each team a sheet of instructions, rules and the list of what they are looking for. Make sure you specify if they are to bring back items or just photograph them (you can have a mixture of both). Then arrange the meeting point and the final end time. Allow plenty of time at the end to check everyone’s answers.

If members will be buying items, set a small budget (eg $5 or $10) that they are not allowed to go over. It’s up to you if you will allow teams to work together (eg pool money and share items to photograph) or not.

In large groups, you might want to have a couple of helpers to check off the completed lists, and it will be less chaotic if teams can end the hunt when they have found everything, so you can mark teams off as they finish.

Examples

Photos: Wearing a non-red hat. Eating a dessert. Something Purple. Something Red. A fly swatter. Red knickers. Something that matches your Royal name. Something that matches your chapter name. Wearing a dressing gown. Wearing a red bra ontop of clothing. Wearing a feather boa. Decorate a hat using only items in the same store (so you don’t have to buy anything). On play equipment. The word “red”. The word “purple”. With a stranger wearing purple.

Items from the Warning poem: Summer gloves, [satin] sandals, sitting on pavement, slippers, a ‘terrible’ shirt, 3 pounds of sausages (1.3kg), bread and pickle [in the same photo], things in boxes etc.

“Things in boxes” challenge – You could have a $10 budget for this, and they have to find a box and fill it with “things” to bring back – maybe with a prize awarded for creativity or the highest number of unique items (Different items not lots of the same item, eg 10 forks only counts as 1 item [forks]).

Things to buy (Having a small budget also helps to make this a challenge! Items can be combined, eg a glittery red piece of jewellery could count as covering 3 off the list) – 5 purple things. 5 red things. A pair of knickers. A piece of jewellery. Something glittery. A pen. A pencil.

Hunting for Clues – This will take some work ahead of time, but you make clues that involve things like shop names and signs that are found within the area, and the ladies have to find the shops/signs to fit the clues. Examples: “A shop that rhymes with stairs” (Adairs). “Bob makes the best ____” (Burgers, shop name Bob’s Burgers). “This field is dangerous” (Dangerfield). “These candles can help when it gets dark” (Dusk). “These ____ are right up my alley” (Dumplings, shop name dumpling alley). “This shop has an ____ of style” (Essence, shop name essence of style).

Example clue wording:

  • Photograph a female stranger who is a great example of a red hatter, but doesn’t even know it.

  • Photograph the cutest pair of purple knickers you can find.

  • Photograph the team next to a sign with the number 50 on it (house sign, street sign, price sign, etc.)

  • Photograph a Red Hat (must not belong to any of your team)

  • Photograph items that fill in the blanks:

    • I shall spend my pension on ________ and _________

    • I shall go out in my _______________ in the rain

    • And eat three pounds of ______________ at a go

    • Or only ____________ and ____________ for a week

    • And hoard __________s and ____________s and _______mats

    • and things in _________