Our story
In our family, a birthday doesn't start with presents. It starts with a hunt.
A few days before, the secret work begins. Each of us writes a birthday card for the birthday person, and we take our time with it: a drawing, a memory, an inside joke, sometimes a poem that takes three evenings to get right. Then, the night before, each of us finds the perfect place to hide our card.
On the morning of the birthday, everyone gives a clue. We always go in the same order: the youngest first, then up through the kids, and the parents last. The birthday person follows each clue around the house, from under a couch cushion to the back of the bookshelf to a boot by the door, until every card is found.
We started this when our kids were very small, before our youngest was even born. Today we have four kids, and some of them are in college. The clues have gotten cleverer and the hiding spots sneakier, but we still do it every birthday. It's the part everyone remembers.
Hide and Clue is our way of sharing that feeling with other families. And the same hunt works just as well on Christmas morning: a trail of clues around the house, with the presents waiting at the end. We wrote the clues, made the cards easy to print, and kept it simple enough to set up in a few minutes, for Christmas, birthdays, or any day that needs a little adventure.
We hope it becomes a tradition in your home too.
Make your hunt →