The Easter Hunt

April 3rd, 2018

On Friday, I ran into our very good friends Esther and Abhijit at work.  They knew Glenn was out of town and inquired about my plans for Easter.  It was very kind of them.  I explained how Glenn, building on the idea of the Easter egg hunt, typically put together elaborate clue hunts for the girls on Easter.  So together, standing in the PSE hallway, we hatched a plan for a clue hunt involving Kate, their two children (ages 3 and 5, I think), and the daughter, aged 10, of some friends of ours who were due to arrive on Easter morning from Richmond, Virginia.  It would take place primarily in Luxembourg Gardens, which was more convenient for me since, as the clue writer, I would need to be familiar with and have access to the location.  

There is a bit of an art to structuring a clue hunt for children of such different ages, so I decided to call Glenn for some ideas.  He suggested a two-stage hunt.  The first stage would take place in the courtyard, where eggs with letters and words on them would be hidden and then found and reassembled to spell out a clue that would send the group to the second stage in the Luxembourg Gardens.  Then in the gardens, there would be a series of more difficult clues, geared towards the older kids.  The clues would lead, eventually, to a hidden Easter basket for them to share.

The logistics of having such a hunt in public spaces was tricky.  I didn't want other kids or cleaning crews or curious adults to find the eggs or clues but I also didn't want them to be so well-hidden that our four were unable to find them.  That's why we had the initial hunt for the younger kids in the courtyard:  chocolate mousse incident notwithstanding, I figured that I could hide the eggs in the morning, even some in clear sight, and they would likely be undisturbed.  Then the clues in the gardens could be more well hidden, but the previous clue could give enough information to lead the kids to each one.

The other logistical issue concerned hiding the Easter basket in Luxembourg Gardens.  Hiding something brightly-colored and Easter-basket-looking could draw unwanted attention from other children in the park.  Alternatively, I could put the basket in a black canvas bag to camouflage it.  However, quietly stashing a large, dark, nondescript parcel in a bush near the French Sénat could draw unwanted attention of a different sort, from the military bomb squad and security detail armed with automatic weapons who patrol the area.  When I describe the choice that way, it seems pretty clear that I should have chosen the first option.  But at the time, the second seemed better.  (Luckily, I write this post today from the comfort of my PSE office, so you will infer that I was not shot, detained, or deported.)

The courtyard eggs spelled out HAPPY EASTER, one letter for each egg, and then when they were put in order and turned over, they spelled out something about going to the Boulevard Saint Michel entrance of Luxembourg Gardens and looking behind the poop bag dispenser, where the first clue was hidden.

Here are the clues I planted in the gardens.  (The notations on the envelopes were there to remind me of the location to hide each clue.)  

(The first clue actually had a mistake, which Kate and I figured out as the kids were searching frantically near the fourth tree in the line, whereas I had hidden the clue near the eighth tree.  That is not a mistake Glenn would have made.) 

There is a memorial sign about the contributions of French colonies that talks about their dedication to the French ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity.  I taped the clue underneath that sign.

The large pool in the middle of the gardens is surrounded by statues of famous French women, many of them royalty.  The kids found the correct statue, and the next clue was hidden in a crack in a wooden enclosure protecting a young tree, 10 steps to the left of the statue.  

From the location of the fourth clue, one could see a tree with a hollow trunk.  The last clue was hidden there.  

And the basket was hidden inside this (roughly) cone-shaped bush.  (Kate said, "Why did you write the volume of a cone in such a weird order?"  Obviously, it had to rhyme.)

After the basket was found, we returned to the apartment for some cheese, bread, figs, rillettes, strawberries, champagne, and, of course, to share in the spoils of the hunt.