These puzzles were pretty tricky to create, but our friend Joanna did such an amazing job helping us make sure that everything worked smoothly. You can hop over to JAB Creative to thank her and check out all of the other incredible work she does. She’s got such attention to detail, so if you ever need a custom design, this girl has got you covered!
Now, let’s get your date night all set up! Use an x-acto knife to cut the key out of the invitation and then send out those invites. The goal of the night will be for your guests to find the key that fits back in to the heart lock on their invite. This is SO much fun as a group date and it works great with about three or four couples – so pick your smartest friends and get them excited about the games to come! If you’re going to host this date night, you’ll want to read up on all the details in the answer key so you’ve got a good understanding of all the puzzles and how they work. If you want to participate, then you’ll have to beg someone else to do all the work! {Maybe you could just bribe them with lots of chocolate!} SPOILER ALERT! If you keep reading, you’ll start hearing about and seeing the solutions to the puzzles, so if you ever want to play yourself, stop now and pin this post so you can pass it on to your chocolate-loving friend later on! If you’re ready to play host, then keep on reading…
Still with us? Yay!! So excited for you to set up the game! The first step is to hide all of the clues – and there are quite a few of them! Hide them in clever locations {my favorite is taped to the back side of blinds – SO tough to find!}, but don’t forget to put a few in more obvious locations, too – it’s no fun if your guests get super frustrated.
When you’re ready for your group date night, get the game started by reading the back story. Then, you can have the couples work together to solve the puzzles while you and your spouse host together – OR, you could create two rooms and let the men and women compete to see who can find the key the fastest. It might be fun to time your guests. You could even just set up one room and let different groups take turns, setting a timer to see who finds the key to “escape” more quickly. As your guests are playing, feel free to give hints. Try to come up with creative ways to hint about where the missing clues are hidden without giving away too much. You could even set a rule that each group gets to ask for three hints and then they’re on their own.
Make sure you’re familiar with the puzzles and riddles as well as where you’ve hidden the clues! Ultimately, your guests’ goal is to find three numbers which will unlock your box and give them the key – if you want the game to go faster or be a little easier, you could tell them this ahead of time. To figure out the first number of the lock, the guests will be searching for the “Love Clues’ {first comes love…}. They’ll need to find the pieces of the tangram puzzle and put them together to create a heart with a secret message. They can read the message with the decoder heart you’ve created. The message tells them the sun {a flashlight} shines from the East. They’ll have to find all of the pieces of the flashlight, including the “cover” that helps display the answer. If they use the assembled flashlight on the Heart artwork, it should reveal the number 14!
In order to determine the second number in the code, they’ll be looking for “Marriage Clues” {then comes marriage…}. These come in the form of a postcard/letter. Your guests will need to find the hole punch and use it to punch out the engagement rings on one card. When that card is placed over the other card, it will reveal the letters that spell out the next number, TWENTY! And to find the final number, they’ll be on the hunt for “Baby Clues” {then comes the baby in the baby carriage!}. They’ll be on the hunt for colored letters all over the room. The goal is to match each letter to the colors on the baby print. Once they’re matched in order, your guests will be able to read the word EIGHTEEN – the last number in the code!
It’s a ton of work, and a ton of fun to put together all these puzzles, but if you’re worried you won’t have that much time, or that your guests will want things a little easier – no problem! You can easily modify these puzzles to be a bit more simple by doing things like: keeping the flashlight assembled and putting the cover on it for them, or punching out the holes in the postcard for them. Well, are you ready to find the key to love?! Create this DIY Escape Room for your friends now!
