I’m out of town this week, just me, sans children, sans partner. It’s a glorious thing, and yet I miss them all terribly. In thinking about my trip, and how much I’d miss my family, and how much they (especially my children) would miss me for the 6 days I’d be gone, I had an epiphany. Then while I was returning something at the store the other day, I had another epiphany. I could make this fun for them, give my husband a way to entertain them a little bit each day, and make them excited to spend each day without Mama, instead of wishing the time away.

I created a treasure hunt.

Each day they get one envelope and have to search for their treasure of the day, which varies somewhere between sharing a giant floor pad of paper to each getting a sheet of sparkly stickers. Neither of them can read on their own yet (though one is close), so I drew maps and pictures to show them where to go to find each daily treasure. (And I included a written hint for Dad to help them interpret.)

Then I made cards to go with each day, with these encouragement cards I found online (years ago… glad I can finally use them!). And THEN, I added photos of them that I made at Parabo Press a few weeks ago.

Honestly, I didn’t have to do a ton of planning because I’m a hoarder and I had most of this stuff already. But you can do something similar next time you break free and have a kids-free trip for work or play. Here are some ideas:

Treasures

I got my treasures from Staples because that’s where I was when I had my epiphany. Hence the office supply theme. Plus, I wasn’t trying to fill their rooms with stuff. I got things they’ll use and enjoy using. We’re a big art household, with lots of coloring and drawing. But you can easily go to the $1 section in Target to find small treasures (I like to raid this area before we go on family trips, so I can break out things for them to do on airplanes and in hotel rooms when they’re bored). You could also run with different themes, like snacks or candy (if one allowed such things, not that we do…), books/reading, things to do inside/outside, or really take the treasure hunt theme to the next level and make it pirate themed.

Encouragement/Notes

I mentioned that I got my cards from Parent Cue several years ago. They did not cost the same as they do now. Some alternatives are these fun Etsy print outs (easy and no shipping, with the bonus activity of them being able to color them); and Walmart has these fun book-like cards on clearance. You could also just write your own notes (google Encouragement Cards for inspiration if you need it). You could get themed blank notecard packs from Target while you’re there getting treasures, if you want something pretty.

Photos

This is a bonus, obviously. But since I preach printing photos here pretty often, and constantly talk about the benefits of kids seeing themselves in photos with people they love, this is an easy, fun way to implement this practice without a lot of work. I get my square prints from Parabo Press when they’re on sale. If you’re on their email list, you can get notified when they do their “free square prints” sale, which is when I get motivated to bump up my supply and update my prints. You could also just hide prints around the house in places for them to find without the cards or the treasures, and write little notes on the back. The Parabo Press prints are on heavy matte cardstock and take pen or pencil easily. But if you have regular photo prints, you could stick a post-it to the back with your note.

This might sound like a whole lot of work to you, and you might be saying to yourself, “why bother?.” But this is my own small way of fighting my guilt of being away from my family for 6 days to go have fun with my friends. It lets me continue to pour into their buckets from across the country and time zones, whilst filling my own bucket at the same time. If you experience similar feelings when you’re away, or have anxiety just thinking about leaving your kids overnight, maybe find a way to implement this for next time. Have fun with it, and make it yours.