When my brother and I were growing up, my father always devised a series of clues and puzzles that would (eventually) lead us to our Ayyam'i'Ha presents. It was terrific. Simon and I have followed suit, supplying our own children with various clues to lead them on to their own loot. This year we noticed an especially large ability gap between the problem-solving skills inherent in an eight year old and those possessed by a fourteen year old. So we opted for silly rather than smart.
Day one saw the children challenged by a laser course. They had to use all of ther ninja skills to make their way through the yarn-lasers, retrieve their present, and return unscathed and victorious! (The photos are horrid, it was night):
Day two they faced the horrendous zombie monster, relying on their stealthiness to sneak up and grab the map from its back pocket:
On day three, daddy told them they had to race to the balloons and retrieve their clues from inside each one (their individual balloons were marked with their individual mustaches, of course):
Only then he cut the strings as they dashed forward:
An additional clue led them to a long piece of string, a roll of tape and another balloon. Working together, they figured out how to use a tape-covered balloon to fish down their other balloons:
We then had our first experience inhaling helium (oh hilarity),
and extracted the necessary information to get presents.
Today they had to eat their way through a pile of whipping cream (no hands!) to uncover the code that opened the combination lock that protected the key that opened the door to their presents:
Silly, we have decided, is very good indeed.