Ikea Scavenger Hunt

My husband Anthony and I have been married for over twelve years now, and throughout our marriage, we’ve always made it a priority to have a weekly date night. I can’t sing the praises of this practice enough. It has provided us regular time and space to talk, given us something to look forward to throughout the week, allowed us to do try some fantastic restaurants and do some truly awesome activities, and probably helped us keep our sanity in the midst of raising three kids.

And sometimes, for extra fun, we go on dates with other people.

Wait, I mean, like, double dates! Dates with two other people. But we’re still with each other. You know.

Recently my best friend Joy and her husband Bryce invited us on a double date, which we knew would be a great time, since 1.) They’re delightful people with goofy senses of humor, 2.) We’ve hung out for years and even vacationed together once, and 3.) On one of our double dates we actually came up with an idea for a new invention called “Fingie,” which is a finger you put on YOUR finger when you need to do disgusting tasks but keep your own finger clean.

See? I told you they were fun.

We didn’t have any particular plan for the double date at first–except for sushi, because Sushi Kee is always a no-brainer–so I tried to think of something that would be interactive but still low-key. As I got to thinking about the location of the sushi place, I realized that Ikea was close by. And hey, if you can do a mall scavenger hunt and have a good time with a gaggle of kids under ten, then a scavenger hunt with adults in the land of Scandinavian home improvement seemed like a guaranteed winner of a date night.

Using several ideas from a post by Natalie at A Beagle and a Baby, and with some input from Joy, I put together a list of 15 items to either collect in the store or take pictures of by the end of the hunt. After our sushi dinner, we headed to Ikea, where we divided and conquered! (Divided into couples and conquered the labyrinth of Swedish-designed furniture and tchotchkes we never knew we needed.)

Some of the highlights of our hunt included…

Anthony in dishwashing paradise with twelve of his favorite scrubbing brushes (to fulfill the clue of a photo with twelve matching items).

Me being “surprised” on the toilet. P.S. Someday I want to start a new website, www.surprisedonatoilet.com. It would just be a photo gallery of people, preferable celebrities, getting, well, you know. I think it could go viral.

Anthony’s first attempt at “pushing a cart the wrong direction” (clue 15)…

Only to be clarified by this type of pushing a cart the wrong direction:

Me tackling clue #8 (“team member hiding in some greenery”), which I must say felt pretty stealth. In the future, if my home is ever broken into by intruders and I need to hide, I’m going to remember that a corner behind a fake potted plant is an excellent choice.

And finally, my favorite. Anthony feeding a french fry (which just happened to be left in the cafe) to a stuffed lion (who just happened to have his mouth open as if awaiting food):

All in all, it turned out to be a hilarious, super fun double date. Thanks, Joy and Bryce!

If you’re looking for a fun activity to get you out of a date night rut, need something to do indoors during inclement weather, or just love Ikea, check out this free printable of an Ikea Scavenger Hunt list. I’d love to hear about your experience if you do!