New Year’s is an opportunity to celebrate the end of one year and welcome the beginning of the next. While end-of-year traditions come in many shapes and sizes, celebrations around the world will all have one thing in common this year: geocaching.
This year, we invite you to say goodbye to 2015 and hello to 2016 with two new geocaching souvenirs. Find a geocache or attend an event on December 31 to earn the Goodbye 2015 souvenir. Then, start your year off right with the Hello 2016 souvenir, which can also be earned by finding a geocache or attending an event on January 1.
Without further ado, here are four easy steps to hosting a great New Year’s geocaching bash!
Step 1: Pick a theme
Like creating a new geocaching username, all great Event Caches start out with a theme. Here are a few examples to get your creative juices flowing:
Host a “DNF Forgiveness” party. In Japan, New Year’s is considered a time for renewal — for forgetting the problems of the past and forgiving any grudges or misunderstandings. Make your event a safe space for geocachers to move on from those DNFs that have haunted them in 2015.
Throw a muggle initiation party. Do you have friends who would love geocaching, but haven’t tried it out yet? Planning a New Year’s Event Cache can be the perfect way to get them started! Make the event both fun and educational, and invite your fellow geocachers to bring their non-geocaching friends too. Newbies can then get started by finding their first geocache the very next day.
Keep things warm & cozy. Plan a daytime event on January 1 at a coffee shop or cafe so that geocachers can warm up (or cool down) with a tasty beverage after finding their first geocache(s) of the year.
Step 2: Select the date, time, and location of your event
This is an easy one: plan your event for December 31 or January 1 so that it qualifies for a souvenir. In picking a time, be sure to think about your guests. If you’re encouraging families to bring young kids, you may want to plan your event earlier in the evening on New Year’s Eve or even schedule a daytime event on January 1.
Reminder: The geocaching guidelines prohibit event stacking. To avoid event stacking, Event Caches should be separated by time, organized by different geocachers, have a minimum duration of 30 minutes and take place at a different location than other events. Please check out the geocaching guidelines for more information about planning an Event Cache.
You can host Event Caches anywhere available to the public — a restaurant, park or even your house. Be sure to find a place that has enough space for activities!
Step 3: Plan fun and engaging activities
A great way to make your event fun for all is to schedule activities to help your guests meet each other. Here are some ideas to get you started:
Set up a photo booth. This can be as easy as finding an area with a simple background.
Play the “geocaching predictions” game. Ask guests to write down their geocaching predictions for 2018 (e.g. “I will find my 25th T5 geocache” or “Moun10Bike will finally beat me to an FTF this year”) and throw them into a bucket. Take turns reading the predictions out loud.
Play geocaching bingo. Create a bingo card based on geocaching achievements (e.g. “Earned a new country souvenir” or “Found more than 100 geocaches”). Guests will need to find other geocachers at the event who have completed the achievements in 2015 to fill in their board.
Bake a lucky trackable into a cake. In Bolivia, coins are baked into sweets so that whoever finds the coin has good luck for the next year. Give your guests the gift of geocaching luck by hiding trackables in the dessert. Make sure to mention this to them before they take a bite!
Step 4: Invite friends, new and old!
Create a new event on Geocaching.com to have your event listed on Geocaching.com. (This will also qualify your event for the Goodbye 2015 or Hello 2016 souvenir.) Remember, events must be submitted at least two weeks prior to the event date. Once your event has been published, share the event listing with your local geocaching organization.
Whether you’re already a well-established social butterfly or a first-time attendee, geocaching events are a great way to meet new people who share your love for geocaching. We hope these tips help you host a rockin’ New Year’s geocaching bash and we’d love to hear your ideas too!
What tips do you have for throwing a great geocaching New Year’s event? Tell us in the comments below.
