I would rate this
trap “high” on the difficulty scale.
About a week
before Christmas we caught the kids practicing with a rope ladder outside KP3’s
window. So we decided to give the kids the chance to use it. Zach built a wall
of plywood with a door. On this door were 5 locks, which required 4 keys, and a
combination. There was no way out except through the window. We then locked all
the windows and doors except KP3’s window, so the kids would be required to go
out the window, find the keys and then back IN through the window to open the
door.
But there is
more: just to make it a little more difficult. The locks were on the OUT side
of the door. There were two small holes, one for a head and one for a hand.
Thus it would be even more difficult open the door once they had found the
keys… Tee hee hee, we were so cruel!
We left my dad’s
cellphone just inside the plywood wall with a message that went off at 4:00 am.
The message played the Mission Impossible music then instructed the kids to
“get to Santa.” This was a code. Out back, was a large inflatable Santa Clause which had the next clue.
Near the Santa were five “gifts” one for each kid. They were clues to the
location of the 4 keys and the combination.
1. Golf ball: The key was hidden in the hole
nearest to the house on the golf course
2. Electrical Breaker: The key was hidden in
the breaker box (taped to a very specific breaker that the kids would need to
turn off to deactivate the motion detectors, more on that later)
3. Snowman: The key was attached to the top
of the inflatable snowman my parents had in the front yard. Can you see the key there on his face?
4. Swim shorts: This year, my sister KP2 was newly
engaged and so we decided the Christmas trap would be something like an
“initiation” for her fiancé. His key was sitting at the bottom of the pool. We actually tried to put the key UNDER a plate to make it harder, but it didn't quite work, you can see the small dot next to the decorative plate there in the bottom of the pool.
5. A candle: There were three decorative
candles on the front porch; under each was one number of the combination. Once
again another cruel move, how would they know which order the numbers were for
the lock? They would have to try all combinations…. 6 folks. That is 6
different possible combinations.
As soon as the
kids collected each of the keys, and opened the plywood door, there was a large
note reading.
“STOP! Agent KP3,
you did turn that breaker off right? For the motion detectors?”
This move was a
little below the belt, because obviously he would have already removed the key,
and most likely would not remember WHICH breaker to turn off. But we couldn't help ourselves… the idea that he would be required to go BACK out the window to
try and figure out which breaker to turn off was just too funny to us.
After that
breaker was off, it would have been a home run to the Christmas Tree for the
win….
Except that it didn't go according to plan… at all…
The very first
clue for the kids was the cell phone playing music…. As soon as the kids heard
the phone going off, they assumed we were trying to sabotage them, and they
turned it off without even listening to the message. And thus did NOT hear the
message to “get to Santa” and did NOT find the clues waiting there for them.
They wandered around outside and found the key in the bottom of the pool, and
the another key in the breaker box…. Until finally hours later they stumbled on
the clues by the Santa Clause, and from there they found the remaining keys.
We slept in until
7:30 am. A record for the parents.
That being said,
this trap goes down in history as a “win” for the kids in more than one way.
