An impromptu game of Hide and Seek in the Dark was planned by all the neighbor kids for our house this past Thursday night. And Chuck & I were implored to play with them. How could we say no?
The fun began at 9pm. We needed it relatively dark outside to maximize the thrill of the hunt. We closed all the blinds, turned out all the lights (I put any valuables that could possibly get 'accidentally' knocked over in the fray in safe-keeping) and sat down in our garage with 8 kids to talk about how this game was going to go down.
First, absolutely no lights were allowed. Second, once one person was found, the Seeker had to yell, "Everybody Home" (to the garage) so the rest of us did not have to give up our hard sought out hiding places. Third, no hiding in the washer/dryer or outside. Lastly, the darker you dress, the better your chances of not being found are...soo...everyone raided our closets and costume box to adorn themselves in black. We had 4 teenage boys, a 12 year old girl, a 10 year old boy, a 9 year old girl and an 8 year old as our competition. It was hilarious to see these teenage boys decked out in a black superman cape in order to give themselves an edge. Gavin even summoned his inner ninja and donned a ninja mask. He felt dressing in all grey was more appropriate because he would look more realistic as a shadow.
Let the games commence....
The three girls all needed help finding hiding places and since Chuck was the first one to count, the responsibility fell to me. I had to find 4 hiding spots within 2 minutes. Talk about having to think fast on my feet! The poor Chloes....I shoved one under the hamper in our closet and the other behind the lower level of shirts hanging from the rack in the closet. Those two couldn't stop giggling. They just HAD to hide together or they would be scared. I don't blame them. The house was pitch black. You couldn't see a thing or walk without groping the walls.
I hid Jenna in a big box we had in the basement and put some more empty boxes on top of her and then crouched down beside her under the ironing board so I could make sure she was still breathing. It seemed to work. We weren't found on the first round.
It gave Chuck and I much satisfaction to totally dominate the game. It took us back 25 years to old church lock-ins. We were having so much fun, we forgot we were the parents. We were taking this hiding thing way too seriously. On the last run, all the kids together couldn't find either of us. YES! We may be inching closer to 40, but that just gives us a better edge, we can out-think and out-smart our competition. And bonus - we still get to act like we're 15 again.
One thing I will do differently next time...dust. Many people mentioned to me that they were very dusty and then proceeded to show me their clothing once we were in the light of the garage. Ooops. Ya, I don't really ever dust in the closest under the shirts or behind the HVAC unit or behind the sofa. Maybe I should be more purposeful in my dusting.
The game came to an end and hour and half later when parents started calling and texting us: "Send so and so home now please." Time totally escaped us, we were so swept up in the fun.
The funniest thing about the whole night was that with each successive hiding attempt, the Hiders progressively got more and more daring. They started setting up booby-traps around the house. It was hilarious. You should have seen the house once we finally turned on all the lights. Thankfully, everyone immediately pitched in to put everything back in place. The very next thing they wanted to know: when is the next time? I love being the fun house!
