Birthday invitation

Treasure Hunt

The buried tin is twelve inches down, and the shovel has to be shared.

Birthday invitation: Tea-stained chart paper in a knotted rope border. A brass compass at the top, a red dotted route to an X at the left, a scorched corner. Burnt type reads TREASURE HUNT, with the date and venue below.

Part of the TinselLux™ collection: invitations in stitched leather, tufted velvet, linen and satin.

The material is the card: linen with a visible weave, velvet with a nap, leather with its grain. It costs the same as every other invitation.

See the collection

A birthday invitation of this kind promises one thing and has to deliver it: something is in the ground. Guests arrive and are handed a torn section of chart. The route runs past the mailbox, the fig tree and the back step, and each stop gives up the next piece. The compass is passed around and held very seriously by whoever has it.

The X is a stake in the dirt with a bandana tied to it. Digging starts fast and slows down, because the ground is harder than anyone expected and the shovel only fits one pair of hands. Then the blade hits the lid of the tin, and the whole party is on its knees in the grass. The coins are counted out at the hole before anybody stands up.

What goes on it

Every line replaceable

The wording on this card

Set sail to celebrate
OWEN FALCONER
Saturday, July 17, 2027 · 2 PM
THE SALTY ANCHOR · 3 Cutlass Cv, Tide Rock, AL
Bring a shovel.

Every line of the wording is an example, and yours to replace. The title is painted into the artwork. Type your own and it is drawn again with your words.

What to actually tell people

Bury it the night before Dig in daylight, water the hole so the soil stays soft, and check for sprinkler lines and cable before the first shovel goes in. Mark the X with a stake you can find again in the dark.
One shovel is not enough Bring a full-size spade for the last foot and a hand trowel for every guest. A short, loud rule about who digs when saves the entire dig.
Four stops, no more Hand out clues that lead past things kids can reach: the mailbox, a low branch, the back step. Tea-stain the paper the night before and tear the edges; it takes ten minutes and it is the part they keep.
Split the haul at the hole Fill the tin with identical drawstring bags, one per guest, rather than loose coins. The dig stays a group effort and nobody walks back to the house empty-handed.

Start from this one

The artwork
Keep this one, or describe your own party and get artwork drawn for it.
The wording
Every line on this card is an example, the painted title included. Change all of it; the design holds.
Sending
By text, from your own number. Guests open a link. Nothing to download.
The price
One credit for the invitation. Six guests or sixty, the number does not move.