4 ms·

This is such a lovely story. Do you intend to tell your son or let him reason it out eventually?

andrewstuart 6y ago
Don't know. I figure one day it will come out, no hurry to dispel the magic till then. If you like that sort of thing: Last year for his birthday I spent several months preparing an alien treasure hunt in the park for his birthday. The idea was an alien spacecraft had crashed in the park and eight 10 year old boys were needed to go hunting for the clues to help the aliens get home. As we drove down there listening to the radio I had an IOT device that transmitted its own AM radio station to the car radio with an urgent announcement about a crashed alien spacecraft nearby. I prepared all sorts of gadgets and electronic devices - sound effects and lights - gave the kids bluetooth buttons to search for things and had little IOT devices that played sounds when the buttons came in range. I made audio mission cards which played audible missions to the kids (made from audio greeting card mechanisms). I bought tiny little glow in the dark aliens and little led lights that I scattered around the park. The kids found a nest of alien eggs that they had to eat (chocolate eggs). The finale was they had to tie the tiny aliens to helium balloons and send them into the sky to "send them home". I spent months writing code and preparing it all. Only about half worked on the night!! I think I had more fun making it all than the kids did doing it.
- beamatronic 6y ago
  Ok, so not only are you a 10x programmer you are a 10x dad! Awesome job!
  - andrewstuart 6y ago
    Kind words but certainly 1X on the programming front but I do enjoy it.
- ComodoHacker 6y ago
  >alien eggs that they had to eat This has ruined it all for me.
- mywacaday 6y ago
  I'd buy that kit!
  - andrewstuart 6y ago
    You know I actually thought about that - I thought "I wonder if anyone would buy an Alien Adventure birthday treasure hunt kit?"
    - runnr_az 6y ago
      I might. Certainly, I’d love to see what you did... sounds fun!
- dTal 6y ago
  >The finale was they had to tie the tiny aliens to helium balloons and send them into the sky to "send them home". I'm going to be "that guy" - don't do this. What goes up must come down, so it essentially amounts to littering bits of rubber and plastic ribbon everywhere which pose a choking threat to wildlife - particularly marine wildlife, if they make it that far.
- ghostbrainalpha 6y ago
  Did you do a blog post or Instructuble for all this? I would love to read more!
- the-peter 6y ago
  This is wonderful! I hope you wrote up how you put all this together somewhere? Link to a blog post or something?
em-bee 6y ago
when the son has kids on his own, grandpa will helpfully suggest to do this for the grandkids, and only then it will dawn on him :-)

Don't know. I figure one day it will come out, no hurry to dispel the magic till then. If you like that sort of thing: Last year for his birthday I spent several months preparing an alien treasure hunt in the park for his birthday. The idea was an alien spacecraft had crashed in the park and eight 10 year old boys were needed to go hunting for the clues to help the aliens get home. As we drove down there listening to the radio I had an IOT device that transmitted its own AM radio station to the car radio with an urgent announcement about a crashed alien spacecraft nearby. I prepared all sorts of gadgets and electronic devices - sound effects and lights - gave the kids bluetooth buttons to search for things and had little IOT devices that played sounds when the buttons came in range. I made audio mission cards which played audible missions to the kids (made from audio greeting card mechanisms). I bought tiny little glow in the dark aliens and little led lights that I scattered around the park. The kids found a nest of alien eggs that they had to eat (chocolate eggs). The finale was they had to tie the tiny aliens to helium balloons and send them into the sky to "send them home". I spent months writing code and preparing it all. Only about half worked on the night!! I think I had more fun making it all than the kids did doing it.

beamatronic 6y ago
Ok, so not only are you a 10x programmer you are a 10x dad! Awesome job!
- andrewstuart 6y ago
  Kind words but certainly 1X on the programming front but I do enjoy it.
ComodoHacker 6y ago
>alien eggs that they had to eat This has ruined it all for me.
mywacaday 6y ago
I'd buy that kit!
- andrewstuart 6y ago
  You know I actually thought about that - I thought "I wonder if anyone would buy an Alien Adventure birthday treasure hunt kit?"
  - runnr_az 6y ago
    I might. Certainly, I’d love to see what you did... sounds fun!
dTal 6y ago
>The finale was they had to tie the tiny aliens to helium balloons and send them into the sky to "send them home". I'm going to be "that guy" - don't do this. What goes up must come down, so it essentially amounts to littering bits of rubber and plastic ribbon everywhere which pose a choking threat to wildlife - particularly marine wildlife, if they make it that far.
ghostbrainalpha 6y ago
Did you do a blog post or Instructuble for all this? I would love to read more!
the-peter 6y ago
This is wonderful! I hope you wrote up how you put all this together somewhere? Link to a blog post or something?

em-bee 6y ago

when the son has kids on his own, grandpa will helpfully suggest to do this for the grandkids, and only then it will dawn on him :-)