Thanks to Mom Central, our family was given the opportunity to review Giftventure. If you, like I did at first, think “What the heck is a giftventure?” have no fear. Here’s the explanation from their site:

A Giftventure is a personalized treasure hunt service where all of the materials are custom made and delivered to you! You simply choose an adventure, a character, and a hiding place for a gift that you provide. Enter the location where you have the hidden gift, some of the child’s personal interests, (such as a favorite game, or a local landmark), and you’re all set! Using the information you provide, we create and mail a series of letters and puzzles addressed to the child who must solve the puzzles and follow the clues in the letters to discover the location of your hidden gift.

There are a variety of adventures to choose from. We tried out the treasure map adventure which consists of three letters mailed to me but addressed to my kids. If I had chosen the standard delivery instead of the package delivery, the letters would have come directly to the kids every three-ish days until they had received all of the letters. With the package delivery, though, they all came in a package to me and I was able to choose when to give the kids the letters. Obviously Bella’s to young to get it so it was primarily about Primo.

I chose to have the kids’ letters come from Gunther the Dragon (one of several character choices). Though even Primo was a tad young for this package (it’s intended for ages 4-8) he still loved the whole experience simply because I totally hyped it up and he got a present at the end. He loves to open presents and it really could have had anything in it. I just bought him a new car because that’s what he’s in to now, and put in a stuffy for Bella. He loved that there was something in there for her and gave it to her right away. Directly into her face.

The Good: What’s not good about this? I’m totally saving these letters to do another adventure in the future since Primo will totally have forgotten in a few months. As long as I hide the gift in the hall closet again, they’ll totally work for re-use. They’d be easy to make yourself too. Not that I’m recommending that. You should totally support Giftventure. But…you know. They have special birthday and Easter adventures that look extra-cool. Can you imagine making the final destination the garage and giving a child their first two wheeler this way? I love it!

The Bad: The Giftventure service is not yet available in Canada, but they’re working on it. My kids were the very first Canadians to experience a Giftventure. How cool is that?

The Ugly: Nada!