Cadettes Comparison Shopping Badge: Wal-Mart Scavenger Hunt

 

It's important to me as the girls age to apply the badges to real world scenarios.  I try and introduce them to careers and concepts that will help them in college and beyond.  This can be a challenge at times, but well worth the added effort.

Sunday the girls enjoyed a scavenger hunt at Wal-Mart.  This idea is not a new one, many student groups and birthday parties have been centered around scavenger hunts at Wal-Mart.  I had hoped I could find a fun scavenger hunt online that would entertain the girls, but found most of the ideas online were merely a hunt for miscellaneous items in the store.  So I had to invest some time to make this a meaningful event for the girls.

I met the girls in the McDonalds at our local Wal-Mart.  They enjoyed lunch while I introduced the topic of Comparison Shopping.  We talked about coupons, name brands vs. generic, what items are taxed and for how much, how apps and discount promo codes can benefit the online shopper, ebate sites and unit pricing.  This was our first meeting of the year and I felt the troop was a bit apathetic and lethargic.  The looks on their faces was "this is going to be boring!"  I had to continue to refocus their attention.  I reminded them that the information I was providing was truly going to help them on their hunt.

I have 9 Cadettes so I grouped them in teams of 3.  I tasked them first with finding a team mascot and sent them out into the store to be creative.  The "Onsie Squad" dressed up in adult onesie pajamas and had a store clerk take a photo.  The "Get Shrek'd" team took a photo of a video cover with Shrek. And the "Most Awesome Team on Earth" was a photo  of a blow up pumpkin.  To add a competitive drive to the scavenger hunt I agreed to buy the team completing the most tasks  an ice cream cone from McDonald's.

Next, I assigned each team a warm-up exercise which required them to find the lowest price on an item in the store: Motrin, Cheerios, Strawberry Yogurt and Deodorant.  This took some thought because these items have lots of brands, choices and prices.  The girls had to realize that Motrin can be named Ibuprofen or Advil during their comparison in order to find the best price.  And the girls needed to compare spray and roll on deodorant.  I did not have the girls collect all the items in a basket, I felt this would be too time consuming and they would have to put it ALL back, so instead the girls were asked to take a picture of the item and the price tag. 

Following the warm-up the game officially began.  I printed each task on an index card.  I gave each team a different task.  They needed to complete the task, report back to me for critiquing and then get another card/task.  They had an hour and a half to do as many challenges as possible to win.
Each Team was given 1 of 10 real-world scenarios (on an index card) and asked to find the best deal they could, given the budget they were given.  Some of the tasks included coupons (paper-clipped to the index card) that they could use if it proved to be the best price  (sometimes the coupon was not beneficial).  I tried to create scenarios that sent them throughout the store, from one area to another.  I also encouraged them to think outside the box and use some of the savvy shopping information I shared with them.  They received bonus points if they could figure out what items were taxed and how much it would affect the overall price.  Once the team completed the task they had to report back to me and tell me how much they spent and I would critique their finds and make suggestions like: "Did you ever think to look for an inexpensive plastic bowl from kitchenware, rather than a real dog bowl?  Would that have been cheaper?"   It was really interesting to watch the girls improve with each task.  Sometimes I would hand them the card and they would say, "There is no way possible I can buy all this stuff with so little money."  And then they would return surprised that they had $10 left over!

 I will share one task so you can see how the girls worked:

You have school pictures tomorrow and need the following make-up items, any brand: foundation or concealer, powder, light pink eye shadow, mascara, blue eyeliner and lipstick. Can you buy everything you need for $21? Also your Mom gives you $15 and tells you to buy a hair dryer for her and you can keep the change (if any).

The girls were given 2 coupons on this task:  $2 off any Maybelline NY Mascara

$2 off Maybelline NY foundation

The girls found all the make-up items for $18 and change. The cheapest in-store hairdryer they could find was $13.97, but they wanted to save even more. So they found a hairdryer for $9.97 online and said they would plan to have it shipped to the store for free, since the task did not indicate that Mom needed it TODAY.   (Ahhhh smart, I like it!)  Plus they said if money was not a factor they would go back and upgrade some of their choices and spend all of the left-over cash. :-)

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