ESCAPE ROOM CARE PACKAGE

I am SO EXCITED to share my all time favorite care package. I am particularly pumped because most of my care packages are inspired by Pinterest, and this one I came up with and executed all by myself. My husband loves puzzles and those escape the room online games/phone apps. The week before he deployed, we discovered our area had actual escape the room places where you physically go and figure out all the clues and try to escape in an hour. Since we were late in the game at that point and he would be leaving soon, we went to THREE that week.

He had gotten an expensive birthday+Christmas gift early (very early) as it was something he wanted for deployment, but I just feel like it's wrong not to have something for your actual birthday. And peeking in gifts destroys the sanctity of birthdays! Ahem. So anyway, I wanted something inexpensive that I could send him that would be special and memorable for his actual birthday. Naturally, I sent him an Escape Room themed box.

What I discovered as I tried to get inspiration for this box is that you can definitely spend however much you want to when doing it. It is easy to get excited and go overboard, but if you are unable to spend a lot, you can still do a pretty good one. This is the first attempt I have made at something like this, so I am sure there are countless ways it could be improved upon or made more neatly - one piece in particular was a pain to make and I just know there's a better way...

Supplies:

- Unfinished wooden box

- Paper for decorating the box

- Stencil (optional) for the flaps of the box

- TSA lock (or other combination lock)

- Wooden numbers

- Wooden keys

- Invisible ink pens

- UV flashlight

- Books

- Regular paper

- Small jar (optional)

I got the wooden box, decoration paper, stencil, and wooden numbers and keys from Michael's. The box can be whatever size works for what you are putting inside it, but it has to have a loop for the lock to hold it closed with. The only box I could find with a large enough loop for the size box I wanted didn't leave much room for a lock, so I opted for a smaller and more flexible TSA lock from Walmart. The box is the prize, and the number for the combination lock is the final step. The UV flashlight was also from Walmart, and the invisible ink pens I got off of Amazon. The books I used were in a stack of books he had asked me to send him, so I easily double-dipped with what we already had and he wanted with him.

The box was unfinished, so I lightly sanded it and then stained it with extra stain lying around in my parents' garage. Hey, I'm a newlywed - I haven't done many furniture projects, and this way is free! The stain was an easy way to make the box look a little nicer and not quite so cheap.

Here are the steps I came up with:

1. Morse code indicate book 1

2. 3 of the wood numbers were colored in invisible ink, providing page number. I numbered the back of the wood numbers so he would know which order to put them in.

3. Decode Ottendorf cipher to get the page number for the other book

4. Slots over page

5. Add the right numbers

6. Open box

I had a card on top writing him a note and then giving him his first 2 clues: a clue indicating the letters (that was not particularly helpful, as it turned out) and Morse code leading him to focus on the first book. What's tricky is I told him everything is in the box for a reason, and he was jumping ahead. I wanted to see him open it so we used video chat when it got there, and I guided a little but not much. As for the Ottendorf cipher, it has to do either with the page, word, and letter inside that word, or the line on a page, word in the line, and letter in the word. To clarify, I wrote on 3 wooden keys, "line," "word," "letter."

In order to get the page number, he had to use the flashlight so the ink would show up. I also decorated a key randomly - I was giddy about the invisible ink, okay?? I used it as much as I could possibly manage. Because awesome.

The cipher itself had a little clue on it in case he wasn't sure what type of cipher it was and needed to Google.

Using the Ottendorf cipher with the appropriate page number of book 1 yielded the page number of the other book. Although I could have piece-mealed letters and words together to make numbers and achieve the same result, I used his chess book which is full of numbers and made things a bit easier on myself. I used cardstock paper I had and put holes in it where they needed to be to allow just the numbers I wanted to show through once the paper was placed over the page in book 2. I gave clues to which book with regular pen, and gave clues to which side to use with invisible ink. I also made several decoy holes, circling the ones he was supposed to use with my new best friend invisible ink.

Next, he added up all of the numbers, and wallah! He had the combination to open the box.

I had messaged a number of family and friends and had them write notes to my husband, whatever length they wanted, and put them in the box. I added hard candy so that if he shook the box he wouldn't know it was just paper and wouldn't be able to guess as easily. You could adapt this by using a larger box and putting something else in it, but having lots of letters from people you care about is a welcome surprise, particularly when deployed and without access to these people. If people I reached out to were unsure of what to write, I suggested things they appreciate about him or a favorite memory.

Facebook messaging is a great way to communicate as it is fast and allows immediate response. I gave the option to write over Facebook (less hassle, less planning required, less time needed = more likely to participate and for me to actually receive something) and started early to give people time to intend to write, forget, and be reminded a couple of times if they had expressed interest, without being harassed.

In progress...

TADAAAA!!! It was a hit.

If you want to upscale your box a bit, look up Escape Room props on Amazon and for suppliers to Escape Room places, such as www.creativeescaperooms.com and www.escaperoomprops.com . There are also some pretty cool puzzle boxes or secret compartment boxes on Etsy and Amazon - some of them are intricate and look super cool, but the cooler they are, the more money you need for them. Look up some new types of codes and figure out how you want to integrate it into your box! It was super fun to make, so enjoy!