DIY Escape Room: Lovers Edition

DIY Escape Room At Home

Escape rooms are so much fun but can be costly or challenging if you don’t have a babysitter lined up. Have you ever considered a DIY escape room?

Staying in and creating your own DIY escape room is just as fun! Just like a traditional escape room, you work together with your spouse {and friends} to solve a whole bunch of puzzles and riddles and try to “break out” of the room you’re locked in. It’s such a fun exercise in teamwork and logic – plus a gigantic sense of accomplishment when you actually “escape.”

We’ve put our own Diva-twist on the idea of an escape room and turned it into a romantic group date night that you can DIY at home for free! Lovers, it’s time to work together to open the locked box and find the “key to my heart!”

These puzzles were pretty tricky to create, but our friend Dawn did such an amazing job helping us make sure that everything worked smoothly. Thanks Dawn!

Now, let’s get into all the details of your DIY escape room!

Escape Room Logistics

Putting together an escape room can be slightly complicated, but it is worth it for the final experience!

For starters, in order to adequately set up an escape room, one person has to hide the clues and know the final lock combination. This means that they cannot participate in solving the clues with the group, but are instead the Escape Room Guide. (This is such a fun job to have though!)

Secondly, we have provided a full set of printable clues and instructions for solving the escape room puzzles based on a PRE-DETERMINED LOCK COMBO. This means that if you have a 3 digit lock already, it can only be used for this version if you can adjust the combination to our suggested lock combination.

If you do not already have a 3-digit lock, we highly recommend grabbing this affordable lock! It will work perfectly for this game and you can set the combination to the numbers we provide.

Lastly, we also have provided alternate printables to use if you wish to use your own combination. The instructions and details are in the SECOND printable download below.

diy escape room PRINTABLES

With such a fun experience comes fun printables and all of the instructions you need to pull off this amazing group date. Here’s what this printable set comes with!

• Date Night Invitation – Print out as many invites as you need OR text a photo to your guests to invite them to a night of puzzle solving and fun!
• Background Story – This helpful explanation will give the puzzle solvers some context for what they are trying to do.
• Materials List – We have got you covered with everything you need to set up the escape room and solve the puzzles. Most items you likely already have! For convenience, feel free to grab everything you need from the helpful links below:
• Tips for Setting Up – If you’re new to escape rooms, you will quickly see that these tips will help make the experience go that much smoother.
• 3 Exciting Puzzles – To solve the “key to my heart”, follow the instructions for setting up and hiding each of the 3 puzzles.
• Answers & Puzzle Instructions – A one-page summary of the 3 puzzles and how to set them up! This will be your best friend during the escape room experience!
• Printable Key – In case you don’t have an antique key to work with, we have provided a stylish printable key for you to hide in the locked box.

Hosting a DIY Escape Room

If you’re going to host this date night, you will want to read up on all the details in the answer key so you have a good understanding of all the puzzles and how they work.

The first step is to hide all of the clues – and there are quite a few of them! Hide them in clever locations, but don’t forget to put a few in more obvious locations, too. It’s no fun if your guests get super frustrated.

Now it’s time for your group date night to begin! Start off by reading the backstory, then have the couples work together to solve the puzzles. Keep in mind that you and your spouse could host together or you could host alone and let your spouse participate. Alternatively, you could create two rooms and let the men and women compete to see who can find the key the fastest. It might be fun to time your guests. You could even just set up one room and let different groups take turns, setting a timer to see who finds the key more quickly.

As your guests are playing, feel free to give hints. Try to come up with creative ways to hint about where the missing clues are hidden without giving away too much. You could even set a rule that each group gets to ask for three hints and then they’re on their own.

Make sure you’re familiar with the puzzles and riddles as well as where you’ve hidden the clues! Ultimately, your guests’ goal is to find three numbers which will unlock your box and give them the key. If you want the game to go faster or be a little easier, you could tell them this ahead of time.

**SPOILER ALERT!**

If you keep reading, you’ll start hearing about and seeing the solutions to the puzzles. If you are wanting to use this fun idea but NOT play host, stop reading here! If you’re ready to play host, then keep on reading…

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Still with us? Yay! So excited for you to set up the game!

Escape Room Puzzles

Puzzle #1

To figure out the first number of the lock, the guests will be searching for the “Love Clues” {first comes love…} aka the foldable cubes and glue. They will need to find the two cubes and assemble them with the glue stick. The first number of the combination is provided on the printable, but to get that number, your guests will need to add the two sets of dots on the cubes together.

Puzzle #2

In order to determine the second number in the combination, your guests will be looking for the “Marriage Clues” {then comes marriage…}. These come in the form of 2 printable rings that when found, will reveal 2 numbers that should be added together to get the 2nd digit of the lock combo. Your guests will need to find the rings and consult the rings display page to learn the values of the rings.

Puzzle #3

And to find the final number of the lock combination, your guests will be on the hunt for the “Baby Clues” {then comes the baby in the baby carriage!}. The baby clues exist within an intense baby-themed crossword puzzle that highlights certain letters once completed. These letters then point to the deck of cards (hidden in the room) that should be MISSING one card specifically. That card value is the final digit of the lock combination.

Of note, this may be the most challenging part of the escape room if your guests are unfamiliar with baby trivia. It’s up to you if you want to allow them to consult Google or not! 😉

Pre-Set Lock Puzzle Adjustments

We made a second set of printables for puzzles 1 and 2 that can be adjusted to any combination you already have. If your lock is not capable of being reset to a different combination, follow the instructions on the 2 puzzles provided in the second printable set (labeled “Puzzles for Pre-Set Lock”). Puzzle 3’s adjustment is only to remove the heart that belongs to the value of the 3rd digit from the deck of face cards.

An Unforgettable DIY Escape Room

This experience takes a bit of work, but will make for an unforgettable night!

If you’re worried you won’t have that much time, or that your guests will want things a little easier – no problem! You can easily modify these puzzles to be a bit more simple by doing things like assembling the cubes in advance (puzzle #1), putting the locked box in the center of the room, or helping them with different clues on the crossword puzzle.

Well, are you ready to find the key to love? Create this DIY escape room for your friends now!

For even more puzzle fun, make sure to check out these posts!