Christmas Scavenger Hunt | Make Opening Presents Last!

The rush of getting ready for Christmas is over, but don't you wish that all those presents you bought would have taken a little longer than just 10 minutes to rip open?

Well, this is why I'm writing about a Christmas scavenger hunt. These hunts can be amazing fun for the whole family. A scavenger hunt also means that the opening of presents can be an exciting morning event, instead of the typical 10 minute frenzy of flying paper.

There are two main ways to organize this event:

The first is to structure the event in the traditional scavenger hunt style.

This is when you have the big prize as the 'treasure' and each clue leads to another clue. For this, you hide the clues in the places where the last clue is directing the player to. So for instance, if your first clue is pointing to the TV, then you second clue should be near the TV and the second clue points to the third clue … etc.

This can have one main prize, or you could allow the players to open a gift at each stage. The child then follows the trail, like they work on a treasure hunt. This works really well, as if you have enough presents, you can allow the player[s] to open a present at each clue they find. If you can't actually hide the presents, then allow them to open a present at each clue. For this, consider picking out which presents relate to each clue first, saving the best for last of course!

The second way is to keep all of the clues and hide the presents near the 'answers' to each clue. For this, you may need to be inventive, or buy some small presents. Then, when the child finds the present, they can open it and you reward them with the next clue.

With both of these styles, you could also make them do a funny pose with the object and take a photo, or set a challenge. Making them sing, dance or complete puzzles could make the game even more challenging and expand it to a full morning event. However, I would only recommend the challenge idea if you have more than one child … as it can be a bit annoying for a single child. In the challenge scenario, maybe the winner can pick the presents that they open. Fancy dress for the even can also add a little extra Christmas cheer to your scavenger hunt.

However, there is a third way, but this doesn't involve hunting for presents. The third style involves photograph challenges! A Christmas themed photo scavenger hunt. These are fun and crazy. Each team races to try to find or create the fun photos on the list of challenges, the first to succeed if then the winner.

So, now you know how to create a good Christmas scavenger hunt, you need some scavenger hunt clues. If you are creative, you can make your own. Simple descriptions can work quite well, such as:

• I've flat and thin,through me you can see the world and much more.

• Answer = Flat screen TV

  
  

However, these aren't overly festive. When I run scavenger hunts, I generally find that rhyming riddles or photo challenges work the best.

If you aren't poetic in nature, then for this Christmas you can always download some ready-made Christmas scavenger hunt clues (just click the blue link). They can be downloaded cheaply and some are free. With your clues ready, you just need to print them and start hiding those presents.

It would probably be best if you get up early to do this, as kids will normally be searching the house for their gifts weeks in advance of Christmas … and they are quite ingenious at finding them!

I hope this idea will help to make this Christmas a little different and inject even more excitement into your Christmas morning present opening.

Thanks for reading.

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