Guide · 4 min read · 30 October 2026
A Christmas mystery scavenger hunt: how to run one at home
A Christmas scavenger hunt is simple: clues hidden around the house lead from one to the next until somebody finds a present. It works, but the older children usually race ahead and the younger ones end up following. Add a small mystery on top, a missing object, a few suspects and a locked box at the end, and the same hunt becomes something the whole family solves together.
This is how we set one up. It needs a printer, a dozen envelopes, a small box and about twenty minutes the evening before.
Hunt plus mystery: what changes
- A story instead of a trail: something has gone missing on Christmas Eve, and the clues explain where it went and who moved it.
- Puzzles instead of riddles only: each hiding place holds a small puzzle whose answer names the next hiding place, so nobody can skip ahead.
- Evidence along the way: three of the envelopes also hold a clue about the culprit, which keeps the slower readers busy with the suspect sheet.
- A finale with a lock: the team needs the culprit’s name and a three-digit code to open the box. That moment is the one they will remember.
Where to hide the envelopes
Choose places the children can reach and that you can check in one walk round the house. Write the hiding place on your answer sheet as you go: on Christmas morning you will not remember which stocking you used.
- Under the Christmas tree, behind a present that is not theirs.
- Inside a stocking, or pinned behind one.
- In the cookie tin (put the envelope in a zip bag first).
- Between the pages of a Christmas book on the shelf.
- Under a cushion, a doormat or the advent calendar.
- In a coat pocket on the hook by the door.
- Taped under a chair at the table where the game started.
Clue ideas that work for ages 7–12
- Mirror writing: write the next place backwards; they read it in a mirror or on a phone camera.
- Counting: draw a tree with striped, spotted and plain ornaments and ask for only one kind. The number is a digit of the final code.
- Cross out the twins: a grid of letters where most come in pairs; the single letters spell the next place.
- Number code: A = 1, B = 2 … Z = 26, written as a gift tag.
- Riddles with numbers: nine numbered stockings and four true sentences; only one stocking fits them all.
- A map: a simple three-by-three plan of rooms and a list of moves (up, left, down) that ends in the hiding place.
Mixed ages around one table
Christmas means cousins, and cousins mean a seven-year-old and a twelve-year-old on the same team. Give each child a job: the youngest opens the envelopes, someone keeps the notebook, someone counts, and the oldest is allowed to announce the culprit at the end. Grown-ups can play too, but agree that they only help when asked.
Keep a short hint for every puzzle written on your sheet. If the team has been stuck for about five minutes, offer the smallest hint first. Never say “wrong”: a wrong answer can simply lead to an envelope that says “not quite, look again”.
The finale
Put the prize in a small box with a three-digit padlock, or tape it shut and pretend. When the team names the culprit and the code, open it slowly. Something small and on theme is plenty: a jingle bell, chocolate coins, or the real present they were going to get anyway. Print a certificate for every child, not only the one who shouted the answer.
Where our kit fits
If you would rather not write and test seven puzzles yourself, The Christmas Eve Case is the printable kit we made for exactly this: the Silver Sleigh Bell has vanished from the North Pole workshop on Christmas Eve, five suspects, seven linked puzzles, three evidence cards, decoy envelopes, a host guide with hints and the answer key, invitations and certificates. It prints in black and white on A4 or US Letter. Every answer was checked by a solver who saw only the printed pages.