A Christmas Scavenger Hunt

Grandparents in our family were given strict orders concerning gifts for the grandchildren: NO TOYS. So I haven't been looking forward to my grandkids' faces not lighting up when they open up their packages of practical gifts like socks and jeans. But they're sweet kids. They won't throw a fit because we didn't get them a toy. They will say "Thank you, Nonna." And they'll go on about their playing. But I want it to be fun, so I created a Christmas scavenger hunt for them this morning.

As I post this, I'm waiting for them to arrive at our house for their weekly visit. They're leaving tomorrow to spend Christmas with their other grandparents, so they'll be receiving our gifts to them today. When they look under the tree and don't find any gifts for them, I'm going to pretend that we forgot where we hid them. The only clues to where they are will be envelopes on the tree-- one for Audrie and one for Finn. The clues in the cards said:

Dear Audrie & Finn,
     We are getting forgetful in our old age. We hid your Christmas presents and can't remember where we put them, but we wrote some clues so hopefully you can find them.

Finn Clue #1: Your gift is where you and PaPaw like to work.

[PaPaw's workbench in our garage]

Finn Clue #2: Your next gift is inside a secret place that we usually forget is there. It's hidden inside a soft, puffy piece of furniture and is a favorite place for you to pull out and see what's in there.

[The drawer in the couch]

Finn Clue #3: Your next gift is outside in plain view, but people probably think it's a part of our Christmas decorations. It's sitting on something that is built to move.

[One of the rocking chairs on the front porch]

Finn Clue #4: Your next gift is hidden outside under 

something blue that isn't the sky. 

It's covering something you love to play on.

[The tarp covers the ramp we built for my mother].

Finn Clue #5: Your next gift is hidden in a place hollowed out like a boat, but the water goes inside of it 

instead of the outside!

[Inside the bathtub]

Finn Clue #6: Your last gift is your stocking, which we had to hide to keep Snickers from getting into it. It's in a place that looks like a bookstore of new books inside our house, but remember to turn on the light so you can see it.

[In the bookshelves]

 Audrie Clue #1: Your first gift is under a place 

to rest one's head.

[Under a bed pillow]

 Audrie Clue #2: Your next gift is a place that is as hot and dry as the Sahara Desert. You wouldn't want to spend any time there!

[In the dryer]

Audrie Clue #3: Your next gift is hiding quietly in the newest piece of furniture in our house. 

 [In the baby's playpen]

Audrie Clue #4: Your next gift is outside the house on top of a place that's as cold as the North Pole!

[On the chest freezer in the garage]

Audrie Clue #4: Your next gift is outside, sitting beneath something that moves, but never touches the ground.

[Under the porch swing]

Audrie Clue #6: Your last gift is your stocking, which we had to hang it high to keep Snickers from getting into it. It used to be a dark place where light couldn't reach, but we spread it all out and with the flip of a switch can see everything now.

We remodeled the kitchen pantry in one day-- changing 3 deep shelves into 6 shallow shelves where we could see everything since the shallow shelves couldn't block the pantry ceiling light anymore. The stocking is hanging on one of three ceramic insulators I found in our attic. I'll show the before pictures in another post.

I didn't spend a whole lot of money on the grandkids, but I wrapped the gifts separately so it would spread out the scavenger hunt. In planning the scavenger hunt, which didn't take as long as I thought it would, I found that it was easiest for me to write down potential hiding places first, choosing easier places for Finn, who's five years younger than his sister. Then I wrote the clues that fit the hiding places and taped them to labels that I attached to each gift, in an order that revealed the next clue to find the next gift and so on. Most of these clues will be easy for them to figure out, but if I do any more hunts in the future, I'll probably make the riddles a little more challenging. 

I'm going to have Finn go first and as he finds a gift, I'll instruct him to leave it in the living room unopened until he finds all of them. Then Audrie will go find her gifts. That way we can all tag along with both of them if we want to. Then they can open their gifts together while we watch. 

Can't wait for them to get here!

P.S.H. (Post Scavenger Hunt) Not long after the kids arrived, Finn went to the bathroom. After a few minutes he came out so excited carrying the big gift that was hidden in the tub. I told him to go put it back-- that he had to find them in the right order. Then I asked him how he found it since it was hidden from sight behind the shower curtain, and he said, "I always look in the bathtub when I go to the bathroom." And Audrie said she did, too! We had a good laugh about it. I think I'm going to put something scary in the bathtub the next time they come to visit just to see if they really do look in the bathtub every time they go to the bathroom.

And they loved the scavenger hunt! Most of the clues were easy for them. Finn said the hardest clue for him was for the gift outside under the blue tarp. And Audrie had to think a while when it came to guessing the dryer. She checked the stove first, then the heater closet, and eventually thought of the dryer. We had a ball watching them.