PULTEVENT
Christmas scavenger hunt: 7 ways to run it, with clues for kids and adults
Boxing Day morning at a friend's farmhouse in Somerset, and the hunt was supposed to start at ten. At five to ten, the last clue was still in my pocket because the place I'd planned to hide it, inside a wellington boot by the back door, turned out to be where the dog sleeps. Eight children in two teams, red and green, were lined up in the hall in coats they didn't need, staring at the TV, where a countdown was ticking from sixty. One of the grandfathers had asked to be on a team. He'd been told he was too old. He'd joined anyway.
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A scavenger hunt is the one Christmas game that gets people out of their chairs and into every room of the house. It's also the one most likely to fall apart, because clues get found in the wrong order, the little ones get outrun by the big ones, and after twenty minutes nobody knows who's winning. What it needs is somewhere to come back to: a place where the time is shown, the score is kept and the next instruction appears.
That's how I use PULTEVENT for a hunt. The clues themselves are on paper, hidden around the house, because that's the fun of it. The TV is base camp. The laptop connected to it shows the countdown, the picture clues, the quiz checkpoints the teams answer on their phones, and the scoreboard. The phones scan a QR code, need no app, and do need internet. Below are rhyming clues for kids and harder ones for adults that you can copy straight onto cards.
7 ways to run a Christmas scavenger hunt from the TV
1 The countdown start
Teams line up in front of the TV while a big countdown runs on the screen. At zero the first clue is revealed and everyone scatters.
How to run it. Set the overall hunt time too, twenty or thirty minutes, and leave it running on the screen so teams can see how long they've got.
A proper start stops the older kids running off before the little ones have their coats on.
2 Picture clues for little ones
For children who can't read yet, the clue is a close-up photo on the TV: the corner of the fridge magnet, the pattern on Nana's cushion, a bit of the tree skirt. They run to find it.
How to run it. Take the photos on your phone the day before, put them on slides, and click to the next one when a team comes back.
Pre-readers finally get a hunt that's actually theirs, not one where an older sibling reads everything.
3 The rhyming riddle trail
Paper clues in colored envelopes, one color per team, each riddle leading to the next hiding place. The last clue leads back to base.
How to run it. Give each team the same places in a different order, so they're not all crashing into the bathroom at once.
Reading the riddle out and working it out together is the part kids love most.
4 The cryptic hunt for adults
Same house, harder clues. Anagrams, double meanings, the odd pun. Adults hunt in pairs, and the scoreboard counts clues solved against the clock.
How to run it. Run it after the kids' hunt, not alongside. Otherwise the adults end up solving the kids' clues and nobody's happy.
Adults like being out of their chairs too. They just won't admit it until someone makes them.
5 Quiz checkpoints
Between legs, each team comes back to the TV and answers three quick questions on their phone before they get the next envelope: which bird turns up on so many British Christmas cards, what shape a candy cane is, what goes on top of the tree.
How to run it. Write the questions in the quiz builder. Keep them short, the hunters are out of breath.
It slows the fastest team down just enough to keep the race close.
6 Task cards at base
When a team returns, the task randomizer on the screen picks a challenge before they can go again: sing one line of a carol, do a snow angel on the rug, name five reindeer.
How to run it. Write the tasks so the youngest can do them. The embarrassing ones are for the adult round.
Parents who didn't want to hunt at least get to watch the tasks, which is often the best bit.
7 Scores and the prize draw
The scoreboard adds up clues and checkpoints and ends with an awards ceremony. Then everyone who hunted scans the QR code for the raffle, and the screen picks a winner for the last prize.
How to run it. Put the big prize in the raffle rather than for the winning team. Every child still has a chance, and it ends the morning without tears.
Hunts are won by fast legs. A draw gives the slow ones a reason to keep going.
Paper clues, screen scores
The hunting happens in the house. The TV keeps the time and the points.
Two levels of clue
Rhymes for five-year-olds, cryptic ones for the grown-ups, in the same hunt.
Checkpoints on phones
Teams come back to base and answer three quick questions before the next leg.
A draw for the prize
Everyone who hunted gets a ticket in the QR raffle at the end.
Rhyming clues for kids
Copy these onto cards. Each answer is in brackets, for you, not the card.
"I hum all night and keep things cold, the milk and cheese are what I hold." (fridge) "I spin and spin but never get dizzy, on laundry day I'm very busy." (washing machine) "I have lots of stories but can't read a word, look on my shelves for the clue you've not heard." (bookcase) "Everyone wipes their feet on me, look underneath and what will you see?" (doormat)
"I wear my lights and a star on my head, look under my branches, not under your bed." (Christmas tree) "I have two hands but I can't clap, look behind me for the map." (clock) "Fill me with bubbles, fill me up high, then climb out quickly before you dry." (bath) "At night I'm where you rest your head, I'm soft and square and on your bed." (pillow)
Cryptic clues for adults
"Home of the leftover turkey from now until New Year." (fridge) "Eighty-eight teeth and not one bite." (piano or keyboard) "The only mouth in the house that eats Christmas cards." (letterbox) "Rate he? Rearrange him and he keeps you warm." (heater) "I run all day but never leave the kitchen." (tap)
"Where everyone's winter lives while they're visiting." (coat hooks) "The place the wrapping paper goes after the storm." (recycling bin) "I do the washing-up so nobody has to argue about it." (dishwasher)
Pick six or eight and put them in an order that zigzags through the house. The walk between clues is half the game.
Hiding places to avoid
Nothing inside the oven, even a cold one; somebody will turn it on for the roast potatoes. Nothing up high enough to need a chair. Nothing near candles or the fire. Nothing in the dog's bed, as I learned. And count the envelopes before and after, because one clue always turns up in April behind the radiator.
Kids and adults in one hunt
Mixed teams work if the adult is the reader and the child is the runner. Tell the grown-ups plainly that their job is to read and point, not to sprint. Separate hunts work better if you have a lot of guests: kids first, with picture clues and rhymes, then the adults with the cryptic set while the children eat chocolate and heckle.
In the office or a community hall
At a work Christmas party the hunt moves to the office or the venue. Hide the clues around desks, the kitchen and the stationery cupboard, and play in teams of five. Keep base camp by the big screen or projector. Ask facilities first, and keep everyone out of the server room.
"Is the clue in the printer?"
"Everything is always in the printer."
What you need, and trying it first
A laptop, a TV or projector with HDMI, colored envelopes, a pen, and Wi-Fi for the phone checkpoints. If the internet drops, the countdown, picture clues and task cards still run from the laptop, and you can keep score on the screen by hand. Set it all up in the free 3-day demo, no card needed. The full version is a one-time license without a subscription; the price is on pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to run a Christmas scavenger hunt with the TV as base camp
- 1
Choose six to eight hiding places and write a clue for each, rhymes for kids and cryptic for adults.
- 2
Photograph close-ups for the picture round and put them on slides.
- 3
Hide the envelopes in a different order for each team, and count them.
- 4
Connect the laptop to the TV, write the checkpoint questions and set the countdown.
- 5
Start the hunt from the screen, run checkpoints and task cards at base between legs.
- 6
Finish with the scoreboard ceremony and the QR raffle for the final prize.
FAQ
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See also
Run brighter events — with PULTEVENT
All audience interactions, a second screen and timing in one app. Guests join by QR — internet is needed for you and for them.
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