9 Best Holiday Scavenger Hunt Templates in 2024 (Printable!) (2024)

You found our collection of fun holiday scavenger hunt templates.

Holiday scavenger hunts are games where players compete to retrieve seasonal items or perform festive tasks. For example, you might hunt for a candy cane or sing a few lines of Jingle Bells. Holiday scavenger hunt templates are lists of clues, prompts, and items that serve as a starting point for the activity.

You can do these activities at your virtual Christmas party, hybrid Christmas event, office Christmas party, or holiday team building event.

This post the following templates:

• Christmas scavenger hunt to find gifts
• holiday scavenger hunt for kids with clues
• Christmas scavenger hunt for adults with clues
• Christmas scavenger hunt for kids
• outdoor winter scavenger hunt
• holiday scavenger hunt for the office
• virtual holiday scavenger hunt
• Christmas photo scavenger hunt
• naughty & nice list scavenger hunt

Here we go!

Collection of Holiday scavenger hunt templates

Here is an assortment of free, printable holiday scavenger hunt templates for work, school, and fun.

1. Christmas scavenger hunt to find gifts

Instructions: Hide wrapped presents in the locations in the answer key. Then, give gift hunters the list of riddles or clues one at a time, and watch as players find the presents. If your game has multiple participants, then you may want to hide each player’s presents in different locations, and give those individuals the corresponding riddles.

2. Holiday scavenger hunt for kids with clues

Instructions: Print the template and cut out each clue. Give players riddle number #1. The answer to the first riddle reveals the location to the second clue. Hide all the prompts accordingly. In the final location, hide a small gift. We made this template as a starter, however feel free to add additional clues if you want the hunt to last longer.

3. Christmas scavenger hunt with clues for adults

Instructions: Split the group into teams, and give each team the list of trivia. You can either give players all prompts at once, or hide the next question at the answer to the previous question. You can ask players to physically gather these items, or take pictures that include the objects. We made this template as a starter, however feel free to add additional clues if you want the hunt to last longer.

4. Christmas scavenger hunt for kids

Instructions: Give kids the list of items and ask the players to either gather the objects or take a picture of the items. You can give players the entire list at once, or name off items one by one and wait for each child to return with the items. Instead of awarding points to the first player to grab the objects, give points to every player who is able to find the items. If time allows, then you can also call on the children to talk about the items show and tell style.

5. Outdoor Winter Scavenger Hunt

Instructions: Head outdoors and take a walk around the woods or the neighborhood, looking out for the items on the list. Snap a picture of these sightings. At the end of the activity, count up the total number of list items found. You can play the game solo, or as a team competition.

6. Holiday scavenger hunt for the office

Instructions: This game works great for a team building exercise or a company Christmas party activity. First, gather the group and hand out the list of objects. Then, give players 10 to 15 minutes to find as many items around the office as possible. You can play the game in teams, or individually. When the timer runs out, count up the total number of items and award the player or team with the most points as the winner.

7. Virtual holiday scavenger hunt

Instructions: To start the game, first gather on a video call and ensure that all players’ webcams are on. You can split the group into teams, or play individually. Have a host read out items one by one, and ask players to grab the objects from around the house. The first player to produce the item on camera wins a point for themselves or their team.

8. Christmas Photo Scavenger Hunt

Instructions: Give players the list of items, and ask the individuals or teams to produce pictures that fit each of the descriptions. The photos can either be the results of online image searches, personal photos of teammates, in-the-moment recreations, or some mix of these approaches. There are many ways to do this photo hunt. Participants can play the game in person and show the judges physical or smartphone photos, players can share the screen or drop images in the chat during Zoom calls, or players can submit the pictures via online form or Slack thread.

9. Naughty & Nice list scavenger hunt

Instructions: The object of this game is to gather items that might qualify players to be on Santa’s nice list or naughty list. The leader reads out objects one by one, and players produce the items. This challenge works best as a remote team game. Teams gain points for every list item retrieved. The team with the total number of points wins the game. However the leader also counts up how many entries each group has in each category, and deems the team naughty or nice. These prompts are starters, however feel free to add even more objects to the list. You can also make the prompts more appropriate to the age group. For example, a child’s version of the game might include “broken toy” on the naughty list and “finished homework” on the nice list.

Final Thoughts

Holiday scavenger hunts are a good way to add fun and cheer to any holiday occasion, from end-of-year parties, to team outings, to lesson plans, to community events and friendly family gatherings. These particular games add holiday flair to the standard scavenger hunt protocol. Not to mention, the games get folks moving, interacting, and working together.

For more holiday fun, check out this list of holiday icebreakers, these Xmas trivia questions, these online Christmas games, and these holiday party favor ideas.

We also have templates for virtual scavenger hunts, office scavenger hunts, photo scavenger hunts and a list of fun scavenger hunt ideas. Plus, this list of treasure hunt games.