Take Gift Opening To The Next Level With A Christmas Morning Scavenger Hunt. Here's How.

This year has been a tough one for many — including us.

We are not in a place to financially get our kids everything we want to for Christmas, but we definitely want to make it a fun Christmas morning despite the scarcity of gifts.

We are going to do some old traditions: i.e. The Christmas Pickle and oranges in the stocking. But, we also want to incorporate a few new traditions as well: i.e. Christmas Punch to enjoy while opening gifts.

We want the actual time spent opening gifts to be a special time of bonding and making those memories.

So, we came up with a great way to prolong gift time, and maybe make it a little fun in the process.

We were able to get each kid one BIG gift. Don’t get me wrong, we got little ones too, but only one MAJOR gift this year.

Here is the plan for our fun time of opening gifts

We will let the kids open their stockings and smaller gifts — maybe first? We haven’t decided.

For the big gift, we have planned a — wait for it — Scavenger Hunt to build the excitement and make it exciting!

Now, the kids are fully aware that this is going to be a lean year, and the small gifts are already under the tree — they think that’s all they are getting.

But those BIG GIFTS — the kids have NO IDEA!! Those we are hiding in the closet until Christmas Eve — once the littles go to bed.

I’m a planner, so I have already scouted out and decided where and what we are going to do.

We are going to get some empty boxes, and wrap them up in some Christmas wrapping paper.

In the empty boxes will be a note that says, “You thought this was your gift? NOPE! I think I saw it under the _____.” And thus, the scavenger hunts begin.

For one kid, we have them looking under the cereal boxes, behind the TV in the front room, and in the top drawer of Mom’s dresser.

The second child gets to look in their brother’s closet, behind the door in the bathroom, and underneath the piggy bank in their room.

Of course, these are all going to be stops along the way to the BIG gift that is awaiting them at the end.

At each “fake” stop, we will either wrap another gift or have an envelope that says something to the effect of, “Oops. It’s not here, either. Try _____.” And then, they will go on to their next point.

Now, if you decide to run with this idea, make it your own. It can be as long or as short as you want. Brainstorm some funny locations that you’d never expect to find a gift.

We have decided to put one of the BIG gifts in the dryer (a place they NEVER go) and one under my son’s bed (again, a place they never go — we will have to clean it out first. LOL!!).

I can’t wait to see their surprise — and hopefully a little giddiness — when they finally find their gifts!!