Festive Family Fun: Christmas Decoration Scavenger Hunt Printable

Grab our free printable and get the kids ready to hop in the car, it’s time to see Christmas decorations!

Ever since I was a child, I’ve always enjoyed driving through various neighborhoods to see Christmas decorations. Some homes really do it up while others keep it simple, but all are beautiful in my eyes!

It’s no surprise I’ve continued this Christmas tradition with my own kids. Not only is it a budget-friendly Christmas experience, but there’s just something about seeing twinkling lights and inflatable snowmen that gets a person in the holiday spirit, you know?

As you’re planning your Christmas festivities for the year, you should definitely consider scheduling in some low-stress, low speed cruising through neighborhoods to view outdoor decorations with the kids.

Today, I’m sharing some low-prep tips for making your Christmas decoration experience magical along with access to my free Christmas decoration scavenger hunt!

Your family will have such a great time while making some pretty magical memories together!

Finding Christmas Decorations to See

Finding awesome Christmas decorations to drive around and see can sometimes be a challenge.

Luckily, there are a number of ways to find decorations to complete your Christmas decoration scavenger hunt like:

• Local Social Media Groups: Members of local social media groups will often share details on local Christmas decor spots. Check often for posts of specific addresses or neighborhoods with especially spectacular decorations!
• Local Holiday Decoration Organizers: When we lived in New Jersey, we could always count on The Lights and Sights of New Jersey site for up-to-date Google maps of local Christmas decoration and light displays. There’s a chance there’s a similar site for your area! Try doing a quick Google search of “your town” or “your state” + “Christmas decorations” or “Christmas lights” and see what shows up!
• Local Realtor Offices: Realtors are ALL about showcasing the positives of local communities, so there’s a good chance they’ll have an ongoing list of displays to see while completing your Christmas scavenger hunt. Check with your local offices (and their Facebook pages) – if they don’t offer a list, consider asking them to create one.

On a personal note, if you enjoy seeing videos of some pretty awesome Christmas displays, keep an eye on my TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook feeds! Our Christmas display is my oldest son’s pride and joy – it’s grown to nearly 100 inflatables by this point!

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Making the Car Merry

I mean, you could just hop in the car and complete the Christmas Scavenger Hunt without Christmas-fying the car, but…why would you?

When the kids were tiny, I didn’t go as “all out” with planning our Christmas sight-seeing nights but, now that they’re tweens & teens? Oh my, I’m pulling out all the stops. They’re only young once, right? Might as well make the Christmas season as magical as possible, right?

Whether you’re keeping it low-key or turning your mom van into Santa’s backup sleigh, I’ve got a few (very low prep, I promise) tips for prepping the vehicle for cruising around the neighborhood this Christmas season:

• Magnetic Christmas Bulbs: Not only are they reflective, making your vehicle more visible in the dark, daylight-savings time night, but they’re also super cute! We actually keep our set of Christmas bulb magnets in the car year-round for safe-keeping. When the clock strikes midnight on November 1…on they go (well, maybe not at exactly midnight, but you know what I mean)
• Reindeer Car Antlers Set: Go big, or go home, you know? My mom van sports a big red nose and antlers every year. The kids love it and they make it easier to find the van in the ginormous Costco parking lot, so I’d say that’s a win!
• Cozy Blankets: No matter where we’ve lived, I’ve always associated the Christmas season with cold weather. Grab a few blankets from the family room, or splurge for some Christmas-themed blankets, and bring them out to the car so the kids can stay extra cozy while checking off boxes on their scavenger hunts.
• Hot Cocoa: If the kids are old enough to be trusted with a hot beverage, fill up some travel mugs with hot cocoa to be enjoyed while seeing the Christmas lights! You could even try making some homemade hot cocoa mix with the kids beforehand to up the educational ante.
• Christmas Music: Definitely the easiest way to add some Christmas spirit to the experience! Tune into your local Christmas-music-playing radio stations and keep an eye out for any Christmas light displays that are set to music like this!

Educational Benefits of Scavenger Hunts

Did you know that scavenger hunts can actually be educational? Look at you being an awesome parent by including an educational aspect into the holiday season!

While the kids view scavenger hunts as a fun activity with a side of (hopefully) friendly sibling competition, there are totally educational benefits of scavenger hunts!

When completing a scavenger hunt, kids are strengthening things like their:

• Observation Skills & Attention to Detail: They want to be the first to find an item on the scavenger hunt, right? This means they’ll be super focused during the car ride! Just think – if they can find a gnome-shaped holiday decoration, they should be able to easily find their missing pencil at home, right?! If only!
• Critical Thinking & Problem Solving Skills: Mistletoe is often found hanging from the ceiling, right? Well, that means the kids will have to figure out where they should be looking within a holiday display so they can mark that box “off” on the scavenger hunt.

• Vocabulary & Language Development: Even if a pre-reader is completing the scavenger hunt, I will always include a graphic along with text for each “box” so kids are exposed to language and vocabulary whether they realize it or not. Sweet!
• Memory & Cognitive Recall: If the kids don’t find a certain item within a holiday display, they’ll store that item in their memory so they can seek it in the next display. It’s kind of like Christmas hide & seek!
• Spatial Awareness: The simple action of driving through local neighborhoods can help kids to develop their own spatial awareness and understanding of directions. Before long, they’ll have their own personal cognitive map of the area!

Who knew that completing a scavenger hunt could have so many benefits?!

Printable Christmas Decoration Scavenger Hunt

So, you’ve got a plan of places to find the decorations, you’ve Christmasfied the car, now it’s time to make the final preparations for a magical night of Christmas fun: print the Christmas scavenger hunt.

As with all my printables, it’s super easy to get access to the scavenger hunt. You can fill out the form below and get the PDF file sent straight to your email inbox or you can get access to ALL of my printables by requesting access to the Printable Playground: a free, password-protected portion of the blog filled with tons of free printables!

The choice is yours!

Either way, when you access the PDF file, not only will you be able to download and print the Christmas decoration scavenger hunt, but you’ll also receive 5 “write and draw” Christmas writing prompt pages. Of course, having the kids complete the writing prompts is optional, but they do offer the benefit of a literacy activity over the holidays!

If you enjoy including writing prompts in your homeschool days, you might also want to check out our National Days to Celebrate in December writing prompts and our winter-themed writing prompts, too!

Christmas Family Fun

I hope that my Christmas decoration scavenger hunt is able to bring some memory-making holiday cheer to you and your family this December and beyond.

Do you decorate your yard for Christmas, too? Do your kids look forward to seeing Christmas decorations every year just like mine? Share your answers in the comments or even in our free Facebook Group: That Homeschool Family Hangout!

Until next time, stay safe and enjoy quality time with your family,