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A Christmas scavenger hunt for the whole family
A free outdoor Christmas scavenger hunt with thirty things to find on a December walk, from a wreath on a door to a pine cone on a branch, and twenty Christmas lights to spot after dark. Print the lists, read out the riddle clues, and score it with rarity rolls.
December is the one month when a whole neighborhood decorates with plants. Wreaths on doors, garlands on railings, holly, poinsettias, a tree lit up in the town square: a winter walk is suddenly full of things to find, and a scavenger hunt gets everyone out the door to find them. Nothing on the list needs a name. You're looking for shapes, colors and decorations, so anyone old enough to point can play.
How to do a Christmas scavenger hunt
- Print the checklist, one for each player or team, or keep this page open on a phone and tick the boxes as you go.
- Choose a route: a loop around the neighborhood, a walk into town, or a park with big evergreens. Forty-five minutes suits most families. Dress warmly.
- When someone spots an item, they show the others before ticking it off. One find can tick more than one box.
- Every find follows the same rule: look, snap, leave it be. Wreaths, cones and holly stay where they are, and a photo is proof enough.
- After dark, switch to the Christmas lights list. Add up the scores over hot chocolate.
Fig. 1 Finds from one December walk, and what each one rolled.
The Christmas scavenger hunt list: 30 things to find
30 things to find on a December walk
Scoring: 1 point for every find. Catch it in PocketPetal for a rarity bonus: Common +1 Uncommon +2 Rare +3 Epic +5 Legendary +8 Mythic +13
Look, snap, leave it be. Plant names in PocketPetal come from image recognition and are often wrong. Never eat, touch or use a plant because of the app. pocketpetal.com
The Christmas lights scavenger hunt: 20 things to spot
20 lights to spot after dark
Scoring: 1 point for every light you spot. The lit-up evergreens are plants too: catch them in PocketPetal for the same rarity bonus as the daytime list.
After dark: stick together, keep to sidewalks, and bring a flashlight and something reflective for everyone. pocketpetal.com
Score it with rarity rolls
Every ticked box is worth 1 point. For bonus points, catch your plant finds in PocketPetal: the holly, the poinsettia, the town tree. Each catch rolls a rarity from Common to Mythic, and the rarer the roll, the bigger the bonus.
Free players get 5 catches a day, so choosing which five finds to catch is half the strategy. Sharing one phone? Take turns choosing. Because rarity is pure luck, with the same odds for every plant, one lucky roll can carry a first-timer past everyone else.
Ties go to whoever rolled the single highest rarity. Still tied? Whoever spotted the star on top of a tree first.
The points are our house rule for this hunt, not something the app counts; the chances are the game's real odds. Rarity is a game mechanic, and it says nothing about how rare a plant really is.
| Rarity | Chance | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Common | 60% | +1 |
| Uncommon | 25% | +2 |
| Rare | 10% | +3 |
| Epic | 3.5% | +5 |
| Legendary | 1.2% | +8 |
| Mythic | 0.3% | +13 |
ExampleYou tick off 21 boxes on the daytime list and 9 on the lights list, for 30 points, and catch five plants. They roll Common, Uncommon, Uncommon, Rare and Legendary: 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 8 = 16 bonus points, for a total of 46.
Christmas scavenger hunt clues and riddles
Read a riddle aloud and let everyone work out what to look for. Whoever spots the answer first reads the next one.
Round as a ring and green as a tree,
I hang on a front door. Can you spot me?Answer
A wreath
Deck the halls with boughs of me!
Spiky leaves, red berries. What could I be?Answer
Holly
Holly's best friend in a Christmas song,
I climb up the walls all winter long.Answer
Ivy
When other trees go bare and brown,
I keep my green coat on all over town.Answer
An evergreen
I grow on a tree, but I'm not a leaf.
I'm brown and I'm scaly, with seeds underneath.Answer
A pine cone
My red isn't petals, it's leaves. It's true!
In December's shop windows, I'm waiting for you.Answer
A poinsettia
I grow in a ball way up high in a tree,
and hang over doorways. Who's standing under me?Answer
Mistletoe
I sit at the top of the tree, shining bright.
It isn't quite finished until I'm in sight.Answer
A star on top of a tree
I hang from the roof just like ice, but I glow,
and I'll never melt, no matter how much it snows.Answer
Icicle lights
I'm dressed up in baubles, a star for my crown.
I'm the biggest, brightest tree in town.Answer
The town Christmas tree
For little kids, big kids and grown-ups
The same lists stretch from preschoolers to grandparents. Adjust the rules, not the walk.
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Ages 3 to 5
Choose six boxes, mostly wreaths, colors and the town tree, and read them out. The wreath and star riddles are the easiest. Keep it to 15 minutes, and let them press the shutter while you hold the phone.
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Ages 6 to 9
The whole daytime list, with the riddles read aloud as clues. Let them decide which five plants get caught in PocketPetal. Choosing is half the fun.
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Ages 10 to 12
Riddles only, no peeking at the list. Play in teams against a 30-minute timer: one point for solving a riddle, another for spotting the answer.
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Teens and adults
For a Christmas scavenger hunt for adults, do both lists in one evening: the daytime list on the way into town, the lights on the way home, every find on a different street. Or let the teenagers write new riddles and run the hunt for the younger ones.
Younger children should always explore with a grown-up nearby. Players under 13 play PocketPetal in kid mode, with no usernames, friends or sharing; our guide for parents explains what changes.
More Christmas scavenger hunt ideas
Four ways to fit a holiday scavenger hunt into the busiest month of the year.
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The Christmas Day walk
After lunch on Christmas Day, before anyone falls asleep on the couch: one lap of the neighborhood with the daytime list, while the light lasts.
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The drive home
The lights list works from the back seat on the way back from seeing family. The driver calls out nothing but the score.
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A few boxes a day
Stick the list on the fridge and tick off a few boxes on each walk to school or the store, until the whole sheet is done before New Year.
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The snowed-in hunt
Hunt indoors: the poinsettia on the table, the amaryllis on the windowsill, the houseplants in every room. A real Christmas tree is a plant too, so point the camera at it.
A Christmas scavenger hunt app: the Evergreen Hunt
PocketPetal is a plant-collecting game for iPhone and iPad, and it plays like a scavenger hunt that never runs out. Point your camera at a plant and snap it, and it's caught. Image recognition puts a name to it, and it's often wrong, so every catch shows a match % for how sure it was. Then the game rolls a rarity from Common to Mythic.
From December 11, 2026 to January 10, 2027, the Evergreen Hunt adds three holiday quests: catch 3 different evergreens, catch 30 plants of any kind, and catch something on 12 different days. Together they're worth 600 XP and 2 streak freezes. The event is free for every player, kid mode included, and the free game's 5 catches a day are enough for all three.
Everything about the Evergreen Hunt, or more ideas for the season in our winter walk ideas.
Dec 11 – Jan 10
Christmas scavenger hunt prizes that aren't more stuff
December has enough presents in it already. The best prizes for a Christmas scavenger hunt are privileges:
- Putting the star on the tree, or hanging the last ornament
- First pick from the cookie tin
- Choosing the Christmas movie
- Everyone else makes the hot chocolate
- A night off from one chore
- A homemade “Chief Hunter” certificate for the fridge
Tips for a good hunt
- Look, snap, leave it be. Holly, mistletoe, wreaths and cones all stay where they are. Hands in pockets, which in December is warmer anyway.
- Enjoy decorations from the sidewalk. Front yards and porches are for looking at, not walking into. Point the camera at plants in public places and shop displays, and keep people out of the photos.
- After dark, be easy to see. A flashlight and something reflective for everyone, and stick together.
- Pack for the cold. Hats, gloves, the list, a pencil, a charged phone and a thermos of hot chocolate.
- Stop while it's still fun. Unticked boxes carry over to the next walk.
Questions
More in our help pages, or write to [email protected].
What do you look for on a Christmas scavenger hunt?
Things that only turn up in December: wreaths, garlands, holly, poinsettias, pine cones, Christmas trees in windows and town squares, and Christmas lights after dark. Our list has 30 things to find by day and 20 lights to spot after dark.
How do you do a Christmas scavenger hunt for kids?
Print the list, choose a route, and read the riddle clues aloud as you walk. For ages 3 to 5, pick six easy boxes and keep it to 15 minutes. Older kids can play in teams against a timer.
What is a Christmas lights scavenger hunt?
A hunt after dark for holiday lights: a star on top of a tree, icicle lights along a roof, a light-up reindeer, a candle in a window. Walk it after dinner or play it from the back seat on a drive, and tick off what you spot.
Is there a Christmas scavenger hunt app?
PocketPetal is a free plant-collecting game for iPhone and iPad that plays like a scavenger hunt: every plant you snap is caught and rolls a rarity, from Common to Mythic. From December 11, 2026 to January 10, 2027, its Evergreen Hunt event adds three holiday quests.
How long does a Christmas scavenger hunt take?
Thirty to forty-five minutes for the daytime list, and about the same for the lights. With little ones, six boxes and 15 minutes is plenty.
What are good prizes for a Christmas scavenger hunt?
Ones that aren't more stuff: putting the star on the tree, first pick from the cookie tin, choosing the Christmas movie, or the other players making the hot chocolate.
Look, snap, leave it be. PocketPetal is a game. Plant names come from image recognition and are often wrong, so never eat, touch or use a plant because of what the app says.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: holly by FloweringDagwood, CC BY 4.0 (source); poinsettia by liz west, CC BY 2.0 (source); spruce cones by AS Photography, CC BY 4.0 (source).
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