Christmas Around the World, Part 1 – Gift Scavenger Hunt!

The Advent season has arrived, which means it’s time to kick off our annual trip around the world to explore Christmas traditions from different places! We’re mixing it up this year and instead of visiting a different country each week, we’ll visit a different Desert Mission family and learn about the special traditions that make their Christmas celebration unique. Our first stop: Marianne and John H’s house, where opening gifts is an adventure!

When their children were younger, Marianne and John did more than just wrap their gifts and set them under the tree. If a large gift was being given, it would instead be hidden somewhere in their home. For example, a new red sled was once tucked away where the recipient would least expect it – under their own bed! Marianne would write up clues that led to the hiding place via a variety of unexpected locations, like the bathroom sink.

The written clues are a twist on an existing tradition – Marianne’s mom used to hide Easter candy for her dad to find – so the gamification of gift-giving has a history in their family. Scavenger hunts have historical significance in the wider world as well. An organized search for unusual items traces all the way back to medieval festivals, while the scavenger hunt as we know it was popularized in the 1920s by American socialite/party hostess extraordinaire Elsa Maxwell. Her hunts were wild, elaborate, and debaucherous, and paved the way for everything from escape rooms to the University of Chicago’s intensely difficult and competitive annual “Scav.”

This year, consider hiding some of your family’s gifts! It doesn’t have to be all of them, you can choose one that’s extra special, or make a gift special by hiding it. Perhaps you even have each person in your family hide a gift for someone else and write up clues leading them to it, that way everyone gets to hide AND search. You can make the clues as simple or as difficult as you’d like – you can even challenge yourself to write poems for each one. In addition to the extra level of adventure you’ll be adding to your day, you’ll be adding some extra meaning to each gift you hide, shifting the focus of your gift-giving from tearing open wrapping paper to creating memories together as a family.

Thanks so much to Marianne and John for sharing their Christmas tradition with us. You can still share your family’s traditions with us via email, or on Facebook or Instagram!