Take Christmas light drives up a notch with this free Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt: Grab the free printable Christmas lights scavenger hunt here! 

In 2020 we spent a lot of our December driving around looking at lights and coming home to make hot chocolate after. Most of the traditional Christmas activities had been canceled that year. However, we soon learned that celebrating twinkling lights and holiday decorations was a fun and free activity the whole family loved! 

We took it one step further and created a really fun holiday tradition that I’m so excited to share with your family! Best of all, it’s a fun idea that’s completely free and we have free Christmas light scavenger hunt printables to make it even easier! 

Neighborhood Christmas Lights Game

The joy of neighborhood Christmas lights truly yields a lot of magic. It’s magic even on a simple walk or drive through the neighborhood. We tend to do a lot of walking to look at the lights since the weather is so lovely in Arizona. It’s become a family tradition and one of my favorite Christmas activities! 

During a walk at dusk with all of our family members, I started to play a game with my son. We came up with a fun game counting how many Christmas trees we could see lit up in our neighbor’s windows. He asked at least once a week to go play “Spot the Christmas Trees in the Windows.” It always made me smile knowing how much joy and how much fun this simple game brought our family this holiday season. 

We started taking drives to see lights in other neighbors. It’s such an easy Christmas activity and a great family activity that doesn’t cost a penny!

Fun Christmas Scavenger Hunts

I realized a fun way to spice up our newfound favorite of all Christmas traditions would be to add in a little competition. We turned our drive into a light hunt and played who could spot a specific color of light first. And then who could spot a Santa first. Queue a candy cane, a snowman, and all kinds of different items that turned into a Christmas light scavenger hunt game.

I started a running list of different Christmas items and decorations we saw in most neighborhoods. This checklist kept growing, and it became such a fun activity to turn it into a Christmas scavenger hunt list to make Christmas even more fun! Our entire family enjoys being a participant, and we include prizes like letting the winner choose a treat after. It also made Christmas cookies and hot cocoa even more exciting! And best of all, older kids and younger kids alike really enjoy participating!

Creating Some Christmas Magic

I kept thinking about how much my kids enjoy a Christmas light scavenger hunt list with a little more thought and design. So I pulled out my phone and notepad and started designing one for him. And something inside of me knew that this magic I was creating for my son needed to be something much bigger. It was magic so many families disappointed by the cancellation of their version of the Tempe Boat Parade (or other local tradition) could use that holiday season. 

I contacted our very talented designer. She brings life so many of my ideas and visions! As soon as I shared the idea, she was 100% thrilled! We got to work creating a visual Christmas lights scavenger hunt. We set out to create one that would be equally fun for small children who can’t quite read, and adults who need a Christmas date night they can do in their car. 

And with families looking to save some money more than ever this year, we’re so thrilled to add one more free Christmas activity to your plans so you can do your own scavenger hunt with our free printable!

Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt

And friends, that’s how the Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt was born. There are about 30 different types of Christmas lights or Christmas decorations to find. We made sure to go through several neighborhoods to ensure the items were common enough to be found, but still quest-worthy enough to keep adults and kids looking for at least an hour. 

Here are a few things you’ll find on the list: 

• A reindeer in the yard 
• Holiday lights in every color (like blue lights, green light, etc) 
• Candy Canes 
• Santa 
• Different light displays 
• Different decorations you might have to look a little closer to see 

Trust me, you’re going to love this Christmas light scavenger hunt printable, and so will your young kids through teens! 

The first time we used it, I almost teared up as I watched my five-year-old excited to find each item on the scavenger hunt list. He decided to color in the pictures as he hunted. Each item found yielded a shriek of delight. And truly, there was a little bit of Christmas magic restored to a kid who has had so many family adventures and magical moments canceled that year. 

It was one of my favorite things, and I vowed next year we’ll do this again and turn this into a fun holiday tradition! Thousands of families have let us know it’s become one of their favorite holiday traditions too!

Watching my kids joy made creating this holiday scavenger hunt 100% worth it! But I sincerely hope your kids, and those looking for a Christmas lights date night find some free Christmas magic with our free printable Christmas scavenger hunts.

Grab Your Christmas Scavenger Hunt Printable

Please enjoy! Of all the free printables we’ve created, this may be my favorite! And if you use it, we’d love to have you share and tag us on Instagram (@FridayWereInLove) so we can see the Christmas magic too! 

 

Help us spread the fun, pin this idea on Pinterest so others can find this fun PDF too! 

Fun Ideas to Pair with the Christmas Decorations Scavenger Hunt

• Food! Grab dinner and then go light hunting
• Treats. Go get a special holiday treat at the end of the night 
• Pencil/Pen/Marker. It’s fun to cross off or color each item on the list. 
• Laminate the PDF. You don’t need a fancy laminator, you can buy these self-laminating sheets. Bring some dry erase markers and cross off each item as you pass Christmas displays. You can wipe it clean and use it over and over again when the night is over! 
• Hot chocolate. Enjoy sipping some hot cocoa while you view the lights. I promise it adds some extra holiday spirit! 
• Pump Christmas music. You can do this from your car, or turn on your phone to set a soundtrack to the fun activity. 
• Let the winner who finds all the items first choose the Christmas movie you want to watch after the hunt.

Need some more holiday fun? You may like these ideas too: 

50 Holiday Activities for Families + Free Printable

Scavenger Hunt for Kids + Free Printable!

50 Christmas Date Ideas

Christmas Couple Pictures