A Christmas Video Scavenger Hunt
Based on the 12 Days of Christmas

The 12 Days of Christmas Video Scavenger Hunt is a great Christmas activity for holiday parties and gatherings.

Like any scavenger hunt, this Christmas video scavenger hunt requires teams of people to run (or drive) around to get the hunted items. If it's cold in your area around Christmas time, be sure people are prepared for some outdoor activity.

Also, each team needs their own video camera. It's best if the camera can be hooked up directly to a big-screen TV or projector for playback, so you can see the results as soon as all the groups get back.

This works best in an area with quite a few people (such as a downtown shopping area). You might be able to do it in a mall, but you would have to be careful to not get kicked out for being too rowdy (although that might be part of the challenge!)

Here's the basic idea:

Film just the last verse of "The 12 Days of Christmas," starting at 12 drummers drumming and going down to "a partridge in a pear tree." (It's such a long song, you don't want to have to go through the whole thing.)

There are 12 different "parts" to this Christmas video scavenger hunt. Part 1 is "12 drummers drumming," part 2 is "11 pipers piping," etc. All the parts are listed below.

Video Scavenger Hunt Points

You get points based on how well you "perform" each part.

• Each part (12 down through 1) should be filmed in a different location. You get 1 point for each location, and a bonus 12 points if you have 12 very different locations (not just different angles of the same place).
• Each part should use different actors. That is, even if you have 12 people in your group, each person can only appear once, in one part. You have to recruit others to make up the total 78 people (12+11+10+ etc.) that you need. You get one point for each different person, up to 78. If it's impossible to get that many people, you can reuse people, but you get a point subtracted every time the same person shows up more than once.
• All the participants have to act out the part (described below) and sing the part while they act it out. Most people don't have to sing more than 4 words, and singing ability or being on key isn't a factor.
• For each part, you can also get up to 3 "style" points, depending on how well the part is acted out. Style points can also be influenced by creativity and originality: unexpected action, unusual camera angles or perspectives, unique lighting, etc.

Scavenger Hunt Judging

If it's a friendly group, you can have the larger group decide on points for style and other subjective areas. However, if you expect cutthroat competition, you may want to assign one or more impartial judges. If there's a parent or a neighbor around, they could make a good judge.

Christmas Video Scavenger Hunt 12 Parts

Here are some specific guidelines for the 12 Days of Christmas video scavenger hunt. Remember that the participants have to sing as they do the actions. You can decide if the gender-specific roles (lords, ladies, maids) need to be all of one gender or not.

Once all 12 parts are filmed, bring them back for judging and enjoyment by all. As mentioned above, it's best if you have a big-screen TV or projector that can be hooked up directly to the cameras.

Have fun with the Christmas video scavenger hunt!

Go back to the Video Scavenger Hunt page.