Many families have a brilliant tradition of making a treasure hunt on Christmas Eve, leading to a little Christmas gift that children are allowed to open a little earlier than the presents they will be receiving the next day. Sometimes this is a new book or a new set of Christmas pajamas. Doing this in the early evening, a while before bedtime is a good idea, as is keeping it easy and quick to complete.

Here are five quick ideas for making a Christmas Eve treasure hunt:

1. Use the free, ready-made Christmas treasure hunt we have made.
2. Write out the letters to the location of the present and hide each letter behind a Christmas decoration. Photograph each decoration on your phone and show them to the hunters so that they can find the letters and spell out the final clue.
3. Hide baubles around the house and ask the hunters to find them all before they are given their present.
4. Write the location of the present on the back of a Christmas image (e.g. the front of a Christmas card), cut the card up and hide the bits on the Christmas tree for hunters to find and piece together.
5. Write down lots of different locations around the house and split them into pairs. For each pair hide a chocolate in one location and a brussel sprout in the other. Make the hunters pick a pile, read them the top clue from that pile and discard the top clue from the other. The hunters will work their way down the piles finding yummy chocolates or nasty brussel sprouts. For the last pair of clues have both directing to the present!