Several years ago my wife came up with the idea of wrapping each kid’s present in a unique wrapping paper.

We don’t write names on the gifts…only mom and dad know which wrapping paper belongs to each kid.

I saw an opportunity to turn our little trick into a Christmas morning game by setting up a “breakout” or escape room activity.

The kids solve various Christmas-themed puzzles to unlock the box to discover which presents are theirs.

I started doing this breakout activity 2017 and it’s is now a family tradition!

Here are some of the puzzles that I created: 

• Bible Trivia – This is a Google Form that reveals the code (STAR!) needed to unlock the letter lock. Click here to make a copy of my form to see how it works!
• Symbol Code – decipher the hidden message to find the location of the key needed to unlock the box.
• Christmas Song Emoji – Each set of emojis represents a Christmas song. Some of the songs contain numbers (i.e. “Joy 2 the world”) that are used to unlock the three-digit lock. 
• Ornament Search – This document contains clues to finding five Christmas ornaments hidden on our tree. Each ornament has a small arrow taped to it, which is used to unlock the directional lock.

Additional Resources:

• Buy a ready-made breakout kit from BreakOut EDU ($179+)
• Build your own kit using a box and some locks (~$100)
• Create a digital “scavenger hunt” with Flippity (free)
• Create a digital breakout with Google Forms (free)
• This is a great list of puzzle ideas from Breakout EDU!