How to make an at-home DIY Christmas escape room – with a box!
Christmas is a time of celebration and joy… but it can get a little bit ‘samey’, right? One sure-fire way to kickstart the holiday magic this year is by building your own DIY at-home escape room game. This is the perfect Christmas family activity – giving you hours of fun, unforgettable memories, and an hour of genuine bonding time free from the usual ‘family holiday awkwardness’. Of course, if you’re looking to save a bit of time, you can skip all the DIY and just grab a ready-to-play Christmas escape room kit here. Ok, ready to get started? Let’s do this!
1. Get Your Supplies Together
You’re going to need a few things to get started with your escape room. It’s essential to do this on the early side so that you can spread out and enjoy the preparation process. So, what should you get? Well, for starters, you’ll need a box for your family to unlock. Any old locked box will work. If you can’t find a lockbox, you could use a bike chain or combination lock wrapped around a regular chest. Or alternatively, just stick a paper lock on the box and let your players know that they can’t open the box until they’ve guessed the right code! You’ll also need a few things from your local craft store, as well as a bit of tape and glue. Besides those supplies, the rest is up to you! Your local dollar store is a gold mine for fun little props, and don’t forget to grab some yummy prizes to put inside your locked box.
2. Assemble Your Christmas Treasure Box
This is the fun step! We suggest getting creative with what ends up in that locked box or chest. You could load it with Christmas-themed goodies, or even some fun little puzzles. Maybe the puzzles are hiding the code that will unlock the door… or perhaps there could be a map inside which leads to a second chest! You’ve got some massive creative scope to play with here.
Now, you’ll need some extra puzzles to hide around the room. The solutions to these puzzles should give players the code they need to unlock their Christmas box. You could get creative and try to think up some super-original puzzles… but that’s a bit too much work! Instead, just pick a couple of puzzles from this list, and tweak them to fit your game.
3. Hide the Box
The next step is to hide the box, as well as the puzzle clues that open it. There’s a number of exciting ways you can do this, such as:
- Designate a room as the ‘escape room’, and then take the time beforehand to hide your puzzles in unexpected (but not too difficult!) places.
- Leave your clues/puzzles out in the open, but hide your box somewhere they’d never look. Let the clues lead them to your box.
- Don’t tell anyone about the game! Hide your box somewhere it’s bound to be found… then wait for someone to discover it before springing the game on them…
Remember to keep these tips in mind when hiding your Christmas escape room puzzles.
4. Let the Games Begin
And now you’re good to go! Once the box is hidden somewhere in your living space, it’s time to plan out your Christmas escape room. This part is enjoyable because you can do what works best for your friends or family members. You could do an “escape the room” scavenger hunt around the house! Or you could give everyone a stack of home puzzle pieces and have them put together the clues to open the box. You can use holiday dinner or breakfast as an excuse to gather people up for your game (or as a cover for hiding more puzzles!). This is a great way to engage with friends and family in a different way than your usual Christmas dinner debates! You get to relate to each other in a more relaxed team-oriented context that always brings the whole family together. Regardless of the exact escape room theme you choose, it’s sure to get everyone laughing together in no time!
5. Make It a Contest & Celebrate the Winner
Most people love to win. Don’t you?! It’s even better when there is a prize involved! Make sure you fill your locked box with plenty of Christmas goodies for your family to win. Or maybe have random prizes for whoever solves a puzzle the fastest, gets the most puzzles solved, or makes the most ridiculous thinking face! Adding fun prizes always lightens the mood and gets everyone invested in your at home Christmas escape room game, fast! (You could even give them all their own custom Crafty Games kit so that they can create their escape rooms at home.)
By the end of the evening, everyone will be talking about your Christmas escape room game – and looking forward to next year’s party! Just remember, to create a successful escape room game you’ll need enough puzzles for people to work on problems simultaneously (it’s no fun to sit and watch Aunt Linda demolish puzzles by herself!). It might take a bit of tweaking to find the right puzzle difficulty, but in the end, this is a game made by family, for family…. And they’ll love all of your effort as it shines through!
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
