Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt

Every year since David could talk, we've heard the same thing every Christmas time... "Can we drive around and look at Christmas lights??" 

In all honesty, this is one tradition I don't mind at all! (It's much better than going caroling when I know I'm not a very good singer... also, trying to reach those high notes can be tricky for a family of altos! Haha!)

This year, to make things a little extra fun, we decided to do a Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt! 

Basically, I made a list of some things we might see while driving around and made a page for each person in the car. We decided to do it as a competition, so whoever finished their list first (or found the most items by the end of the night) won! Most of the things on the list were pretty normal, but there were some that were more of a challenge so the game wouldn't end super early. That being said, we actually found 2 Christmas Dinosaur's from the list... Not quite sure what that says about the city we live in... Lol.

To make this work, we had to have a few extra rules:

1. Trade drivers half way through. 

This made the game more fair even though John found way more than me while he was driving before we even had to trade! Haha! Also, I didn't realize how hard it was to drive while trying to search for a Santa on a roof, so be careful... 

2. If someone called the decoration out, they got it. 

So basically, if a house had a moving reindeer, only the first person to call it could count it. The other person had to find a different one at a different house. That way we avoided having the same exact things crossed off our lists. 

Another thing we did that made it better was to have a different list for the kiddos to use. John and I were counting this as our date night for the week, but to save a little extra cash during the holidays, and because it was a lot easier than trying to find a babysitter at this time of year, we let the kids tag along. So, it became another "Family Fun Night"! (But for the record, someone could easily do this as a double date or just as a couple.)

Here's the "Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt" page I made for the kids...

It was a lot easier for them to use since it was just pictures. The only thing was that David (our 5 year old) finished his about half way through. He didn't mind though as he decided for himself to just start the list over at that point! 

One other fun tradition we combine with looking at the lights is to go and do the drive around version of the nativity that is put up next to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints temple each year. It's a nice way to help our kids remember that although the lights are fun to look at, the real purpose behind them is to remind us of the real reason we celebrate Christmas. It's this time of year that we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who is the Light of the World and the great gift Heavenly Father gave to us when he gave us His Only Begotten Son. 

Along with the 25 Days of Christmas we do each night, this tradition has easily become one of my favorites. Merry Christmas!