The Great Backseat Holiday Hunt

The Great Backseat Holiday Hunt

Rev up your time machines ladies and gentlemen, because the Handmade Charlotte family is about to deliver you a blast from the past. It’s called the Sunday drive! That’s right. You heard me. We’re hopping in the car to cruise the neighborhood with no timeline, destination or schedule. Only on this Sunday drive, we’re packing something special—The Great Backseat Holiday Hunt game. All you need is a neighborhood full of holiday decorations, a few printable holiday hunt cards and some engaged children wrapped in a warm backseat blanket. Then bingo! You’ve got your evening planned.

The Great Backseat Holiday Hunt

This game really ups the ante on the old-time tradition of circling the neighborhood to look at holiday decorations. With The Great Backseat Holiday Hunt, not only do you get to laugh at that ludicrously large inflatable snow globe wafting in the wind, but you can earn points while doing it! After a long shopping trip last Sunday, my kids were dragging their feet on the way back to the car. We decided to break out the game to revive our holiday spirits. From four to fourteen, every one of our kids was buckled over laughing and having a blast.

The Great Backseat Holiday Hunt

We passed a larger-than-life Santa Claus and my four-year-old squealed, “SANTA”. Then his older brother (usually too cool to give him the time of day) reached over and helped him punch out the santa icon on his card. Not a block later and another victory dance broke out in the backseat. Jonah (the aforementioned cool older brother) found a dancing elf. Another punch off the card. The competition was rising along with the volume of the laughter. What started as a short ride home from the mall, turned into a 30 minute trip around the neighborhood with a backseat full of engaged and entertained children!

The Great Backseat Holiday Hunt

You better believe we’ll be busting this game out for one last car ride after Christmas before everyone takes their decorations down. Scroll down to learn the rules and print out your own set of holiday hunt cards.

How To Play

The Great Backseat Holiday Hunt
  • Download and print The Great Backseat Holiday Hunt Printable Template and cut out the cards.
  • Pile your kids in the back seat (don’t forget to buckle!) and pass out the cards to each player. As you drive around oohing and aahing at all of the twinkling lights, everyone keeps their eyes peeled for the icons on their card.
  • When you see a decoration that matches your icon, yell it out! Then use your hole punch to mark that icon as “found.” The first to find three wins the game. Happy hunting!

This content was created in partnership with Ford to help make creativity a part of every drive this holiday season.