Everything you need to set the stage, run the countdown, and pull off the most magical Christmas morning your family has ever had.
The magic starts in the real world before your kids ever open the app. This is the physical setup that makes the whole experience work.
Pick a distinct wrapping paper for each person who will be receiving gifts, and yes, that includes the parents. The more people playing, the bigger the mix, the more curiosity, and the better the magic.
Each child’s gifts will all be wrapped in their paper. Their job over two weeks is to figure out which one is theirs.
Wrap everything as you normally would, but do not put any name tags on any gifts. Don’t worry, Christmas Unlocked manages whose is whose for the children. You set that up during setup.
Starting around December 9th–10th (or earlier if you prefer), begin setting the wrapped gifts out under the tree. If Santa delivers them in your family, do this quietly at night while the kids are sleeping.
Play into the mystery: “I don’t know why Santa came so early this year…” Let the curiosity build. The gifts sitting there, unnamed, all different papers — the wondering starts before the app even opens.
December 11th is when the doors open and the clues begin. Here’s what happens in the app for both kids and parents.
During setup, you created a Christmas Key — a unique 4-digit code — for each child. This is what they use to unlock their personal Christmas countdown in the app.
Children’s Christmas Keys do not work until December 11th at 6:00 AM. If you set the QR code out before then, that’s perfectly fine — they can scan it, download the app, and see Santa’s Door. But the door won’t open. Instead they’ll see a countdown showing the exact days, hours, and seconds until Christmas is Unlocked.
Once their Christmas Key works, children land on their personal Christmas Countdown page. This is their home base for the next two weeks.
Log in with your parent Christmas Key and you’ll see a completely different view. Your command center. You can see everything your children see — and more.
Any parent on the account can log in and respond to Santa messages. Mom can reply as Santa during the day. Dad can reply at night. The kids just see one Santa.
The finale. Two weeks of clues, guessing, and anticipation all come down to this moment.
On Christmas morning, each child has a unique QR code waiting for them. This is different from the family QR code — this one takes them directly to their Final Christmas Riddle: detailed clues that finally reveal which wrapping paper is theirs.
But before they get there, they have 3 puzzles to complete — the ones you selected during setup. They have to earn the reveal.
This is how our family ran Christmas morning. We hid each child’s final QR code in a different room of the house, then used this script to run the whole experience together. Mom read the Mom lines. Dad read the Dad lines. The kids had no idea what was coming.
You don’t have to do it this way — an envelope on the tree works just as well. But if you want the full ceremony, here it is. Print it out, hand Mom her pages and Dad his, and let the magic run.
Before anyone wakes up, hide each child’s final QR code (in a small box with their name on it) in their assigned room. Here’s an example from our Christmas:
Kitchen
Bathroom (Andrew’s)
Bedroom (Andrew’s)
Bedroom (Joshua’s)
Living Room
Bathroom (Joshua’s)
Bathroom (Jonathan’s)
Mom and Dad alternate reading each child’s clue out loud. After each clue, say “GO!” and send that child on their hunt while the others wait.
Prints the script only — no nav, no hero, no ads.
The app is growing. Santa’s Secret Messenger, enhanced riddles, new puzzle types, and more are actively being built. Every feature you see marked “Coming Soon” is on the roadmap for this or next season. Beta families get first access to everything new.
