Every holiday shop local campaign runs into the same wall. People like the idea of shopping small. They just need a reason to walk through a door they have never opened before.

The Lakewood Chamber of Commerce found a fun one: hide an elf inside each participating business and send the community looking. Here is how their 2026 Holiday Elf Hunt works, and what to borrow if you want to run one in your own downtown.

How the Lakewood Holiday Elf Hunt Works

The Hunt runs November 13 through December 15, 2026. Players sign up for the Holiday Elf Hunt passport on their phone, open the Official Holiday Elf Hunt Map, and head out. At each participating business, an elf is hiding somewhere inside. Find it, scan the QR code next to it, and you have checked in.

The rules are short enough to fit on a phone screen:

• Every check-in earns a point, and every point is one raffle ticket.
• A photo with the elf earns a bonus point, which means another ticket.
• Find every elf on the map and you are entered in a special Grand Prize drawing.
• One visit, one check-in per business. Players are asked to visit in person and not share QR codes or check-in links.
• No purchase necessary.

The prizes, including the Grand Prize, will be raffled at the Chamber's Holiday Party on December 17, and players do not need to be there to win. The Hunt is sponsored by First Federal Lakewood. It runs as a Passport Challenge in Proxi, so the map, the check-ins, the raffle tickets, and the player emails all live in one place.

Why the Elf Hides Inside the Business

This is the smartest detail in the whole design. A window display hunt gets people onto the sidewalk. An elf hidden inside gets them past the threshold, and that is where shopping happens.

Once a player is inside looking for the elf, they are browsing. They spot the gift they did not know they needed. The owner says hello. A shop that was "the one with the blue awning" becomes a place they have been. That first visit is the hardest one for a small business to earn, and the elf earns it for them.

It also keeps the ask small for merchants. Each business hides one elf, puts a QR code next to it, and lets the hunt do the rest. No booth, no special hours, no discount required.

How to Set Up Check-Ins, Points, and Raffle Tickets

If you want to run your own elf hunt, Lakewood's setup is a good model.

Use QR code check-ins. A QR code placed with the elf proves the player actually found it, not just walked past the building. That matters when every check-in is a raffle ticket. If you want proof of purchase at some stops, receipt check-ins work too, but Lakewood kept its hunt simple and purchase-free.

Make photos worth something. The bonus point for a photo with the elf does two jobs. Players get an extra ticket, and you get a stream of happy families in local shops. Lakewood pairs it with a hashtag, #HolidayElfHuntLakewood, and asks players to tag @lakewoodchamber, so those photos travel well beyond the passport.

Give finishers their own prize. Raffle tickets reward every visit. A separate Grand Prize drawing for finding every elf rewards the people who go the distance, and it pulls players to every stop on the map, including the ones they might otherwise skip.

Write the fair-play rules down. One check-in per business and no sharing QR codes keeps the raffle honest and keeps players visiting in person.

Let the Welcome Email Do the Explaining

When someone signs up, they get an automatic welcome email from the Chamber titled "You're In! Welcome, Elf Hunter!" It covers the dates, how to check in, how points turn into tickets, the photo bonus, the fair-play rules, the hashtag, and when the drawing happens. Replies go straight to the Chamber's own inbox.

That one email saves a lot of staff time. Every player starts with the same rules, so the Chamber is not explaining the hunt over the phone all month.

It also means every player is now on the Chamber's list. The people hunting elves in November are exactly the people to invite to the next shop local campaign, a spring event, or a membership drive. In Proxi, registrants land in your audience automatically, and you can email or text them mid-hunt with a reminder or a last-call nudge before the final day.

What the Chamber Will Know on December 16

The day after the Hunt ends, the Chamber will not be guessing whether it worked. It will know how many people signed up, how many check-ins each business got, how many players found every elf, and how many photos came in.

That adds up to a thank-you note with a real number for every participating business, a recap for First Federal Lakewood showing what their sponsorship delivered, and the start of next year's recruiting pitch. A business on the fence can see exactly what its neighbors got. You can message every participating business from the platform with its own count, no spreadsheet required.

Run Your Own Holiday Elf Hunt

You do not need a big budget. You need a box of elves, a QR code for each business, a sponsor for the prizes, and a clear set of rules. Lakewood's version is live through December 15, so take a look at the passport to see it from a player's side. Then pick your dates, recruit your first ten businesses, and start hiding elves.