Happy Holidays!

from Scarlet Envelope games



Greeting Cards with a twist

Christmas cards for your smartest loved ones!

Scarlet Envelope is a small family-owned company in Canada. We create escape room style tabletop games, as well as these merry and bright puzzle cards! Each of our Christmas cards is a mini-game with 30-45 minutes of family-friendly & brain-teasing gameplay. Decipher Santa's wish, solve multi-layered puzzles with Rudolf, THINK, and HAVE FUN!

Festive Puzzle Journey

This holiday season, Scarlet Envelope invites you to transform your Christmas greetings into enchanting puzzle adventures. These beautifully crafted puzzle cards are not just messages, but gateways to captivating, family-friendly mysteries. Ideal for display and engagement, they turn every occasion into a memorable puzzle-solving experience, thoughtfully designed to bring smiles and a dash of mystery to your holiday celebrations​

Read Poem

Cheerful poem in the card will give you all the instructions you need!

Solve Puzzles

4 to 7 puzzles in each card with average play time of 45min.

Unlock Mystery

Every card has a clear goal - to find out a secret phrase!

So, got yourself a pretty puzzle card in your hands. Now what?

If you don't know where to start or you need help with the puzzle, choose your card and access the hints below.


Santa's Wish

Your goal is to decipher Santa’s New Year’s wish hidden in a cheerful Christmas poem (the four words right before “And Happy New Year!”.)

Where do I look for the words?
Hint
The first paragraph tells you where to start.
Answer

The first paragraph indicates that answers start with the second paragraph.

The second paragraph tells you how to find the first word (has to do with math that makes no sense.)

The third paragraph tells you where to look to get the second word.

The fourth paragraph is special, it doesn’t seem to tell you where to look. However, it has instructions on how to decipher the third word.

The fifth paragraph explains how to get the last word of Santa’s wish.

The first word
Hint 1
Relax, we promise it’s not a math puzzle! It has to do with numbers though. Look at the equations on the backside of the card. Try to figure out what has to be done with the numbers for the equations to make sense. HO:HO on the clock is your hint.
Hint 2

Imagine all your numbers written like HO:HO on a digital clock. If you put lines of 2 on top of 5 (2+5), you will get 8, and so on. Now, don’t forget the rest of the paragraph. You’re still looking for the word, not the numbers.

Hint 3
Now, you know that the trick is to imagine the numbers on a digital clock and “put” them on top of each other. You’re looking for a four-letter word, following the line “Important what’s gone and is left in its place” and the equations on the front side of the card.
Answer

0-7. When you imagine that you erase the lines of the number 7 from the lines of 0, you are left with L.

8-1. When you erase 1 from 8, you are left with E.

5+5. When you put 5 on top of 5, you are left with 5 that also looks exactly like S.

= Your first word is LESS.

The second word
Hint 1
“Tangles” and “The order that sets Santa free” definitely point at the illustration on the backside of the card. Santa is tangled in colorful Christmas lights! What order is the paragraph talking about?
Hint 2
Some Christmas lights have a very distinguished color tone. Dark blue, pink, green, yellow, red...Have you seen these colors anywhere else on the card?
Hint 3
Take the order of the colors from the Christmas lights (skip the colorless “light yellow” ones) and you will get the order for the six letters of the word you’re looking for. Now, look for the letters of the same color on the front side of the card.
Answer
Pink = B (on the gift under the tree). Yellow = I (on the gift under the tree). Dark Blue = T (the ornament on the tree). Dark Blue = T. Red = E (the Scarlet Envelope logo on the wall). Green = R (the sweater on the chair.) = Your first word is BITTER.
The third word
Hint 1
This paragraph is special, to decipher it, you don’t need to look anywhere. Everything you need is already written in the paragraph.
Hint 2
“Dashes and dots”, “code”...What kind of code is the paragraph talking about?
Hint 3
It’s a “Morse code”! Now, what happens if you remove the word “code”, then “swap the last two”, and then also remove “one” that “goes and leaves” you with four letters?
Answer
You take the word MORSE. Then you swap the last two letters = MORES. Then you remove one letter that “leaves it lonely”, meaning that you’re transforming the “plural-looking” word into a “singular-looking” word by removing the letter S. You are left with the word MORE.
The fourth word
Hint 1
Your task is to “jingle the bells” that are “hidden behind” something. Perhaps, something on the front side of the card?
Hint 2
If you close the card you see that the bells are right underneath the letters all over the front side of the card. Look at the center of the bell’s ribbon to identify the letter. Now, all you need is the order of the letters.
Hint 3
“You start on the left and move to the right.” Imagine that you’re ringing the bell from left to right."
Answer
GLITTER

And there you have it! We hope you enjoyed uncovering Santa’s hidden wish.

This puzzle card is part of our festive Christmas cards collection, and we’d love for you to explore them all. Take a peek on our website.

Rookie Reindeer

Ho ho ho, welcome to your puzzle card adventure! To start, notice how the poem inside the card tells you that Junior Reindeer is about to begin his new job in Santa’s team. Six reindeer coworkers made a team-building puzzle game for him, with the answer being his new cool stage name. You can see the empty name tag with six letters waiting for you to fill them in!

How do I get the Rookie’s name? (Part 1)
Hint 1
The poem indicates that there are “six to-dos” for “six reindeer”, you will find them scattered around the card. The board hanging inside the card is a good place to start.
Hint 2
“Six reindeer - six to-dos but how are these assigned?” refers to the candy-cane-colored board on the bottom right page. Note how there are six lines, just like six letters on the Rookie’s name tag! You need to identify the “to-do” tasks by matching them with the icons, and then you need to fill in the names of the reindeer assigned to each task.
Answer
Solve all six puzzles and fill in six reindeer names in the appropriate fields of the candy-cane-colored board inside the card. Then proceed to the puzzle on the bottom, called PART 2 to decipher the Rookie’s stage name.
Clock
Hint 1
It’s the hardest puzzle in the game but YOU GOT THIS! :) There’s nothing on the board regarding the clock but there’s plenty on the back. You are about to “travel through timezones” using the “broken clock”. Start at the red number 12.
Hint 2
Notice that the clock only has the hour hand, with the minute hand clearly being broken. That’s important! Also, notice the numbers on the circles. 12, 9, 6, 3, where can you see these?
Hint 3
How do you “travel through” this grid of numbers 12, 9, 6, 3? You need to know the directions! And what does it have to do with the clock?
Hint 4
On the clock, what is the direction of the hour hand when it’s pointing at 12 hours, 9 hours, 6 hours, and 3 hours?
Hint 5
Starting with the red number 12, follow the direction of the hour hand of the circle you're standing at. For example, when you’re at the red 12, go UP (like the hour hand in the clock pointing at 12 hours.) then go up again three times and then go RIGHT (3 hours on the clock.)
Hint 6
When you “travel through” the whole grid your path will spell the reindeer’s name. Open ANSWER to see the illustration for the full path.
Answer

The path spells CUPID.

Gift
Hint 1
On the board, you have “Pick up the lost gifts.” Any misplaced gifts you’ve seen in any of the illustrations?
Hint 2
Of course, the cover illustration shows our carefree Santa losing some gifts while flying around in his sleigh! There are six gifts in total, all facing different directions. Most curious…
Hint 3
You have to investigate the whole card carefully, and look for any clue establishing a connection with the lost gifts. You’re looking for something to help you turn each box into a letter!
Hint 4
Look at the ribbons around the lost gifts! Have you seen these ribbons anywhere?
Hint 5
The ribbons beside the snowflake (inside, to the left) match the ribbons flying around the lost gifts. The snowflake’s needles all point at different letters in different directions. Match them with the directions the gift boxes are facing!
Answer
From left to right, the gifts are facing Down, Bottom Right, Up, Right, Left, Top Right = D A S H E R
Card
Hint 1
On the board, you have “Sign the cards & read out loud.” It’s signed “Done, sir”. Who do you think did this task?
Hint 2
It says to read the task out loud! Do it! Which reindeer’s name does it sound like?
Answer
When you say “Done sir” out loud, you get DANCER
XV
Hint 1
XV is either letters X and V or Roman numerals. Does any of it ring a bell?
Hint 2
On the board, you have “Ask Roman!” and a mirrored number 14. This must be the task! What is 14 in Roman numerals and can you flip it horizontally (as if you were looking at it in the mirror)?
Hint 3
14 is XIV, mirrored is VIX. Now, what would be the “unfinished finale”? Another word for “finale”?
Answer
The “finale” is END, if you remove D it becomes “unfinished”. Add it to the mirrored 14 in Roman numerals, and you get VIX + EN = VIXEN.
Feather
Hint 1
On the board, you have “write a poem” and there is indeed a poem written in a scroll on the back of the card. The feather is a symbol for poetry and writing.
Hint 2
So, the poem is definitely cryptic and you need to find a way to decipher a reindeer's name. Try to break it down into sections, one letter for two lines.
Hint 3
“A half of a naughty child’s gift‘ is a half of the word COAL = CO or AL.
Hint 4
“Something hanging on the tree” is an ORNAMENT. Again, take a half = ORNA or MENT.
Hint 5
For the “second part of it” (MENT), we are removing N = MET.
Answer
Keep “five letters for my name” and remove “all extra stuff”. CO+MET= COMET.
Cup
Hint 1
Cup? Huh? What cup?
Hint 2
No, you’re not crazy, there is absolutely no cup anywhere. Looks like something had to be done with a cup but clearly, nobody bothered to do this task.
Hint 3
Have you seen anything about an unfinished task?
Answer
On the board, you have “Donner is busy and won’t do his task.” There you have it! It MUST have been a cup. DONNER is the name you’re looking for.
How do I get the Rookie’s name? (Part 2)
Hint 1
By now, you should have all six reindeer names filled in the candy-cane-colored board inside the card.
Hint 2
Now you need to “Take a letter from each name” as instructed in the poem. The clue beside the name will tell you which letter to use (1st, 2nd, and so on.)
Answer

1st letter of CUPID = C, 4th of DASHER = H, 2nd of DANCER = A, last of VIXEN = N, 1st of COMET = C, 2nd to last of DONNER = E.

The Rookie Reindeer’s name is CHANCE!

Ta-da! We hope you had fun figuring out the Rookie Reindeer’s stage name.

This puzzle card is just one of many in our festive Christmas collection—check them all out on our website.

Clawy Christmas

Alert, naughty kitty on the loose! This Christmas, Santa’s furry friend has decided to "redecorate" – lighting up the tree (literally), destroying holiday decor with her claws, and rummaging the kitchen! Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to fill in the blanks and figure out what can turn the kitty back into the angelic furball she usually is. Dive into this hilariously cute adventure, and let the festive fun begin!

Where do I look for the words?
Hint
Simple! You have three words to fill out, and the poem follows their order in the third and fourth paragraphs.
Answer

“First, wall decor,” says the third paragraph. This paragraph is telling you where to look for your first puzzle = the first word you need to fill out!

“The tree’s ablaze, amidst my craze, In the kitchen, I have a feast!” gives you two places to look for the second puzzle, those two places are connected into one puzzle, and the solution = your second word.

“Tinsel attack! Dashes-dots for a snack!” is pointing you toward your third puzzle.

The first word
Hint 1
“First, wall decor,” says the poem, telling you where to look for the first puzzle. Yes, it’s the yellow wall with curious scratch marks and a half-destroyed wreath. Have you seen this wreath anywhere else?
Hint 2

“The wreath once green, now a tragic scene,” - do you think you could find a way to fix the wreath? Half of it is still intact, we just need another half!

Hint 3
Peek at the back of the card. Looks like you’ve got the right half of the wreath there, looking as good as new! What happens if you connect the right half of the wreath on the back with the left half on the wall?
Hint 4
Some light folding should help you connect the halves of the wreath and make a new one, fully fixed. Now, what are those scratches for? Don’t forget that when you fill in the blanks, this word should have three letters.
Hint 5
The scratches on the left side of the wall are pointing at the blue garland in the kitchen (backside of the card.)
Answer

The scratches are pointing at letters O N E. Your first word is ONE.

The second word
Hint 1
You’re approaching the most challenging (and most rewarding!) puzzle in your card. “The tree’s ablaze, amidst my craze, In the kitchen, I have a feast!” = two places to look for in order to connect two parts of this puzzle.
Hint 2
You already know that when you fill in the blanks, this word should have four letters. “The tree’s ablaze, amidst my craze” = the front cover of the card. “In the kitchen, I have a feast!” = the back. Is there anything cryptic in common between these two illustrations?
Hint 3
The cat’s tail is something the front and the back of the card show very clearly. Those stripes are very curious! Do they have Roman Numerals from 1 to 4 or this is just a coincidence?
Hint 4
Nothing is a coincidence with this mischievous kitty! Look at the front cover and try to find something to correspond with the numbers 4, 1, 2, 3 on the cat’s tail. A number of something, perhaps?
Hint 5
Count the ornaments on the tree! There are 4 blue diamonds, 3 red round ornaments, 2 yellow bells, and 1 gray cube. Now, onto the kitchen!
Hint 6
Surely you’ve noticed the letters on the kitchenware on the shelves. If only you knew a sequence of four particular items!
Hint 7
Wait, don’t you have a sequence right in front of your nose? The cat’s tail! 4, 1, 2, 3! That same sequence that equals the number of ornaments of different shape and color!
Hint 8
Let’s gather all you’ve got so far! Four letters. Sequence 4, 1, 2, 3. Also, 4 = blue diamonds, 3 = red round ornaments, 2 = yellow triangular bells, and 1 = gray cube. Do you have a blue diamond shaped item on the shelf? A red round item? A yellow triangular item? A gray square? YES YOU DO.
Answer
Following the tails sequence 4, 1, 2, 3 and corresponding shapes of items on the shelf, you get the following: L (blue diamond shaped potholder) - O (gray square mug) - N (yellow pyramid candle) - G (red round jar.) Your word is LONG. Whew!
The third word
Hint 1
“Tinsel attack! Dashes-dots for a snack!” points you toward your third puzzle, the illustration on the right side inside the card, where our kitty cat is having some trouble untangling her tail after snacking on tinsel (yum.)
Hint 2
“Dashes-Dots” - what is that? Could this be a code? Do you know any codes with dashes and dots?
Hint 3
It’s Morse Code that uses dashes and dots! Here’s a Morse Code table for your convenience.

Don’t forget that when you fill in the blanks, this word should have three letters.

Hint 4
Where are the dashes and the dots you should be looking for? Take a closer look at the long blue garland the kitty is dragging on her tail. We’ve got round ornaments and long fluffy ones, all in clusters of three to four, separated by stars…
Hint 5
Round ornaments on the garland = Dots. Long fluffy ornaments = Dashes. Stars break the clusters that form words. Have you noticed that the garland is repeating the same sequence?
Answer

4 Round ornaments = 4 Dots = H

Two round ornaments and one fluffy one = 2 Dots 1 Dash = U

Two fluffy ornaments and one round one = 2 Dashes 1 Dot = G.

Then the garland repeats the same sequence, leaving you with HUGHUGHUGHUG.

Your third word is HUG! Nice job!

And there it is! We hope you enjoyed uncovering the cat’s deepest wish—she’s sure to get plenty of it in the New Year!

This puzzle card is part of our festive Christmas series, and we hope you’ll collect them all for even more holiday fun! Check them out on our website.

Holiday Mail

Need a nudge in the right direction to decipher your postcard? Have a look below!

Hint 1

“Stamp you mark on what’s in double” is pointing you toward the stamps, and something “in double.” You can also see that when you fill in the blanks, the solution should have two words, first word = 4 letters, second word = 6 letters. Good start!

Hint 2

Looking at the stamps, you can notice that the top half of the red mailbox has 4 stamps, and the bottom half has 6 stamps. Nice! This could be your two words! Now you need to find something about them that is “in double.”

Hint 3

Pizza, Bee, Squirrel, Cookie…Do you notice anything in double?

Hint 4

Let’s try the bottom half. Dress, Button, Carrot, Cheese, Chess, Kiss. Each of these words has two…of something! Look closely at the words!

Hint 5

Each word pictured on the stamps has double letters like -ss, -ll, -ff, or -zz. Write down the double letter from each stamp, from left to right. First - the four stamps on the top half, second - six stamps on the bottom half.

Answer

ZERO STRESS

Et voilà! We hope you enjoyed this cute postcard with a 2/5 puzzle difficulty. May your holiday mail be filled with nothing but cheer and joy!

This postcard is just one of many in our festive Christmas collection — check them all out website.

Snow Much Fun

Need a nudge in the right direction to decipher your postcard? Have a look below!

Hint 1

Let’s start with what we know. You’re looking for four letters. There are four elves and six locations with winter activities around the North Pole. Hmm…

Hint 2

Learn all the winter activities the North Pole offers. Now take a close look at those mischievous elves. The card says they had too much fun! But how so?

Hint 3

Wet clothes, missing teeth… Each elf shows the consequences of overindulging in a winter activity. Can you match each elf to the activity?

Hint 4

How can you extract a letter from each winter activity? Check the signs closely. Each one has a letter that stands out.

Hint 5

Four letters = four elves (left to right) = the consequences of four winter activities. Look at the signs on the back of the card—each has a single capital letter.

Answer 1

Carol’s snowball fight (marks on her clothes), Angel’s ice fishing (wet clothes, fish hook), Fable’s snowboarding (face tan from a mask), Eve’s hockey (missing teeth).

Answer 2

Take the capital letters from each activity: C A F E.

We hope our silly little elves are enjoying warming up after all that chilly fun! Thanks for playing—this card’s difficulty level is 1/5. Now you’re ready to explore our more challenging puzzles!

This postcard is just one of many in our festive Christmas collection — check them all out website.

Elf on the Shelf

Need a nudge in the right direction to decipher your postcard? Have a look below!

Hint 1

What a gorgeous bookshelf! Notice how all the green books on the sixth row have letters. Mixed-color books also have letters scattered around… Do they spell something?

Hint 2

The letters on the colorful books spell a sentence when read row by row, left to right.

Hint 3

PUSH SHELF SIX UP AND DOWN TO FILL EMPTY SPACES. So, let’s do it! Move the green books with letters to the shelves above and below. But how do you know where each book goes? Look closely at the three bottom rows.

Hint 4

Check which books have free spaces above or below. For example, the first green book (H) has no free spaces, so it stays put. But the second book has space above it on the fifth shelf, and the third book (C) has space below on the bottom shelf.

Hint 5

Push the green books with letters based on the free spaces above or below them. Be careful—some books lean against their neighbors, so focus on where their bases sit.

Hint 6

Some books don’t move at all because they don’t have free spaces. When you’re done, you’ll have three rows of letters, spelling a festive message!

Answer

H A V E A
H O L L Y J O L L Y
C H R I S T M A S

Wishing you the jolliest Christmas ever! Congrats on solving this 3/5 difficulty puzzle!

This postcard is just one of many in our festive Christmas collection — check them all out here.

Gift Shop

Need a nudge in the right direction to decipher your postcard? Have a look below!

Hint 1

Welcome to the most puzzling gift shop ever! The assortment of gifts is bonkers, and you are expected to somehow use them all to decipher the Christmas wish of the cruel person who sent this to you. Whew. You’ll need to fill six spaces before “be” and three spaces after.

Hint 2

Each gift has a letter (or two) assigned. How many gifts are there?

Hint 3

Nine spaces to fill and nine gifts—coincidence? Not at all! To figure out the order, try naming each gift out loud: a dinosaur, a water gun… It’s fun and surprisingly helpful!

Hint 4

Check the note on the back. The answers rhyme with “one two three.” What’s that about?

Hint 5

Start simple: One—Water Gun.

Hint 6

Some gifts are tricky! Especially the Hard Drive and Cake Mix, right?.

Answer 1

1 - Water Gun
2 - Shoe
3 - Tea
4 - Dinosaur
5 - Hard Drive
6 - Cake Mix
7 - (already filled with BE)
8 - Plate
9 - Wine
10 - Pen

Answer 2

Arrange the letters in the same order: KE E PU C LO SE (yes, it’s our Scarlet Envelope logo!) BE SI DE ME.
“KEEP YOU CLOSE BESIDE ME!” Aww!

What a sweet wish, lucky you! Great job, this was our second-most challenging postcard at 4/5 difficulty. We hope this puzzle added a little extra joy to your holidays.

This postcard is just one of many in our festive Christmas collection — check them all out here.

Christmas In Tune

Need a nudge in the right direction to decipher your postcard? Have a look below!

Hint 1

Let’s tackle our hardest postcard! No prior music knowledge needed (though it helps). Start with the green sleeve—it hints at how the cipher works. The first two notes = HO, and the second pair = HO as well!

Hint 2

No luck with the HOs? Oh well, let’s break down HO #1. :) The first note crosses the second line twice (D according to the songbook), so H = DD. The second letter crosses the last line (E) three times, so O = EEE.

Hint 3

There’s a letter-to-numbers conversion table on the back. Could that help?

Hint 4

Let’s decode the second HO. H crosses the 4th line (G), then the space between the 3rd and 4th lines (A). O crosses D, E, F.

Hint 5

H = DD, so could it mean H = D + D? Similarly, O = E + E + E.

Hint 6

Think numerically: H (8th letter) = D (4th letter) + D (4th letter). O (15) = E (5) + E (5) + E (5). Now you know how the cipher works! Whew.

Hint 7

Now pay attention to the notes that "peek" outside the lines (some are crossed over with a short line and some are not.) Notice also that F and E repeat twice (assigned to lines and also to spaces between the lines.) These two phenomena are connected.

Hint 8

The letters assigned to lines and spaces form a loop. Here’s an image to help.

Hint 9

Using the loop, decode the first bottom row note: it floats in the space above F (G). The third bottom row note hits a line below E (C), and the second-to-last hits A. Now you’re ready to decipher the whole song!

Answer 1

TOP ROW: DD / A / EFEF / E / A / GED / BG
BOTTOM ROW: GG / E / GGGC / GF / A / GGE
Finally, do the math! DD = 4 + 4 = 8 = H, etc.

Answer 2

HAVE A PINE XMAS!

Whew! You’ve cracked our toughest puzzle yet—what a TREEmendous feat! Now go forth and have the most pine-tastic Christmas ever!

This postcard is just one of many in our festive Christmas collection — check them all out here.

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