Wonderland

Not-So-Secret Santa

Interactive Packaging | Portland, OR, 2020

A quarantine-friendly interactive holiday gift experience supporting Portland's womxn and POC-owned businesses.

Reflections on Not-so-Secret Santa:

Experience description:
Twelve lucky recipients received a mystery box outside their door. Nothing seemed outside the ordinary until they noticed clues hidden within the newspaper packaging. When unscrambled, these clues unlocked a website revealing their secret santa and the local business owners responsible for the treats in their boxes with links to support them further. > Read more on Medium.

Services provided:
Creative direction, experience design, web design, materials sourcing, content creation, assembly, delivery, video production, clue support

Santa's secret delivery route.
[12 stops for the 12 days of Christmas!]

Another recipient tries to crack the code.

Newspaper packaging with clues circled in red.

Texts from a recipient unraveling the mystery in real time.

The sad, empty box, prepackaging. This was actually the precipice of this entire experience.

It all started with a mistake in box sizing. I knew I couldn't send the boxes out like this, so I started digging through what I had to spruce them up a bit. And what did I find? You guessed it. Newspaper!

Some recipients counted A LOT of words in attempt to solve the mystery.

Closed boxes.

Packaged gift boxes, ready to deliver.

The website recipients found after cracking the code, featuring: a congratulatory message, a video revealing their secret santa in good holiday cheer and a list of all the small business owners responsible for the treats in their boxes with links to further support them.

More mystery madness.

Newspapers and giftbox contents splayed across the garage floor as one recipient attempts to solve the mystery!

Excited texts from recipients about to embark on their quest!

Closeup of a fully packaged giftbox.

A snapshot of methods recipients implemented in desperate attempt to solve the case.

The card included in each giftbox, subtly hinting at the hidden mystery experience.

Some recipients got their partners, kids, or entire families involved!

Want to create an experience like this?

let's play together

Curious, but have questions? The Playbook has answers.

Contact

Located in Portland, OR (USA)
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @altyellow.pdx