Day 1 Challenge: December 20th – Image or Video
What powers GISH? Love, actually. So, let’s spread some cheer. Using the GISH App or searching the #GISH hashtag, find Gishers who’ve posted something about GISH this year. Create a “Love, Actually” style sign with a message of love & support. Post it & tag them + #GISHMAS & #GISH. The more people you send love to, the better.
Day 1 Challenge: December 20th – Image or Video
O, Kitschmas tree, o Kitschmas tree… Decorate your all-iday tree with kitschy decorations – all made out of things you find in your kitschen, of course.
Day 2 Challenge: December 21st – Image
It wouldn’t be the all-days without the GISH Annual Stocking Run! You know what to do: fill stockings with essentials like water, socks, warm hats, & pre-wrapped food. Hang them up for folks experiencing homelessness with a sign saying “2022: Happy All-days!”
Day 2 Challenge: December 21st – Image
Sweden marks the start of the Christmas season with Santa Lucia Day, featuring a procession of women with a crown wreath of candles on their heads. It’s a beautiful, but not eco-friendly – so Gishers use high-efficiency lightbulb wreaths instead.
Day 3 Challenge: December 22nd – Video
(Up to 3 minutes) Create an ADVENT-ure calendar with one brave thing for you to do with a loved one that you’ve never done before, but always wanted to. It should be at least 7 days long, but can be up to a year. Complete one per day through the GISHMAS Hunt and document your experiences together.
Day 3 Challenge: December 22nd – Video
Navigating the holidays can be a challenge, but you’re up for it. Create an obstacle course using only holiday-themed decor. Of course, someone has to be filmed running through it successfully.
Day 4 Challenge: December 23rd – Image
It’s not the ALL-idays if we aren’t being inclusive, but in all the winter holiday hubbub we can’t help but notice our favourite spinning top got left out. Call on the Unicode Consortium to add a dreidel emoji! Create a design & submit your request.
Day 4 Challenge: December 23rd – Image
In Ukraine, there are tales of a magical Christmas spider who used its webs to decorate a tree for a family in need. They say it’s just a legend, but you have proof: Show us a picture of Spider Claus decorating a tree with wildlife-safe materials in a public place in YOUR neighborhood.
Day 5 Challenge: December 24th – Video
Connect up with as many Gishers as you can virtually and go e-Caroling together! Coordinate with local hospitals, retirement communities, or just people feeling isolated in advance who are willing to be your victims – uh, we mean “recipients of your good cheer.” Zoom or Skype with them (or a worker who can help take you around to the patients or residents) to brighten their days. Note: We only need to see video of your glorious singing, not the people you sing to if privacy is a concern.
Day 5 Challenge: December 24th – Video
On the fifth day of GISHMAS, Misha gave to me: FIVE GOLDEN RINGS! Play Golden (Human) Ring toss. Obviously, you have to get 5 successful tosses on one human to win.
Day 6 Challenge: December 25th – Video
In Iceland, they hold an annual Jolabokaflod, or “Christmas book flood”, in which they gift each other books on Christmas Eve and cozy up to read. Help the floodwaters rise: show us you swimming or canoeing in an ACTUAL “book flood” of books in your living room or local bookstore. Then, if you can, donate books to your local school or little free library.
Day 6 Challenge: December 25th – Video
Even the most treasured traditions can evolve with the times, so we’re bringing an old Welsh tradition into the 21st century! Show as a Mari Lwyd rap battle used to gain admission to an exclusive, high-security building… your own home. (Do this with your loved ones if you safely can, or you may portray both sides of the “battle.”)
Day 7 Challenge: December 26th – Image
(Side by Side) It’s Boxing Day! Gishers are experts at thinking outside the box, but today we want you to think INSIDE the box, too! Create a “time machine in a box” filled with things that remind you of the best times with someone you love, then give it to them. Show us the box and then the person’s reaction as you take them back through time.
Day 7 Challenge: December 26th – Video
(Timelapse) We’re iconoclasts, so we’re not into things being uniform and “cookie cutter,” even when cutting out cookies. Create a giant gingerbread GISH mascot, Rudolph, or an iconic all-iday rebel and have it knock over the first in a long, long maze of gingerbread people, all set up as dominoes in a giant maze run. Impress us.
Day 8 Challenge: December 27th – Image
Not to name names, but a lot of families who were planning big get togethers this year had to cancel plans due to the pandemic. Next year, let’s make sure we can give each other our PRESENCE: Show us a snow person or another all-iday icon getting vaccinated, with a sign encouraging folks to do the same.
Day 8 Challenge: December 27th – Video
You’ve heard of a “tractor pull,” but what about a “cracker pull?” In England, they make holiday “crackers,” small tubes filled with presents, that get pulled apart/ But this year, we’re going big. Create a GIANT “cracker” filled with presents & engage in a massive, winner-takes-all tug of war. To comply with social distancing, you must be at least 6 feet across (and WEAR MASKS!).
Day 9 Challenge: December 28th – Image
We often see holiday tags on presents, but we don’t see enough holiday tagging not he streets these days. Using water-based tempera, create the World’s Most Elaborate All-iday Graffiti mural on a large window celebrating ALL things. you candy it on your wn window, or on the window of a local business. (Get permission first!)
Day 9 Challenge: December 28th – Video
“It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night… pay rump a pum pum.” If there’s one thing Hollywood needs, it’s more reboots and mash-ups, so now we’re bringing The Little Drummer Boy and The Tell-Take Heart together in an epic piece of cinematic horror. Show as the trailer.
Day 10 Challenge: December 29th – Video
Create the most massive, socially-distanced fort you can all out of canned goods, and have a “snowball” fight using balled up (clean!) socks. Then, donate all the canned goods to a local shelter when you’re done. Bonus karma if you donate new, UN-snowballed socks to the shelter, too.
Day 10 Challenge: December 29th – Video
The candy cane is a well-known striped-candy symbol of one of the all-days, but anyone can do that simple crook-shop. Gishers take things next-level and are really, really good at being knotty… uh, we mean naughty. Prove it: create the most intricate striped peppermint candy Celtic knot possible, all out of real striped-peppermint candy.
Day 11 Challenge: December 30th – Image
Someone you know deserves to get away from it all. Create a tropical Sno-asis for them – a full beach scene including palm trees, “snow castles” and more, all made out of snow. If it’s hot where you are, flip the script: create a lavish winter scene all out of sand (except for the all-iday tree, which should be real and decorated with wildlife-safe decorations). Show them (or yourself) relaxing in it.
Day 11 Challenge: December 30th – Image
Screw elf surveillance – the only one you’re truly accountable to is yourself. Reclaim your autonomy with our new GISHCORP Product: SELF ON THE SHELF! Make a tiny version of you to watch over you and guide you in the right direction. Place it in a position that is appropriate to your new authority… watching over you.
Day 12 Challenge: December 31st – Image or Video
Last year, we saw so many feats of tenacity and personal growth during the #GISHPersonalChallenge, we’re bringing it back this year! There’s one thing you’ve always wanted to do in your life. Something big. HUGE. MASSIVE. This is your moment to ensure that 2022 is yours. Create a video with your pledge to future-you of what you will attempt to accomplish and the steps you’ll take to get there. Then, every week you must update your progress. In 2022, (spoiler alert) during one (or more) of the Hunts, we’ll be checking in on your work for Points. Post your updates tagged #GISHPersonalChallenge 2022.
Day 12 Challenge: December 31st – Image or Video
Forget Santa. Ignore Befana and Belshnickle. As all Gishers know, at this time of year the REAL arbiter of end-of-year performance reviews is the Great GISHMAS Kaiju. Each year, the GISHMAS Kaiju, festooned in ornaments stolen from all the households it visits, wreaks havoc, on the naughtier and bestows presents on the good. Show us this all-iday-attack on your house, town or family.
