Hi, so I’m somewhat new to DM-ing and my parents (who have never played before) wanted to play a one-shot for Christmas and I said yes, but I have very few ideas. The one thing they wanted was some sort of unlikely hero-type situation where their characters are sort of thrown into the adventure unwillingly.

One idea I had was to have Father Christmas be sick and the players have to do his delivery run for him? It would have lots of skill challenges with how to drive the sleigh, some riddles and some encounters.

Thats it. I have no other ideas.

Some other ideas would be very welcome! I will probably be playing in a week-ish?

Thanks :)

Your encounters could be on a Christmas stories theme. They could encounter the abominable snowman from Rudolf, the Mouse King (Wererat), the Grinch, the 12 days of Christmas represented by monsters, Home alone like traps, frosty the snowman, etc. Pick your favorite christmas story and reskin the villain/hero as a monster for them to encounter.

Alternatively, they don't need to be a "Christmas special" full of references to Christmas. Obviously, you know your parents best. However, if they are people who enjoy even the slightest degree of subtlety, then maybe have the Christmas slyly in the background. In general, being in your face is rarely a good idea with storytelling.

I'd caution you that they want to do this to spend time with you and your hobby. Christmas is an excuse to do this, I'd assume. It's likely not the reason. So, maybe give them the opportunity to play a game that is more typically D&D rather than one that is more typically Christmas. Afterall, when you play the game that they want to share in, you very rarely theme it like Christmas, right?

so i love the show The big bang theory.   They also did a Christmas one shot. They had some interesting monsters. One thing i suggest is a candy cane golem. or a fruitcake monster of some sort. Another thing that would be cool is giving them reindeer's to ride. or Christmas themed weapons. candy cane swords,gingerbread shields, fruitcake warhammers. Yes this sounds cheesy and weird but sometimes that stuff is actually quite enjoyable.

We had a very good oneshot the other week which a friend ran, where we had to beat up the Krampus. It involved a lot of cool monsters like snowmen.

What sort of things do your parents enjoy? If they like dr who, then maybe lift some ideas from their christmas specials.

The main things which fly well in dnd for new people is riddles and combat, rather than skill checks. Skill checks are more useful when people know their characters and are invested in what they can do. Them being nw, I wouldn't go above level 3 and I'd make a selection of characters for them which they can pick from. Doing this also lets you tailor the adventure to suit the characters and abilities, so you could write out, say, 2 encounters which suit each character you made, and then when they pick 2, that gives you 4 encounters which will let them enjoy being well suited to play the game.

You could make it loosely Christmassy. Have a village where they need a magic doodad to celebrate but they keep it in a dungeon and they need some heroes to go and get it (because all their heroes died in a tragic stampede on black friday, except for Ragran Thunderbeard, who was found in the man-chair of Debenhams, having apparently gnawed his own leg off for sustenance whilst waiting for his wife to finish shopping). The dungeon would be a little christmassy but otherwise inherantly dungeon-y.

how about investigation and rescue into the kidnapping of the Christmas spirit quest?...

Here's a master class example of a lighthearted one shot ( with a new bee'ish player ;) ) incase you haven't seen it....