It’s not easy to give away $20,000 worth of jewelry. Just ask Hildgund Jewelry President Bruce Bucky, who’s playing Santa for the third year in a row as the jeweler launches its third 12 Days of Christmas giveaway.

The Hildgund Jewelry Hunt will run Wednesday through Dec. 25, with two jewelry pieces awaiting holiday sleuths daily. The items, ranging from $100 to $5,300 in value, will be placed in white boxes tied with a gold bow and hidden around town for lucky — and fast — hunters to find. Daily clues will be posted at www.facebook.com/HildgundJewelry and www.twitter.com/HildgundJewelry, where you can also follow the action at #HJHUNT.

This year, instead of relying on guest hiders and random hiding spots, the entire Hildgund Jewelry Hunt is being scripted, with every spot and clue plotted in advance, and appropriate authorities — from city officials to airlines — notified, though none of this planning should interfere with the joy of the hunt or thrill of finding one of the packages.

Bucky, who came up with the idea three years ago as a way of celebrating the company’s 138th anniversary, said the idea of a jewelry scavenger hunt seemed simple at the time. But he’s learned, "To do something like this, put jewelry in a box and hide it, isn’t that easy. There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle."

For one thing, although each package is clearly marked with a note saying that it is a no-strings-attached gift from Hildgund’s, he encountered people afraid to pick up the packages out of fear of falling victim to a bomb or practical joke, or rejecting them, figuring the offering was too good to be true.

Because the search involved clues posted on Hildgund’s Facebook page and on a then-smaller Twitter community, the first year also brought out the social-media savvy, some of whom scooped up several of the pieces, causing Hildgund staffers to post a plea to give others a chance.

The first couple of years, hiding spots were also random, with prizes often simply dropped off wherever a hider was going and left sitting for days because, Bucky learned, people aren’t that aware of their surroundings.

"Sometimes parents will walk right by and their kids will pick it up. If you put it at a dog park, the dog ends up picking it up," he said, recalling seeing a slobbering Saint Bernard holding on to one of the packages. The dog’s owner did end up taking the package home.

"People don’t look down and don’t look around," so even if one doesn’t end up finding any of the gifts, maybe it’s just as big a gift to be reminded, he said, "to stop and smell the flowers."

For more information, call 523-1123 or visit www.hildgund.com.