While I wouldn’t characterize myself as an avid game player, I really do believe in the power of party games. Party games are a great way to break the ice, because there’s nothing like a little friendly competition to get people to loosen up, get to know each other, and have some fun!
In recent years, I’ve started planning a couple of easy games for holidays too, even when it’s just me, Dave, and the kids! Our “kids” may be in their twenties now, but all I have to do is offer a prize of some sort and whatever silly game I have planned is suddenly very serious business. ;-) (And honestly the prize itself doesn’t even matter that much—those kids will compete over practically anything!)
And since all my kids are going to be with us for Christmas this year, I figured I’d better start thinking about some fun Christmas games we can play together! So I put together a list including some old family favorites and some recent discoveries, and today I’ll be sharing that list of 21 Christmas party games here with all of you!
In this list of fun Christmas party games, you’ll find games for kids, games for adults, and games for everyone in between! Pick a couple of these easy Christmas games to play with your friends and family this year, and you’re sure to make some memories that will last a lifetime!
21 Fun Christmas Party Games To Play This Year
1. Team Gift Wrapping
Good for all ages, works best with small-to-medium groups
This hilarious and fun game requires teams of two people to work together to produce a beautifully wrapped Christmas gift. But it isn’t as quite as easy as it sounds, because every player is only allowed to use one hand to do it!
Before the game starts, each team of two is provided with a gift box, a roll of wrapping paper, a pair of scissors, a roll of tape, and some ribbon. Have all the players put one hand behind their backs, then start a timer for 3 minutes (or 2 minutes to make it even more challenging) and let the wrapping begin!
When the timer goes off, evaluate the gifts and the pair who produced the most impressively wrapped gift wins. (When we played this at our OGT holiday party several years ago, I was particularly impressed by one pair who had managed to actually curl the ribbon on their gift before time was up!)
2. Christmas Movie Trivia
Good for adults and teens (especially Christmas movie buffs!)
Some good old fashioned trivia is sure to bring out your guests’ competitive side, especially if you have a few movie buffs in your group! I found a great list of Christmas movie trivia questions at Creative Cynchronicity, which offers a good mix of questions about classic Christmas movies and more recent releases.
Just print out a copy of the questions for your Trivia Master to read from, and provide each player with a piece of paper and something to write with. Once everyone has answered all 25 questions, tally up the scores and the person with the most correct answers wins! It’s straightforward and festive fun!
3. Blindfolded Christmas Tree Decorating
Good for all ages, works best with small-to-medium groups
In this fast and furious game, each player attempts to create and decorate a Christmas tree using some basic crafting supplies, all while blindfolded. This game does require some supplies, but it’s hilarious fun for players of all ages!
Before starting, provide each player with a blindfold, a large piece of green construction paper, and a sheet of round, colored stickers. The players then have one minute to fold, tear, or otherwise fashion their construction paper into a Christmas tree, and to decorate it to perfection using the round stickers as “ornaments.”
When the timer goes off, a pre-selected impartial judge should evaluate the player’s trees and choose the best one, and the creator of the the best Christmas tree wins!
4. Christmas Charades
Good for older kids, teens, and adults in any size group
Charades is a classic party game for groups, and it’s easy to turn into a Christmas game! You’ll need a few dozen slips of paper, some pens, a hat or bucket, and a timer.
Have everyone who wants to play write down 3 Christmas-related words or phrases on individual slips of paper. (Words like “snow” and “nutcracker” are better for kids, while adults may want to choose phrases like “chestnuts roasting on an open fire” or “one-horse open sleigh” to make it a bit more of an acting challenge!)
Place all the slips into the bucket or hat, then divide the players into two teams. Have one player draw a slip from the bucket, give them a few seconds to prepare, then start a 3 minute timer.
The player will act out the word or phrase while the member of their own team attempt to guess what it is. If they get it right before time runs out, write down how long it took them to guess. If they don’t guess correctly before time runs out, write down 3 minutes as the time.
The other team goes next, and play continues until every member of each team has had a chance to be the actor at least once. When the game is over, add up the times for each time, and the team with the lowest overall guessing time wins!
5. Santa Hat Game
Good for all ages and group sizes
The Santa Hat Game is unique in that you can play it throughout the evening, even during other games and activities! It’s also super simple to play (though it does require you to procure enough Santa hats for everyone in your group!)
The game begins once everyone has donned their Santa hat. When the game organizer (AKA you) removes their hat, everyone else will race to remove their hats too, and the last person to remove theirs gets eliminated.
Continue playing and eliminating players, and the last person standing wins!
6. 20 Questions
Good for all ages and group sizes
If you’re interested in a game that everyone can play and that you don’t need many materials for, 20 Questions is the game for you! Start by choosing someone to go first, and have them think of a Christmas-themed person, place, or thing.
The other players will take turns asking yes-or-no questions to try and guess what the person is thinking of. If no one guesses correctly before 20 questions have been asked, the first player gets a point and gets to go again. If someone does guess correctly, that person gets a point and gets to be the “chooser” next.
Continue playing until you feel like stopping, and the person with the most points wins!
7. Reindeer Antlers
Good for teens and adults in large groups
The goal of this game is work in teams to make a set of “reindeer antlers” using only a pair of panty hose and a bag of balloons. Divide your group evenly into teams, and have each team select one person to be their “reindeer.”
The teams will have 10 minutes to blow up and tie off balloons, and hand them to their team leader who will stuff them into the legs of the panty hose. When the timer goes off, the “reindeer” from each time will have to immediately put on their “antlers” for inspection.
Whichever team has produced the most impressive antlers for their reindeer wins!
8. Candy Canes (AKA Christmas “Spoons”)
Good for all ages and bigger groups
Count your players, then count out enough candy canes so that there’s one less than the number of players. Place the candy canes on the table or floor and have the players sit in a circle around them, then set a shuffled deck of cards next to it.
The players will take turns taking the top card off the deck with the goal of being the first to get four of a kind (as in four tens or four kings). The first one to do it will take a candy cane from the pile, signaling all the other players will race to grab one too.
The player who doesn’t snag a candy cane is eliminated, a candy cane is removed from the pile and the game is reset. Continue playing until only the winner remains!
9. Christmas Card Captions
Good for older kids and adults in smaller groups
This fun and festive game requires a bit of creativity and has a more complex scoring process, so it’s a good party game to save for smaller groups of older kids, teens, or adults. You’ll need a variety of Christmas cards, a few dozen slips of paper, a bowl, enough pens for each player, and a coin for each player.
Choose someone to go first, and that person will pick a Christmas card at random from the stack. That person shows the front of the card to the other players, then writes what is written on the inside of the card on a slip of paper and places it in the bowl.
Then the other players will write down their own caption or message on a slip of paper, attempting to make it convincing enough to fool the other players into thinking it’s the real message from the card. Once everyone has put their slip into the bowl, the person who picked the card will read out the slips of paper one at a time and place them in a line on the table.
Once the captions have been read, count down from three and have all the players (other than the one who selected the card) place their coin next to the caption they believe is the real one from inside the card. Then score the round according to these guidelines:
- 1 point to any player that guesses the correct caption
- 1 point per “vote” (coin) to each player who received votes on their caption
- 3 points to the card selector if the correct caption received no votes
After points are awarded, someone else chooses a card and play continues. The first player to reach 10 points wins!
10. Christmas Card Matching
Good for all ages and group sizes
This is a great game if you’re looking for something low-key and that you can prepare ahead of time. You’ll need a stack of Christmas cards, a poster board, scissors and tape, and enough pens and paper for each player.
To set up the game, start by taking a picture of the front and inside of each card so you can reference them later. Once you’ve photographed them all, use scissors to cut each card along the fold to separate them in halves.
Draw a line down the center of your poster board, then arrange the fronts of the cards on one side and the insides/messages on the other side. Make sure to mix them up a bit so the matches aren’t in corresponding spaces, then glue or tape them into place. Finally, label each card front with a letter, and each card inside with a number.
Reference the photos you took earlier to make sure you know which numbers and letters represent a matching pair of cards. Then when you’re ready to play, give each player a paper and something to write with, and have them guess which card front corresponds with each card inside by pairing the numbers and letters. The person who matches the most cards correctly wins!
11. Ornament Guessing Game
Good for all ages and group sizes
This game requires almost no prep work ahead of time, because most people already have a decorated tree in their home they can use for the game! You will have to know exactly how many ornaments are on the tree though, because that’s the point of the ornament guessing game!
Have each player guess how many ornaments are on the tree, then write their guess and their name on a slip of paper and place it in a bowl. Once everyone has guessed, whoever got closest to the actual number wins!
12. Stocking Guessing Game
Good for all ages and group sizes
Here’s another simple guessing game you can throw together: the stocking guessing game! You’ll need a stocking, an array of small items items to fill it with, and enough pens and paper for each player.
Beforehand, fill your stocking with small items, and jot down what each item is as you place them inside. Once the stocking is full, tie it closed to prevent any peeking.
Provide your players with a pen and paper, then pass the stocking around so that each player has a chance to feel what’s inside. The players should write their guesses of what’s inside on a piece of paper, and whoever gets the most correct guesses wins!
13. Find Santa’s Friends
Great for groups of kids
This game is little like a Christmas-themed scavenger hunt, making it great for small kids! All you need to play are a number of “Santa’s friends” in the form of small toys of reindeer, elves, gnomes, etc.
Hide Santa’s friends around the house, making them harder to find for older kids or easier to find for younger kids. Once the game begins, the goal is for players to find as many of Santa’s friends as they can, and whoever is able to find and return the most friends wins.
14. Christmas Bingo
Good smaller groups of all ages
How about a round of printable Christmas bingo? You can download a great set of holiday-themed bingo cards at Crazy Little Projects. Just print them out (there are eight in the set) along with the calling cards, and a bag of M&M’s or mini marshmallows to use as markers.
You know the drill—pick one card at a time and have the players mark the corresponding spot on their card. The first person to get five in a row wins the round! Play as many rounds as you like.
15. Holiday A-Z
Good for older kids, teens, and adults in larger groups
Divide your group into teams, then give each team a piece of paper with each letter of the alphabet written on its own line on the left side of the page. Teams will then race to come up with a holiday themed word for each letter.
The first team to finish gets their list checked first, and if all of their words are valid, they win! If any of the first team’s words aren’t actually holiday themed (or aren’t even real words), the second team’s list gets checked, and whichever team’s list is most accurate and complete wins.
16. Dice Gift Exchange
Good for all ages and group sizes
Planning to have a white elephant or other type of gift exchange this year? Make it a little more interesting by incorporating an element of chance in the form of dice!
To play, start by downloading this dice gift exchange printable from Play Party Plan. You’ll also need a die, and at least one wrapped gift per player.
Gameplay couldn’t be easier—just roll the dice and follow the instructions on the card! You may have to switch gifts, unwrap yours, or you may get to steal someone else’s gift. The gift exchange ends once the last gift is unwrapped, and everyone’s a winner because they get to keep whichever gift is in their hands! :-)
17. Christmas Limbo
Good for all ages and group sizes
How low can you go? Find out with a game of Christmas limbo! You’ll need a Christmas scarf, and possibly a few pillows depending on how you want to play.
Have two people each hold an end of the scarf, and use this as your limbo bar. You can have players do the standard limbo, or make it a bit more challenging by equipping players with a “Santa belly” by having them tuck a pillow under their shirt.
Keep playing until you’ve determined who can limbo the lowest, and then award them with a well-deserved prize!
18. Christmas Tree Art Contest
Good for all ages and group sizes
This is one of my very favorite Christmas party games, as it’s both simple to play and hilarious to watch! All you need for this festive, no-peeking-allowed art contest are a paper plate and marker for each player.
Tell the players to uncap their markers and hold their paper plate on top of their head. Then give this series of instructions, pausing between each to give the players time to draw:
- Draw a line for a floor.
- Draw a Christmas tree, and add decorations if you feel so inclined.
- Draw a star on top of your tree.
- Draw a fireplace with a mantel next to the tree.
- Draw a stocking hanging from the mantel of your fireplace.
- Draw a present below the tree.
Once everyone has followed the instructions, the players can put their hands down and check out their handiwork. Have the players tally up their own scores according to the following scoring guide:
- +2 points if the tree touches the floor
- +2 points if the stocking touches the mantel
- +1 point if the star touches the tree
- +1 point if the star is above the tree
- +1 point for every ornament that is actually on the tree
- -1 point if the fireplace touches the tree (it’s a fire hazard!)
- +1 point for anything decorative in or on the stocking
- +2 points if the present is under the tree
The person with the most points wins the Christmas tree art contest!
19. Who Am I?
Good for older kids, teens, and adults in extra large groups
For this group party game, have each player write down the name of a Christmas character or figure on a sticky note. (Think characters from popular Christmas movies or someone mentioned in a Christmas carol—there are plenty to choose from!)
Gather everyone’s sticky notes, then randomly assign one character to each player by sticking the note to their forehead. When the game starts, players mill around the room and ask each other yes-or-no questions about their identity to try and figure out which character they are.
You can make it a quick game by awarding the prize to whoever guesses their identity first, or you can draw it out by playing several rounds and eliminating the last person to guess correctly each time. It’s fun either way!
20. Whipped Cream Tannenbaum
Good for all ages and group sizes
The goal of this game is simple: create the most majestic and towering whipped cream Christmas tree as you can in one minute! Each player will need a paper plate and a can of whipped cream.
Set a timer for one minute, and whoever has the tallest tree when the timer goes off wins. (And ideally you’d follow this game with mugs of hot chocolate or slices of pie so that all that whipped cream doesn’t go to waste!) ;-)
21. Cookies For Santa
Good for all ages and group sizes
What would Christmas be without Christmas cookies? This party game celebrates Christmas cookies by turning them into a hilarious and delicious hands-free competition for all ages.
Have your players line up and place a cookie on each player’s forehead. When the game starts, each player will attempt to navigate the cookie into their mouth without using their hands. (They can use their hands to reset the cookie if they drop it, but that’s it!)
The first person to get the cookie in their mouth wins!
Looking For More Party Ideas?
If you’re looking for even more fun and easy party games to liven up a get-together, be sure to check out my huge list of “minute to win it” games at the link below!
Read More: 25 Easy “Minute To Win It” Games That Will Liven Up Any Party
Do you have a favorite Christmas party game?
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